How to Honeymoon Alone

by Olivia Hayle

“I get the sense that you’re not feeling like your best self,” I say. “If you want to talk about it, I’m a good listener. But it’s perfectly all right if you don’t want to.”

“And I’m not afraid to use it. I’ll pay you back in knowledge.” His lips twitch. “You’re going to make me regret this, aren’t you?” “Probably,” I say. “But I’ll make sure you learn a lot of useless trivia along the way.”

A hand curves lightly around my waist, and then his voice is by my ear. His breath tickles my skin. “Sit back properly, Eden,” he says. “It’s safer.”

He turns to face me fully. “You’ve been looking for me?” he asks and sounds inordinately pleased by that fact.

“The guidebook told me all about the shipwreck we’re headed to,” I say. “I was planning on sharing that information with you, but now I won’t. I’ll just let you swim over it like an ignorant dork.”

“I mean… yeah, I’m not going to miss the five-minute sessions.” “Five minutes,” Phillip mutters. “Right. So, with the dipshit, you had participation trophy sex?”

“I like winning… and I like making sure the woman I’m with wins, too. Several times.”

“Keeping secrets, Meyer? From your new wife?” He chuckles. “Only ones she’s not ready to hear, yeah.”

“Do you want to get murdered and give me a story?” His eyes widen, and then he smiles. It lights up his tanned face. “By you? Any day.”

He kisses my lips gently before tracing the edge of my jaw. “I didn't expect this, Eden. I didn't expect you.”

“I have no idea,” he says. “I don't know what I've been doing this entire trip.” “Vacation self,” I murmur. He runs his fingers over my wet hair before coming to rest on the bare skin of my neck. “Maybe,” he says quietly. “Or maybe it's just me, and it’s just you.”

“Good thing you’re a self-controlled lawyer with the discipline of steel.” He glances down at my legs. “I used to be,” he mutters. “Now, I’m someone who competes in sack racing.”

Getting attached wasn’t part of the deal. Not the one I made with him, and definitely not the one I made with myself.

“You’re the most wonderful thing I never saw coming. I need more of it in my life.”