Linnzi

 

I STOOD ON the balcony, drew in a deep breath of salty ocean air, and smiled. The light breeze made me shiver, and I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed them to get a bit of heat flowing through me.

“Are you cold, sweetheart?”

Nolan.

His whispered words against my ear nearly sent me into a tailspin.

Slowly I turned to see him standing in front of me, dressed only in a towel. My eyes took in his fit physique with greed as I felt my entire body heat at the sight of him. “Not anymore.”

A crooked smile appeared on his face, and he leaned down ever so slowly and brushed his lips against mine. “Good morning, Mrs. Byers.”

I wanted to purr like a kitten every time he called me that. Instead, I returned his smile with one I hoped had an equal effect on him. “Good morning, Mr. Byers.”

His blue eyes turned dark, and he leaned down once more to kiss me. This time he bit on my lower lip and sucked it into his mouth before running his tongue over it. I grabbed onto the railing to hold myself up as my knees shook and my insides pulsed with need.

He let my lip go and then ran his thumb over my bottom lip, his eyes watching the action with deep interest. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

I raised a single brow, and he laughed.

“Are you hungry for food, my beautiful wife?”

“I suppose I could eat something, considering you’ve had me in that bed for the last twelve hours doing naughty things to my body.”

He winked. “You seemed to enjoy it.”

“Oh, I did. Very much so.”

“Good, I’ll give you a repeat performance later.”

He took my hand in his and led us back into the private bungalow we had rented for our honeymoon.

“St. Lucia is beautiful,” I said as I made my way to the sitting area where two trays of food were waiting for us. They were overflowing with fruit, eggs, muffins, and at least three different types of breads and jams.

“It is very beautiful,” Nolan said, motioning for me to sit first.

“This is enough food to feed a small army.”

He settled himself across from me and immediately tore into his food. I couldn’t help but smile. Someone had certainly worked up an appetite last night.

“What we don’t eat we can put in the small fridge,” he said between bites.

I smothered berry jam over a piece of wheat bread and sat back, my feet tucked up under me. “What are we going to do on the first official day of our honeymoon?”

Nolan glanced up at me and smiled. “Well, I thought I would introduce you to a few hobbies I’ve developed over the last few years.”

“Really? That sounds like fun.”

He gave me a lopsided grin that made my insides feel like they had combusted.

“What’s that smile for?” I asked, taking a bite of my toast.

“The first thing we’re going to do is kitesurfing.”

I frowned. “Kitesurfing?”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

“Um, okay.”

“After that there’s a tour that takes us to this amazing waterfall. Then we’ll come back here, have dinner, and maybe enjoy a nice walk on the beach.”

“I like the sound of that.”

He grinned, clearly pleased that his plans for today were going to work. “Tomorrow I’ve got us booked on an ATV tour.”

I reached over and grabbed some grapes. “That sounds like fun.”

He nodded and took a bite of his eggs before washing it down with orange juice. “Then, ziplining.”

I laughed as I shook my head. “Hell no.”

Nolan lifted his eyes and gave me a deep frown. “What do you mean?”

“I am not going ziplining.”

He tilted his head as if I’d just said the craziest thing in the world. “But it’s through the rainforest, Linz. It’s going to be beautiful.”

“I have no doubt it would be beautiful, but have you forgotten? I’m afraid of heights.”

Nolan laughed.

“You think that’s funny?”

He shrugged. “I mean, you’re strapped in. I’ve done it a dozen or more times. Over canyons.”

“You also flew fighter jets and made them stall out on purpose. You don’t get to be the judge of stuff like this.”

He laughed once more. “Please? For me, will you at least try it once?”

I exhaled and chewed on my lip. It did sound rather fun. “Okay, I’ll do the ziplining, but if I don’t like it, you won’t pressure me to do it again.”

“Of course not. Why would you even think I would?”

“Let’s see, that time at Six Flags when you made me go on that one ride that dropped straight down. Then you kept bugging me to do it again after I told you I peed my pants.”

His brows pulled in for a moment, and then he lost it laughing. “That’s right! I forgot all about that.”

“Ha,” I said as I shot him a dirty look. “Good thing my memory came back.”

He shook his head and popped a blueberry into his mouth. “I’m going to guess the sunrise balloon ride is out then.”

I nearly choked on my scrambled eggs. “Yes, that is a hard pass. A very, very hard pass.”

“Kayaking?”

“Rapids or smooth water?”

He rolled his eyes. “Kayaking is out.”

I fought to keep a smile off my face. “I will hike, boat, swim.” I pointed at him. “And that doesn’t mean scuba dive.”

“Damn,” he mumbled.

“Tours, spas, fishing, biking.”

“Parasailing?” he asked in a hopeful voice.

My mouth fell open in shock.

He let out a small grunt. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“How about a romantic picnic?”

