The Worst Wedding Date

“Oh my god, we’re flying!”

I grin at Laney in the seat next to me beneath our parasail as we rise higher and higher above the sea. Her eyes are huge. Her knuckles are white on the bar in front of us. And a split second after her shrieked exclamation, she tosses her head back and laughs. “We’re flying!”

Beneath us, the ocean’s a brilliant blue against miles and miles of beach, with more appearing as we go higher. Palm trees. Black lava rock fields. The volcano watching over the island. Clouds lingering beyond it.

The boat pulling us below cuts a path through the water, leaving white wakes in its trail as we climb to altitude.

And Laney laughs again. “This is insane!”

“This is fun.”

She looks at me, eyes sparkling. “This is insane.”

“Like it?”

“Depends on the minute.”

Her hair whips around her head, but she doesn’t let go of the bar to push it back. “Do you do stuff like this all the time?”

“As often as possible.”

“It’s so pretty up here. You can see forever. Like being on top of a mountain.”

“But a little warmer.”

She laughs again.

And it’s gorgeous.

All of that pink rising high in her cheeks. The wild hair. Swimsuit under her life vest.

That smile.

I want to put that smile on her face every day for the rest of her life.

Not that I’m fooling myself about her place in my future.

Her parents get here later today. No matter where she’s at in figuring out she can’t live for them, I don’t see her picking me over them.

And even if she did, the minute she finds out about my side hustle with GrippaPeen, it’ll be you can’t do that and date me. Your side hustle or me, Theo.

If it’s not a flat-out I cannot believe I slept with a porn star with a heavy dose of horror.

Either one is a relationship-killer, and a major part of why I’ve dated less and less the bigger my channel has grown.

But I have today. I have this moment. And I have something I can give her that she won’t find anywhere else.

A morning of fun. More orgasms. The full-on, best-of-the-best Theo Monroe treatment.

“Theo. Look.” She points down at the water where a huge dark shadow is moving. “Is that a whale?”

I settle an arm around her and lean over into her space as much as I can in our parasailing seat while I look too. “Dunno.”

The shadow gets bigger and darker, and then—

“It is!” she squeals while a waterspout erupts from the surface of the ocean. A moment later, we see its tail as it flips and heads back down under. “I’ve never seen a whale before.”

“Never?”

She shakes her head. “Have you?”

“Haven’t traveled much.”

“We’re sharing a first.” She smiles at me, then tucks a wild flying lock of hair behind her ear. The ponytail she put in earlier isn’t doing much to keep the wispy flyaways out of her eyes. “For all the places I’ve been in the world, I’ve never gone off the beaten path. It’s always museums and landmarks and safe resort tours. But you’ve probably seen things back home that I can’t even dream of.”

“Ever go backpacking? Sleep under the stars?”

She shakes her head again.

“Want to?”

“In the snow?”

“We can.”

“That’s—” She cuts herself off with a laugh. “Very adventurous.”

“Crazy?”

“I said adventurous.”

“Not what you wanted to say.”

“Excuse you. If I don’t call you crazy, you can’t call me boring.”

I lean in and kiss that smile.

Can’t help myself.

The number of years I’ve wanted that smile aimed at me, and now there’s no mistaking the fact that it’s all mine.

There’s no one else up here with us to smile at.

And when she cups my cheek and kisses me back, five hundred feet over the ocean, no fear, no worries, no cares—

This.

This is all I’ve ever wanted.

“Have you ever jumped out of a plane?” she asks.

“Nope.”

“No?”

“Won’t.”

“Why not?”

“Emma asked me not to.”

She tilts her head and studies me, getting brave enough to take both hands off the bar now. One keeps trying to control her hair.

The other settles on my thigh.

It’s nice to not have to explain this one to Laney.

Pretty sure she knows Emma lost a friend to a skydiving accident in college.

“This is different, huh?” she asks.

“Already know the chute works.”

“You gonna tell her?”

