Page 24

1 Year Later

Violet

“What the hell was that?” Hope yelped, plowing into Layna’s back.

“A bird-eater spider,” I told her, the resident field guide of our little group.

“It eats birds?” Gracie asked, eyes round.

“Hummingbirds,” I confirmed.

“Okay. That snake was kind of creepy, all dangling from the tree,” Layna said. “But I think you were right about trying to sacrifice Wick to those things. Why is it looking at me all… attacky?”

This little bridal party excursion wasn’t my first trip back to the rainforest since we’d just barely made it out with our lives a year before.

Actually, I’d grown pretty familiar with the place, thanks to several visits with Wick. Because, well, he wanted to build more beans.

Once the whole truth came out—with no small amount of publicity that Wick had to face—there was a lot more awareness brought to the idea of eco resorts.

Ever since, Wick had been raising money from investors—as well as sinking a fair amount of his own cash—into the idea.

He wanted to build them in a bunch of lovely places on Earth he believed more people should see—with as little a footprint as possible—but since the first bean was actually already built in the rainforest, he thought it might be a good place to start.

To date, there were four beans built and ready for occupation.

Hence the little girls’ trip before the actual wedding.

Everyone else was staying in an actual resort—large footprints included since not all of our people were open to the idea of compost toilets and no air conditioning. But the girls had been willing to stay in the beans and take a little day trip into the rainforest.

Only, this time, I was not only more experienced—and slightly less terrified of the creepy crawlers—but we had put some eco-friendly markers to follow to lead back to safety, if we needed it, and Wick knew where to find us if something went wrong. And I had noise makers and such to lead him right to us.

And, well, there was no one chasing and trying to murder us.

Always a win.

“Can I just say how weird it is that you wanted to take a rainforest hike the morning of your wedding?” Hope said, slapping the side of her neck, though I was pretty sure she was imagining an insect landing there.

“I had a lot of nervous energy,” I admitted. “I wanted to walk it off.”

“Nervous why?” Gracie asked. “You couldn’t be more in love with Wick.”

“The man picked out the perfect engagement ring for you,” Layna agreed.

He had.

It was a simple, unfussy white gold band with a black diamond. On the inside, he had it engraved.

In love and tacos.

There wasn’t a drop of doubt in me that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Wick.

I was more antsy about the ceremony itself. The rainforest walk had managed to ground me, remind me of how I’d first fallen for him in the first place.

For him, I would dive into any jungle with assassins nipping at our heels and gross bugs scheming our demise. I would endure a total lack of plumbing, baths in questionably clean water, storms, crushing, bug bites, and whatever else the world might throw at us.

I would even stand up in front of everyone I knew in a dress and declare my love for the world to hear.

“There he is!” Gracie said, waving a hand at Marco as we exited the forest to find him waiting with the Jeep.

“You’re totally most upset about the dress, aren’t you?” Hope asked, hanging back with me as the others rushed to the car.

Hope, a fellow practical girlie who’d maybe only ever worn a dress twice in her life, understood my reluctance.

“Yeah.” Even though I’d picked out the least… girly dress I could find.

“Well, I found it helped to imagine my husband peeling it off of me as soon as we were alone again.”

That mental image was enough to get me through all the bathing, primping, and dressing that followed.

We hadn’t gone for a fancy black-tie wedding. Given the backdrop of the actual rainforest, we’d opted for casual and tropical.

Sure, my dress was white. But it was a flowy number with spaghetti straps and a hem embroidered with several of the creatures I’d grown so fond of—Hank the boob-resting lizard, the mustached monkey, a baby capybara, a scarlet macaw, and my little grumpy cave frog friend.

My bouquet was small, featuring orchids that grew in their lovely wild glory in the rainforest as well.

My bridal party was in similarly simple dresses in tropical colors of their choosing.

The groomsmen were in matching cream linen shorts and button-up shirts.

And Wick himself was in the same sort of outfit, but in all white.

There was no need for decorations, not with the rainforest lending the most gorgeous backdrop imaginable.

My legs felt unexpectedly wobbly as my father led me toward my fiancé.

“Was worried you would never slow down and enjoy life outside of work,” my father said, giving my arm a squeeze. “Really glad to see that’s changed. And that you found someone to put up with your arse,” he said, shooting a smirk and a wink at me before passing me off to Wick. “She’s all yours. But don’t break her heart. Or the beetles really will be eating your intestines,” he said, clamping a hand on Wick’s shoulder before turning around to join my mom and the rest of his club brothers and their wives.

“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.

He wasn’t crazy enough to have gone all the way back to Miami.

And the alley where he’d first grabbed and confronted me had recently been overtaken by one of the buildings, being used as a storage space.

Which left… the airport to the Galapagos.

Or Santa Cruz.

Or, of course, Isla Perdita.

“You’re a pain in my ass, Wick,” I grumbled to myself as I looked back out at the rainforest, trying to decide if I should chase him then, or waited until morning.

I mean, after all, the planes wouldn’t fly to the islands at night.

Maybe it would serve him right to sit alone at the airport his whole wedding night, worrying about me.

“Dammit,” I sighed, rolling my neck.

I couldn’t wait until morning.

He would get the first plane off and I’d have no chance of catching him.

And as much as I’d like to claim I was evolved enough about not wanting to snag him, I wasn’t.