A brilliantly beautiful smile erupted on his face. “I can arrange that. Oh! Maybe after we can go zorbing.”

I closed my eyes and counted to ten. “Nolan, is this type of adventure going to happen on every vacation from now on? I’m all about doing fun, adventurous stuff, but I think I need to establish some rules.”

“Rules?” he asked with one brow raised.

“No jumping out of things. No running down hills in balls or with cows chasing us.”

He chuckled. “Cows?”

“Bulls, whatever! No jumping off of anything while I’m attached to a rope. Or out of a plane. I’m all for sitting back and watching you do it, but I don’t think I’m going to ever be ready to go full-on crazy like you.”

“I don’t go full-on crazy.”

I gave him a questioning stare.

“Fine. I really think you’d like the zorbing, though.”

“The hamster ball?”

He nodded and winked. “Trust me.”

I sighed. “Fine. Since it is our honeymoon, I’ll do that.” I held up my hand when he went to talk. “But…in return, I want to go on a sailboat and snorkel with dolphins.”

“I can do that.”

Smiling, I reached for his hand. “And maybe we don’t have to fill every part of the day with doing something. I’m totally fine simply staying here.”

“In bed?” he asked as he wiggled his brows.

“Yes. Or on the sofa. Out on the deck. In the pool.”

Nolan gave me a hard look. “We’re not having sex in the pool.”

Laughing, I shook my head. “I wasn’t only talking about sex!”

“I was!” Nolan wiped his mouth with his napkin, stood, and then reached for my hand. “Speaking of sex, I do believe I am recharged.”

 

 

I stumbled out of the clear ball and fell to the ground, gasping for breath. “Holy shit. What was that?”

Nolan ran up to me, a huge smile on his face. “Was that not the most fun you’ve ever had?”

Glancing up at him, I was positive that if my eyes could shoot daggers, my husband would be covered in them. “Fun? Fun? You call that fun!”

He nodded and helped me up. “You didn’t like it?”

“I was pretty sure I was going to die a few times. I was out of control.”

Nolan pressed his lips together tightly and looked away.

“If you so much as laugh, Nolan Byers, I will withhold sex for the rest of our honeymoon.”

He held up his hands and worked hard at not laughing. Really hard.

“I want to go back to the room and soak in a hot bath.”

“You really didn’t have fun?” He slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him as we headed toward the parking lot.

With a defeated sigh, I replied, “I will admit that at first it was kind of fun. Then, the hill got steep and turned, and I went up these walls, lost control, and sort of…tumbled down the hill.”

He lost his battle and laughed.

“Laugh all you want, but what in the world ever possessed you to do something like this?”

Nolan shrugged and looked for a taxi. “I started to try and find things that kept my mind off of everything.”

I looked up at him. “Everything?”

He nodded. “You, Amanda, the accident. I wanted to forget. The only way I could that was to be taken away somehow. So, jumping out of planes, paragliding, and running down hills in balls became my escape. It took me away for a while.”

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. “I guess I can understand that. I think that’s what Paris was for me, subconsciously. I never really wanted to admit I was running away, but that’s exactly what I was doing.”

A taxi pulled up, and Nolan opened the door. Before we slipped inside, he placed his hand on the side of my face and smiled sweetly down at me. “No more running for either of us.”

My eyes stayed fixed on his. “No more running.”

Nolan and I spent the rest of our two-week honeymoon exploring nature, sitting in our bungalow, and simply being together. We talked for hours, and sometimes we sat in silence as I read a book and Nolan learned to just relax. He had been so tired, and I was so glad he was allowing himself to be in the moment. We talked about Amanda, let ourselves grieve, made plans for our future. We ate on the beach at sunset, took long walks at night, and made love in the outdoor shower under a vast sea of stars on more than one occasion. It was the most amazing two weeks of my life. A part of me dreaded the idea of going home. I loved being able to spend all this time with Nolan. And I loved having my memories back. The good and the bad.

“You all packed up?” Nolan asked me as he stepped out onto the balcony.

“I am. You?”

“Yep. I didn’t realize how many souvenirs we actually bought for Liliana and Nolan.”

With a giggle, I turned and looked at him. He was staring out over the ocean, a look of complete contentment on his face. Turning, I leaned my hip against the railing to look at him. “I probably shouldn’t tell you about the two shirts I bought earlier, then.”

“For the kids?” he asked, a smile on his handsome face.

Nodding, I answered, “Yes. They were so cute, I had to get them!”

“Linz, I don’t think I can fit another thing in my suitcase, and from what I saw earlier when you were packing, yours was full as well.”

Reaching up onto my toes, I kissed him quickly on the lips. “Don’t worry, I already put them into my carry-on. I promise, I won’t buy another thing.”

Nolan stared down at me like he knew it was a lie if he had ever heard one. He smirked and kissed the tip of my nose. “Famous last words.”