Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80052 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80052 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“Now you’re speaking my language,” he said, practically yanking them out of my hand.
I pulled them out of reach just before he succeeded.
“Ah ah ah,” I tsked. “Not so fast. I bought these with my hard-earned money.”
He smiled, falling into character and cutting to the chase. “What do you want?”
My eyebrow quirked. “What are you offering?”
His gaze raked down my body like he wasn’t the least bit perturbed by the fact that we were in public.
“Cole Clark,” I hissed under my breath, warning him. “You’re looking at me like you’re about to—”
“What?” he said, leaning in, his eyes intently focused on my lips. “About to what? Say it.”
“Eat. Me. Alive.”
His gaze sparked like it was a brilliant idea.
Suddenly sweaty at the prospect of just how far he’d take this in front of our friends, I tossed him the Skittles. It felt like I was trying to escape an angry bull by distracting him with something red and shiny. It worked for a little while. Right up until the end of the night, when the sky was a million stars and the bonfire had burned down to glowing embers. The conversation was lazy and quiet, but no less good. Cole looked over to me and nodded his head toward the path, asking a silent question.
We gave our farewells but insisted that no one get up on our account.
“Should we do this again soon?” Théo called out as we walked away.
“Soon!” we promised.
“Ready to go home?” Cole asked me when we were walking along the pebble path.
His home. Our home.
I smiled. “Let’s go.”
Weeks passed, and though Cole is concretely part of our weird, eclectic group now, my favorite nights aren’t when we’re out on the town with friends; it’s when he and I are building a life together, the steadfast, solid kind—the one that a teenager would find dead boring but that I find absolutely lovely. We’ve decided to take up cooking. We’re working our way through a cookbook by Chloe Ricci—it’s filled with easy summer meals and pastry desserts. We’re not too precious about it, so our finished products barely even resemble the glossy pictures in the book, but they taste amazing, so who even cares?
Believe it or not, we even cooked dinner for Serge and Blaze the other night. It was a double date. And more than that, it was fun!
On our days off, Cole and I explore the island together—hiking, biking, kayaking, snorkeling. We love it all. He’s even helped me come up with some new and exciting excursion ideas, including creative ways to make them slightly less injury inducing, so it’s a win-win for everyone.
This morning, we have an all-staff meeting at the crack of dawn in the Turtle Cove Ballroom. Cole is leading it, and I’m so proud of him, I’m front row center. I was the first person here (mostly because I walked here with him), but I still would have been early otherwise. If it were appropriate, I’d be wearing a T-shirt with his name on it and holding up a little witty sign like I’m a fangirl at his concert. In case it’s not completely obvious, I’m smitten. In love, deeply, obnoxiously, hopelessly. Lara and Camila joke that my relationship with Cole makes them want to throw up, and I get it! I make me want to throw up, too, but I just can’t stop smiling!
Lara and Camila suddenly look at me, and I try to relax my face, but I can’t.
I expect another eye roll, an audible gag, but they’re smiling too.
“Girl,” Lara hisses, her eyes widening with excitement.
What? What’d I miss?
This has been a long meeting—there’s a lot of ground to cover during these things because we don’t have them very often—and my caffeine isn’t cutting it this morning.
Cole worked late last night preparing for today. By the time he got home, I was already in bed, asleep. He woke me up by stringing a line of kisses up my stomach, starting at my navel as he pushed my nightshirt slowly up as he went. It was that delicious half-asleep, half-awake sensation that had me absolutely crazed for him by the time I came to and realized he was crawling on top of me while unbuttoning his shirt.
The moonlight was streaming in through the drapes on either side of our bed, the cool light highlighting his sharp cheekbones and piercing eyes. He slid into me slowly while he watched my reaction, feeding off my soft moans. I pulled him down to me and kissed him, and he whispered against my lips.
“I missed you today.”
And so, yeah, your girl is h-a-p-p-y.
But also highly distractible.
“What’s going on?”
I feel like the entire ballroom is looking at me, and upon further inspection, they totally are, even Cole.
“Paige, would you mind coming up onstage?” he asks me, his tone brimming with barely restrained excitement.