The Paradise Problem
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Read between October 9 - October 13, 2025
1%
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West’s eyes are the color of sunlight passing through a glass of whiskey.
11%
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Google tells me that West is the son of a billionaire, and a glance at my banking app tells me I am a thirty-dollaraire.
14%
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She leans forward and hugs me. “This is going to be a disaster. I’m so excited!”
18%
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Being an artist is sometimes about not being afraid to do it badly first.
23%
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“Calm down,” he says, smirking. “I peeked, too.”
32%
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“I have a complicated relationship with my mother,” I admit. “I get it,” she says easily. “Is it like, your dad is a dick, and your mom enables it?”
36%
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“Don’t you fucking touch the lips,” he says, voice hoarse. “You look amazing.”
38%
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I realize, just before we touch, that he’s about to erase everything I know about the act of kissing.
40%
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Without thinking about it, I bend, giving her a soft, brief kiss on the lips. Before she can react, I speak into her ear: “You’re pretty good at this, too.” Her breath shakes on my neck. “At what?” “All of it.”
42%
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What an asshole I was for thinking she snuck out with Jamie. What an archaic, bullshit reaction. I can’t help the smile, can’t help the thought as it rises like the dark tide only a handful of yards away: it’s complicated, but I’m so grateful that Anna’s here.
44%
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“I just remind myself I’m here doing a job. I don’t ever have to see her again after this.” West swallows and then nods. “Good.”
44%
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Just ask. The two sexiest words ever spoken by an unreadable man.
44%
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This damaged, hot man.
44%
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Absently, he reaches forward, toying with the tie of my bikini that hangs over one shoulder. And I’m trying to pay attention, but his hands are so warm and the fact that he’s grounding himself with his fingers on me? That feels… incredible.
52%
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I’m positive they saw my butt crack and am so thankful eighteen-year-old Anna never got the Elmo ass tattoo she’d fallen in love with while high on mushrooms.
54%
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In truth, Chiara got me at my worst—from ages eighteen to twenty-one, privileged beyond belief and totally unaware, several years pre-therapy. Tragically, our relationship spanned the years where I was utterly destroyed by my father—so she was right, I hardly ever knew what I was feeling. It’s not that I was apathetic, but I hadn’t yet learned how to give names to the tension inside me. I have now. A decade after my breakup with Chiara, I know when I’m happy, when I’m angry, when I’m frustrated, anxious,
54%
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lonely, hurt, embarrassed, elated. I let myself feel things; I don’t shy away from big, consuming emotions. So it’s bewildering now to be unable to identify this churning, rioting feeling in my gut.
57%
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It is the comfort of having an ally. It is the powerlessness of infatuation. It is the terrifying beginning of more.
58%
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But I know that in all the times Dad sat with me on the swings in the backyard while I cried over friends or boys or school or my mom, never once did he tell me to cheer up, to try to see the bright side, to have a positive attitude. He knew I was an upbeat kid, and when I wanted to feel bad, he let me feel bad. The only thing he ever said was “It’ll get better.” And he was never wrong.
58%
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“Boredom never killed anyone.” I bump her shoulder with mine. “It just made them wish it would.”
63%
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And this, right here, is where I don’t know what to do. I don’t know whether I’m supposed to laugh at Anna Green, ravage her, or marry her all over again—but this time for real.
73%
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Anna nods in my hands and stretches to kiss me. “I adore this island. I hate the mess. But I really, really, really like you.” I smile against her lips. “I really, really, really like you, too.”
74%
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I’m between my brothers at the altar, with my sister taking her careful steps up to the stage, and I can’t stop staring at Anna. I feel the longing solidify into realization: I want our marriage to be real. Marrying her for student housing was the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done, and it turns out it might have been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
83%
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“He doesn’t sound evil,” Dad says quietly. “Just broken.”
83%
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“When we care about someone, they deserve the benefit of the doubt. We have to consider not only what they did, but also why they did it. Intent matters,”
88%
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“I want all of you. I want to give you everything I have.” His lips linger on mine one more time. “There are no strings attached to what I’m offering,” he tells me. “I just want you. I just want to love you.”
90%
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His gaze drops to my lips. “Are you saying you love me, Anna Green?” “I’m saying I love you madly, West Weston.” Liam stands from his chair, unconcerned with the tables of people around us as he pulls me into his arms, just like the man in the painting. “I love you, too,” he says against my cheek. “I have been aching to say it for so long.”
91%
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“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”