Spraying on some more bug repellent for good measure, I refilled my water, grabbed the hunting knife stored in the bean, then headed back out, trailing rose petals as I went.

By the time I emerged from the rainforest, it was nearing morning, everything was aching, and I was ready to prove to my husband that he couldn’t beat me.

The road from the rainforest to the airport was long enough for me to doze off and catch some much-needed sleep.

Even though I hadn’t wasted time, I didn’t see Wick at the airport.

Though I did find someone waiting holding a sign with my name on it, a large coffee, and something in a brown bag.

I didn’t need to look inside to know it was a blueberry muffin.

Tired, achy, sticky from old sweat, I was still smiling as I sat down in my seat to drink my coffee, eat my muffin, and reminisce about how much life had changed in the course of a year.

I’d gone from being a complete workaholic, couch surfing, zoning out with TV shows in my free time, and feeling a loneliness I didn’t even share with my closest friends, to only working when I really liked a case, having a home with Wick in Navesink Bank, but also exploring the world with him, visiting all the places he thought I needed to see, and so in love that it was almost painful to be away from Wick for too long.

The plane landed, and I was feeling a little more human thanks to the coffee and muffin.

So good, in fact, that when I saw a familiar white straw hat walking toward the docks, I broke into a sprint.

I didn’t slow down.

I ran at him at full force, knocking him to the ground and coming down on top of him.

He made a grunt as he pushed up and rolled over.

I knew a second before I saw his face that something was wrong. He smelled wrong. Felt wrong.

The man below me shot me a smile, clearly in on the game, then nodded his head over toward the docks.

Where freaking Wick was beaming at me as his speedboat pulled away.

“Damn you,” I grumbled at his retreating form. I climbed off the stranger. “Nice hat,” I said to him as he got to his feet. “I hope he paid you to get tackled.”

“He said I might get knocked around a bit,” he said, patting the sand off his clothes.

I rushed toward the dock, frustrated when I had to wait for the next speedboat to fill up before we took off toward Santa Cruz.

By the time I made it off one speedboat on the next island, Wick was already idling inside another, shooting me a playful grin.

“You’re gonna pay for this!” I called as I spotted his personal speedboat still docked. One of the workers stood there, holding the rope, ready to release it when I jumped in.

I hadn’t grown any fonder of speedboats since that first trip to the Galapagos. And I’d only gotten behind the wheel once, and hated that even more.

But there was Wick, turning his boat in a little circle, face daring me.

“Dammit,” I grumbled, rushing down the dock, throwing my bag into the boat, then climbing inside.

Before I could even get my nerve up to tease the throttle forward, Wick took off, leaving waves in his wake that rocked my boat.

“Ugh,” I grumbled, knuckles white as I eased the throttle forward. My stomach bottomed out as the boat lurched forward.

I’d love to claim that being in control of the vessel helped me overcome my fear and borderline seasickness.

But that would be a lie.

I wanted to race Wick, to beat him to Isla Perdita.

But he left me in his dust as I kept a granny hold on the throttle, getting to the dock long after he’d climbed off and tied down his boat, then promptly disappeared.

“There better be a bath drawn for me and a back rub in my future,” I said as I gracelessly climbed off the boat and did my best to mimic the tie Wick had done with the other boat before walking down the dock toward the island house.

“Wick!” I called as I went inside.

But, somehow, I knew he wasn’t in there.

That didn’t mean I didn’t stop for a nice, cold drink. And to strip out of my rainforest clothes and into a bathing suit before making my way back out of the house.

I snatched an orange off a tree as I walked through the forest, cooing at a tortoise as he crossed in front of me.

“If you see Hank, tell him I said hi, okay?” I said when he finally moved out of my way so I could keep going forward.

When I broke out of the woods, my gaze immediately found Wick.

On his back in the sand, eyes closed, looking as peaceful as a man on his honeymoon should.

Well, I couldn’t allow that, could I?

Sucking in a deep breath, I ran toward him.

I thought I had the element of surprise, but before I could get to him, he was up on his feet.

I threw myself on his back. The impact of my body weight sent him down onto his knees in the sand.

“Hey, duchess,” he said. “Glad you finally made it.”

“Who told you it would be a fun wedding night for me to trek through the dark rainforest alone, twice?”

“You had a blast, admit it,” he said, trying to pull me off of him, but I was holding on too tight.

Honestly, by comparison, a simple night of performative consummation of our marriage sounded pretty boring.

“At least this is something we can tell the grandkids about,” Wick said. Giving up on trying to remove me, he got to his feet, then walked us into the ocean instead.

I slid around him, legs around his waist, arms around his neck, sucking in a slow, deep breath.

“You know, there’s one major perk to you owning a private island,” I said.

“ Us owning a private island,” Wick corrected, hands sinking into my ass, dragging me against him, making me fully aware that he had the same thing in mind as I did.

“Us owning a private island,” I said. “Lots of naked, loud, outdoor sex with no one around to see.”

Wick’s lips went to my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.

“But if you try to strand me here, you will pay for it.”

“Maybe I like having you chase me down.”

“You’ll never get away from me now,” I told him, pressing my lips to his. “I have actual paperwork that says so.”

“Duchess, there’s no one in the world I’d rather be shackled to. Speaking of,” he said, shooting me a saucy smile, “did you happen to pack those handcuffs of yours?”

XX