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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.”

“Kids aren’t in my near future and over the years, I’ve seen so many of Corbin’s teammates cheat on their girlfriends.”

Oakley jumps in. “John would never cheat. He knows it would be the end of his relationship with you and Corbin.”

“I don’t think he would, but his dad is a class-A jerk.

Having a sexual relationship with your son’s girlfriend is on a whole other level.

He’s been calling and texting John non-stop.

John seems worried. Last night, when we…

you know. Afterward, John’s phone buzzed.

He picked it up and looked at the preview while I lay on his chest. It said, ‘I’ll ruin you if you don’t do exactly… ’”

Gasping, they sit up on their chairs—all eyes on me.

“What?”

“You’re kidding?”

“What did it mean? Did John say anything?”

When I turn and put my feet in the sand, Roscoe climbs up on the lounger and lays both front paws and his head in my lap. I inhale deeply and blow out a breath. “No. He said it’s just his dad being his dad.”

Brooke’s lips flatline, her expression somewhere between sympathy and frustration. “My dad and Reed’s dad think he’s a pompous asshole.”

Reed’s dad is the NHL Commissioner, and Brooke’s dad is a coach, but they knew John’s dad when they played in the league.

Oakley agrees, “Corbin believes John’s dad is in the mafia. I know you all called him Godfather, and Corbin doesn’t think it was a coincidence.”

“Being a butthole doesn’t make you a criminal, Oakley.”

“Just sayin’. What if you get caught up in a mafia war? The other crime family kidnaps you and holds you for ransom, then John swoops in and saves you?” Oakley narrates like it’s from a mafia romance book.

Brooke, an avid romance reader who goes to the extent of highlighting and annotating her paperbacks, joins in on the fun. “Or what if his dad is a perv, has a hidden camera in the villa, and is going to use John’s fear of tropical lizards against him.”

Everyone bursts out laughing. I’ll remember this vacation/reunion forever. I’ve laughed so hard.

That first night on the island seems like months ago, but it’s only been a little over a week. So much has happened in a short period of time. When I showed up, Stella was with John but gone by the end of the day. Now he says he loves me. I know he does; I can feel it.

But now that we leave tomorrow, fear is creeping up my spine.

I’ve given my heart and body to John, a hockey player.

My brain is working overtime trying to figure out how in the world we’ll be able to see each other except when he plays Corbin.

I just took a week off and rarely have time to use my vacation days anyway.

In the corporate world, they pay you what seems like a dream salary.

What they don’t tell you is you’ll work eighty hours a week.

Someone taps on my shoulder, knocking me from my thoughts. “Hey, beautiful. A shell for your thoughts?” He hands me a large conch shell and covers my ear with his hands as he whispers, “Shiny and slick like your pussy. Pink like your face right now.”

“You live to embarrass me.”

“No one heard me.” He kisses me on the cheek, while he absently rubs my thigh. “You looked miles away. Your lips were corkscrewed.”

“I just hate for this to end.”

He sighs like he’s about to convince me that it will be fine. Instead, he picks me up, honeymoon style, and takes off running over the hot white sand and into the gentle rolling waves of the ocean, throwing me into the clear-blue water.

I come up from the chest-deep water, laughing, causing me to spit water.

“Game on, Basilio.” Jumping on his back, I try to kick the water but when he stands fully, only my toes can kick the water.

A few drops spray up on his legs. I try to wiggle off, but he holds my legs.

I ask him to bend down. When he does, I lean back and flip off his back.

Scampering through the water toward the water trampoline, we pass Bryce and Emmaline in the water hammock. Screaming, I do my best to get to the platform first. We get there at the same time, and John hoists me up, then himself. We hold hands, soaring into the air together.

“Is this what it feels like to be free?” My voice travels into the air.

When the spring in our jump slows down and lands back on the tight black mesh, he says, “No, this is what it feels like to be in love.”

Hanging on his words with only the salty air between us, my heart beats uncontrollably, and I’m not used to being out of control.

Nerves blossom in my stomach, the type that make me smile and hide all at once.

My legs are wet like noodles, but my world feels bright with promise.

Even the nagging thoughts of “after vacay” penetrate my thoughts.

He seems to feel my worry and kisses me slowly like he doesn’t care who sees. It’s deep and carnal like he could devour me at any moment. When we come out of the kiss, he mumbles promises of forever.

I thought we were out on the water all alone, but a roar of applause comes from behind us. “Woo,” they yell, happy that John and I found our way together.