“If she asks.” I settle my hand over Laney’s.

She doesn’t pull away.

Instead, she flips her hand upside down and intertwines our fingers.

Like this is real.

Like it’s a thing.

Simmer down, I tell my heart.

Fucker doesn’t listen.

Especially when she squeals again. “Four whales! Look! Four of them!”

“Wanna swim with them?”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t. It’s their water. Let them have it.”

I side-eye her.

She smiles wider. “It’s not an excuse. It’s how I feel. I’d swim with dolphins though.”

“What else?”

“Stingrays? Although, we did that once at a resort in the Caribbean. Stop. Don’t make that face. You know where I come from.”

“So what’s on your adventure bucket list?”

“Hot-air balloon ride.”

Zero hesitation. None. “Done,” I tell her. “You. Me. Hot-air balloons in Denver. Next week.”

“June. And don’t even try to that’s no fun, Laney, live a little me about this. I refuse to be terrified and freezing and subject to unpredictable winter winds that close to the mountains.”

She’s researched hot-air balloons.

Adorable. I like it. Very Laney of her.

“June,” I agree. “What else?”

“Zip lining.”

“Added to the list.”

“Have you zip-lined?”

“Yep.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Of course you have. Probably bungee jumped too. And pretty much anything I can think of except maybe the hot-air balloon. Wait. Have you hot-air ballooned before?”

I laugh. “No. That’s one I haven’t done.”

“What else haven’t you done?”

I look out at the ocean. Love the view from up here. Really gives perspective. “Not much.”

“But there is something left on your list?”

There is.

It’s a big one.

“Theo?”

I blow out a breath.

Here I am, giving Laney an adventure of her lifetime, terrified to tell her what’s on my own big scary things list.

Can’t have that, can we?

“I want to fall in love.”

Her eyes widen and her lips form a small o, like she wasn’t expecting me to go there.

But I have. And now I’m all in. I look her square in the eye. “Not the happy kind of love. Not whatever it is Emma has. It’s what she wants for her, great. But I want more. I want ecstatic love. Purpose love. I want a love that’s the very reason for my existence. I want a love that makes life make sense, and I want a love that makes me want to be better. My own kind of better. Fuck happy. Fuck easy. Fuck settling. I want everything.”

She doesn’t blink.

Doesn’t look away.

Just stares at me, listening.

Absorbing.

Yearning?

Does she feel it? Does she get it? Does she want everything too?

“That sounds terrifying,” she whispers.

“That’s how I know it’s right.”

There’s a tug at the line.

I look down at the boat and wave.

Captain’s pulling us in.

Laney doesn’t say anything else on the way down.

She’s polite to the captain while he gets us back on the boat and pulls us to shore, then drops us at the dock.

We need to get back to the resort.

I know we do.

More wedding stuff. Bridal shower or something later this morning.

Not that I have a gift left.

Could dash into the gift shop, but I’m not feeling it.

Better to not take anything at all than to take something Chandler will deem wrong.

Laney slips her hand into mine as we leave the dock and head down the street for the half-mile or so walk back to the resort once she’s covered up her swimsuit. “You make me want to live more,” she whispers.

Here.

She wants to live more here.

Could I make her want that at home too though? Is dating an online adult entertainment star something she’d call living? Would she take a leap that big for me?

I squeeze her hand. “You make me want to misbehave.”

She laughs.

And then she does the least Laney-like thing I’d ever expect, and she pulls me behind a building and kisses me.

And pulls me deeper behind the building to a small little enclosed garden.

And kisses me more.

And slips her hand down my pants and strokes me.

And then she drops to her knees.

In public.

Where anyone could walk by and see.

And she licks me. Sucks me into her mouth. Strokes me with her tongue and takes me deeper until I’m panting.

Dying.

Coming.

Coming so hard down her throat.

Right here. In public.

Fuck me.

I like this Laney Kingston.

I like her a lot.

And it’ll hurt like hell when this is over.