Page 63

I push the phone deep into my pocket, tucking away my anger with it. My dad doesn’t get to ruin my vacation and my newfound happiness. “Why would I when I have you?”

“Exactly.” She beams, setting my heart ablaze. “I’m standing on my tippy toes, so can you please kiss me?”

“All day, sweet thing.”

He goes back and forth, calling me sunshine, sweet thing, pretty thing, and the occasional baby. I must admit I love his pet names for me.

Our mouths meet in a flurry of kisses, lips parted. “Thank you. I’ll call him when I get home. I’m not wasting a single moment of this reunion vacation with you.”

The gang files in, loading up our plates from the fajita bar the concierge set up. We sit at a long table underneath the cabana, discussing our plans for the last few days, making sure we do something that each person wants to do.

Today, it’s all sand between our toes and zinc-covered noses for the co-ed beach volleyball tournament. We draw numbers forteams, then the games begin. Five on five. Becca and I are on opposite teams. She’s small but as athletic as it gets. However, her height puts her at a disadvantage, unable to spike the ball, but she does set up others nicely.

Becca’s team loses, and she cheers me on in the championship game—Bryce, Reed, Harper, and Brooke on my team, Corbin, Dane, Logan, Emmaline, and Lettie on the other. The rest of the crew digs their feet in the sand, watching while making fun and drinking. I think they’re the winners.

We play the game like we’re playing for the gold in the Olympics, and eventually, we get outscored by Corbin’s team. They have Dane and the two tallest girls of the group. Losers have to line dance after dinner at Pier Pressure.

Becca jumps up, giving me a consolation kiss, and I see Corbin shake his head, but he doesn’t say whatever it is that he’s thinking. If he thinks I can keep my hands off his sister, he’s dead wrong.

We gather our things and head back to our villas for a nap.

Tomorrow, we’re taking a hike to a waterfall. I’m not thrilled as my arms and legs are already burning from all the sex and the big tuna. The last thing I need is to go on a grueling hike and injure another body part. We’re all being somewhat careful but since we’re out of the media’s prying eyes, we’re taking more chances than we’re supposed to. My new contract with the Rattlers states that I can’t scuba dive, swim with sharks, jump from an airplane, and a bunch of other things. For some reason, all our contracts let us golf, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that you can twist your back and jam an arm after you tee off. True story. I beat my driver against the ground and was in shoulder pain for weeks.

It took weeks of physical therapy appointments to get it back to normal. But yeah, we can all golf.

Becca and I rinse off together in the outside shower. Sex isn’t even on either of our minds; we’re drained. She pulls on her buttercup yellow tank and her boy short underwear—myfavorite. They’re sporty, and the globes of her ass hang out. So fucking sexy. We lie on top of the covers but pull the lightweight throw made of bamboo over us.

“Can you believe that Dawes and Christina came to the beach together?” Becca asks as her fingers trail down my arm.

We’ve barely seen them together all week. She’s done a few things with the girls, and he’s gone with us guys every day to golf or fish. “They’ve been doing this hot-and-cold routine for years. Nothing they do surprises me.”

I move the hair from her neck.

“Yeah, they’re the textbook case study for indecisive couples.”

I lean her back and look in her eyes. “You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”

“About you? No. But we do have to face the fact that this will be hard long distance. I don’t want you to resent not having your freedom.”

“Becca, you are my freedom. Freedom from my dad. Freedom from hockey. Freedom from being lonely.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Becca

“Why does vacation pass faster than Superman flies to save Lois Lane?” I ask the girls on our last day of the Stallions Beach Reunion.

Oakley smirks. “Cause time flies when you’re having fun, and you’ve been having a good time.” Lettie snorts, and the rest snicker, even Christina.

I can’t help but smile. “I guess I have been. Being this happy in a relationship is foreign to me.”

Harper lies beside me with Roscoe, her emotional support dog. Suddenly, he perks up, the pads of his feet sinking into the sand, then he places his paw on my leg, staring at me. I run my fingers through his black fur, and he does it again.

“He knows you’re anxious.” Harper’s head falls to the side. “You okay?”

“How is it that a dog senses it before I do?” I ask. She shrugs. “I just don’t know how this is going to work with me and John living so far apart. The traveling. I didn’t want that kind of life, but I do want John.”

“I know football is better than hockey. Logan’s only gone three days a week, eight times a year, but you get used to it. I do my doctor thing so sometimes when he’s home, I’m not.The way we try to look at it is that it’s our special time with kids.”