I twist my body to see the Stallion gang grinning from ear to ear. Whistles shoot sharply through the air until half are on the trampoline with us, while the other half holds their drinks in the waist-deep water.

My cheeks burn with the thrill of being in love and being with my friends. I just wish Madison were here. But if she were here, John and I may not have happened. John grumbles softly, but even The Godfather can’t control his smile as the guys thump his back, and the girls jump with me in unison .

Our time in the sun may be over but we have one last hurrah.

After dinner, we head over to the Cocky Turtle one more time, hoping to end the vacation on the highest of highs.

Austin meets a girl from Kentucky, so we bring her into the fold, even if only for one night.

And to Austin’s surprise, she’s moving to Houston where he plays college hockey.

Dripping with sweat, holding my heels in my hand, John tells the group, “We’re going. My flight is at six in the morning, and I still need to pack up.”

Bryce and Emmaline take off with us and once they filter off to their villa, the air becomes thick with tension.

“Do you want to watch the moon rise? It’s supposed to be a full moon tonight.” he asks.

I muster up a nod, choking on my feelings. We walk past our villa to the large wooden swing hanging from a tree. He kicks off his shoes. The moon lights up, reflecting its glow on the sea in front of us. We silently swing with our toes grazing the sand, back and forth.

My heart aches with all the things I don’t dare say aloud.

Dread has penetrated my heart all the way to my bones as tomorrow plays tug of war with my mind.

Can what we’ve built in the span of ten days survive across phone lines and eighty-hour work weeks?

Can we make it work as a couple? I fear I’ll lose him one phone call at a time when they become fewer and farther between.

A string of excuses littering our phone feed.

A long-distance relationship feels fragile and uncontrollable.

This is way outside my comfort zone. I eat lunch at the same time every day, even if it’s at my desk.

I go to the gym every day without fail before work.

When Corbin’s season starts, I plan out which games I can go to in advance, and he secures tickets weeks in advance so I don’t worry.

When I eat at home by myself, the table is still set.

I’m a creature of habit and if Dennis hadn’t asked for the divorce, I’d probably still be married.

Not because I was happy but out of duty, responsibility, and the vows we exchanged. It makes me feel weak to think about it .

Brushing my hair back from my shoulder, John dives in like a hummingbird, tickling my neck with his lips.

“It scares me when you’re more quiet than usual.

I mean compared to most of the group, you’re fairly quiet but…

” He pauses, searching my face for a clue and says tenderly, “Don’t worry about us. We’ll figure it out.”

My voice skips like a frog in my throat. “I hate saying this, but what if we don’t make it outside of this bubble we’ve been living in?”

He runs his hands through my straight hair, stroking it several times before he says, “Seven hundred miles of asphalt can’t keep me from you.

With my new contract, I can afford to fly private.

I’ve waited too long for you to give me a chance to fuck it up now.

We’ll make a new bubble. The John and Becca Love Bubble. ”

I squeeze out a smile as he pulls me onto his lap, turning me to straddle him. “I love sundresses,” he says with his voice strained with need.

“We have our own bubble. I like it.”

“I have something else you like,” he says with a smirk and an uptick of his brows.

“Sure of yourself, huh?”

“Yep. Every time you moan my name, the confidence meter rises.” He places his hands on my hips so I’m bearing down on his erection. “Do you feel it?”

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction, I tease him. “Nope.”

“Then why are you grinding on me?”

“Just making sure you can get it up, Godfather.”

The corners of his mouth trend upward, somewhere between a smile and a smirk. The glint in his eyes could be the reflection of the moonlight, but more than likely, it’s the way I’m sweeping my center against him.

John squirms, taking himself out and using his thumb to move my thong to the side. “Is this big enough for you?” he asks as he lifts me enough to sink down on his shaft.

With one hand wrapped around the thick rope and the other around his neck, we sway back and forth while moving up and down. It’s slow and sensual. John pulls my head back by my hair and manages to multitask by sucking my neck and chest until I moan so loudly, the sleeping birds protest.

“God…”

“Don’t you dare say Godfather. God is perfect.”

My climax hits me like a supersonic train as I yell, “That’s blas-ph-emy.”

He keeps me pinned to him, and I feel his dick throbbing inside me. He bites down on my shoulder, and I swear he draws blood as his entire body shakes, and he releases inside me. I relax on his shoulder, and we soak in our last night together for I don’t know how long.