Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Knowing what I know about Adler’s past life,” Wick said, giving me a wince, “I think that’s a real threat.”
“Oh, it is,” I told him. “So, you better keep me happy and full of food for now until eternity.”
“Think I can manage that,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze before we turned to the officiant.
Marco.
A man of many hats.
And someone who was capable of speaking, as it turned out.
It was an unfussy ceremony that ended with rings on our fingers and an embarrassingly long kiss in front of all of our loved ones.
“I can’t believe you served tacos for your wedding,” Layna said a few hours later, shaking her head as she loaded up her plate.
“I love it,” Gracie declared. “It’s so… you guys. Speaking of… where is Wick? I feel like I haven’t seen him since your first dance.”
My gaze swept the room, realizing that she was right. I hadn’t seen him either.
“Maybe he went to the bean to spread rose petals and chill some champagne,” Gracie said, picking up on the panic on my face.
We’d decided to spend the night in the bean before heading off on our honeymoon. Did that mean yet another rainforest walk? Yes. But it just felt… very like us.
“Maybe,” I agreed, taking a taco and starting to eat, but not really tasting it.
Because the longer I stood there, the weirder it felt that Wick was missing.
“Have you seen Wick?” I asked my parents when I decided I was too worried about him to eat. “What is it?” I asked when they shared a look.
“I believe he said something about… the bean.”
“Seriously?” I asked. “Why would he go without me?”
I mean, it was going to be dark soon. He was going to make me find my way there alone? With the mosquitoes the size of cars?
“Perhaps he wanted to… set things up,” my mother suggested.
If I’d been paying close enough attention, I might have noticed something off in her tone. As it was, all I could think was how I needed to get going if I didn’t want to be lost in the pitch-black forest alone. Without someone to smush bugs for me.
“I… should go. But…” I said, waving toward the crowd.
“Oh, please. We’ve all had wedding nights,” my mom said. “We get it. Go find your husband.”
Husband.
I’d just gotten used to fiancé.
This new title was going to take a while.
I rushed back to the suite, slipping into a pair of cargo pants, high socks, hiking boots, and a tee. I tied up my hair then sprayed myself with so much bug spray that I choked.
I grabbed my overnight backpack, a flashlight, and a big bottle of water, then caught a ride to the edge of the forest that would be nearest to the eco resort.
I’d never done the trip alone. I mean, sure, when we were staying at the bean, I would take little walks by myself, but never so far that I needed to walk for hours all by myself.
“Hoooly crap, you’re enormous,” I yelped as a massive moth flew in front of my flashlight. “You’re kinda cool looking, but if you attach yourself to me, I will lose my shit.”
Luckily, it stayed in place. And nothing more than some fireflies bothered me for the rest of the hike. Well, nothing that I saw, anyway.
But by the time I neared the bean, I was grumbling, sweaty, and ready to give Wick a piece of my mind.
I softened the second I saw the rose petals scattered on the bed.
Until I saw the note in the center.
Catch me if you can, duchess.
“You can’t be serious,” I grumbled, dropping my ass on the bed, thinking how nice it would be to just curl up and sleep after such a long day.
I was tempted, even, to do just that. Lock the door and go to sleep. Alone. On my wedding night.
That would teach Wick to mess around on such a special occasion.
But, well, the more I thought about it, the more full-circle it felt.
“Ugh,” I grumbled, getting back to my feet and walking to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out at the darkened rainforest, trying to imagine where he would plan for our little reunion.
There were so many places in the rainforest that were meaningful to us.
The waterfall, in particular, came to mind. But the thing was, the rainforest was an ever-changing place. No spot would look the same from one season to the next. We’d actually tried to find the bridge I’d dangled from once, but we couldn’t find our way back.
Besides, the waterfall was incredibly far from the bean. There was no way he would have made it there.
And while the waterfall was where our potential death had really forced us to confront our feelings for each other, it wasn’t anywhere near the beginning of our story.