We’d wasted a lot of time — too much time — and I’d spend the rest of my life making up for those moments lost.
“Jerk,” Jasmine said through a pouty laugh, laying the book out to dry beside her drink. “I was just getting to a good part!”
“A sex scene?”
“Maybe.”
“We can make one of our own, instead,” I offered.
She smiled, and even though her eyes were covered by sunglasses, I knew she was rolling them. Still, she crawled out of the hammock, grabbing her drink and taking a seat on the edge of the pool. As soon as her legs were in the water, I was between them, grabbing her hips and kissing her possessively.
“You weren’t kidding about making that sex scene of our own, were you?” Jasmine teased against my mouth.
“I’d never joke about something so serious.”
She laughed, shoving me backward into the water. “You’re insatiable. We’ve barely stopped fucking on this trip.”
“That’s the purpose of a honeymoon.”
Jasmine leaned back on her palms, giving me an even better view of her lean body as her feet kicked softly in the water. “I can’t believe we’re here,” she said softly, shaking her head on a smile as she looked around at the paradise surrounding us. “I can’t believe we’re married.”
“Well, any time you can’t believe it, just look at the ring on your finger.”
She did, and her smile grew, finger wiggling and making the two-carat, radiant-cut diamond glisten in the sun. “Not bad advice, Mr. Wagner.”
“What can I say? I’m a genius, Mrs. Wagner.”
I smirked, swimming my way back over to settle between her legs again. My lips found hers, soft and seductive, and I loved the way she opened up to my touch, the way her legs widened, her arms wrapping around my neck, the soft sigh of a moan slipping through her lips.
“Think we’ll ever get tired of this?” she asked, kissing my neck.
“Maybe,” I said. “But I can’t picture that day yet.”
She chuckled. “Well, if your parents or only sibling are any indication of what we’re in for, I’d say the day will never come. Your parents have been married for thirty-two years now, and they still can’t keep their hands to themselves.”
I groaned, pushing back to float on the water before I let it take me under. When I came back out, I shook my head, spraying water off my hair. “Talking about my parents when I’m between your legs is not cool. Total boner killer.”
Jasmine laughed. “Was just trying to make a point. Between them and your sister with baby number two on the way, I’d say we’re locked into a family of hopeless romantics.”
“I’ve always been hopeless when it comes to you.”
She smiled, and I swam back between her legs, pulling her off the ledge and into the water with me so I could completely wrap myself around her. Her giggle was light and airy, my favorite sound, and she latched her legs around my waist, her arms around my neck, letting me carry her to the infinity edge that looked over the impossibly blue water beneath us.
“Do you remember when we were driving down to the Cape for the wedding, and you said maybe we’d come here together one day?”
A flush shaded her cheeks. “I do.”
“Did you really think it would ever happen?”
“No. Did you?”
I smirked, remembering the day like it had just happened — how tired and miserable she’d looked in the passenger seat, yet how gorgeous she always was no matter what. I remembered how I, myself, hadn’t slept, how I was trying so hard to stay away from her, but was hopeless to resist her when she tried to bridge the gap between us like she did that afternoon.
I couldn’t resist her, and I had a feeling that fact would never change.
“Yeah. I really did.”
“No way,” she said, narrowing her gaze. “You had a girlfriend. We hadn’t even kissed or anything at that point.”
“No, but I knew the minute you showed back up in my life that I wouldn’t let you walk away from me again.”
“And you didn’t think we’d just be friends?”
I full-on laughed at that, meeting her gaze with a brow arched high into my hairline. “You. Me. Friends. Okay.”
“Fair,” she agreed on a laugh of her own, but then she tightened her grip on my neck, leaning up to kiss me. “But if you already knew then, why didn’t you just take me?”
“It was a little more complicated than that. You had a boyfriend, too, if you remember correctly.”
At that, she frowned. “We hurt a lot of people, didn’t we?”
“Hey,” I said, tilting her chin with my thumb. “None of that. What happened in the past is just that — the past. And right now, we’re celebrating the future.”
“Oh yeah?” she asked when I pinned her back to the edge of the pool. “And what do you see in our future?”
“Well, first of all, a lot of what happened last night.” I rolled my hips, pressing my erection into her as she laughed, throwing her head back and exposing the neck I loved to bite so much. “After that, I’m thinking a modest house on Lake Tambow, with a dock of our own that we can jump off of any time we want to.”
“And a boat.”
“Definitely at boat,” I said, kissing her neck. “And you’re going to finish your book, and it’s going to sell a million copies, and then you’ll be my sugar mama, and I’ll break Dad’s heart when I tell him I quit.”
“You could never quit,” Jasmine challenged. “You love your job too much.”
“True,” I admitted. “Maybe I’ll just cut down hours, so I have more time to spend with you.”
She smiled, but I didn’t miss the worry that seeped in over her features. “What if I don’t finish my book at all?”
“You will.”
“What if no one reads it?”
“They will.”
She sighed. “How are you so sure?”
“Because I know my girl, and she doesn’t know how to quit. And if by some miracle the book did flop, it wouldn’t matter. It would just fuel your fire to try harder the next time.”
Her smile came back, and she ran her fingers through the damp hair at my neck. “Okay. What else is in our future?”
“A dog. And five kids.”
“Five?” she asked on a laugh.
“At least.”
“And when do we start having these children?”
“Mmm…” I said, looking up toward the blue sky peppered with clouds. “Maybe in a few years, give us some time to travel the world together, and figure out our parenting style with our dog, of course.”
Jasmine chuckled, but then she pushed her sunglasses up onto her head, frowning. “What if we didn’t have time to practice on a dog first?”
“You don’t want a dog?”
“I do, but… I’m just saying… what if it wasn’t a few years from now…” She swallowed. “What if we didn’t even have one full year?”
She froze in my arms, her blue eyes the same color as the water as they locked on mine. She watched me carefully through her lashes as her questions sank in, and I felt my heart beating faster in my chest, pounding out a hard, steady rhythm.