Chapter 35

The plane touches down in Fiji.

Neither of us told a soul that we were flying halfway across the world to whisper our vows to one another. It’s deviant; it’s everything that no one will expect. And that’s why I love it so much. It’s the ultimate surprise to everyone, but it also gives us the opportunity to be alone. Just us.

Easton hasn’t stopped smiling, and, fuck, neither have I.

We depart the private jet and a limo picks us up and drives us to the mansion he rented. We get out and stumble to the door, laughing, barely able to keep our mouths and hands off one another. We’ve been stupidly giddy since we left the States. We’re like teenagers in love, completely unpredictable and unapologetic.

“One hour,” he says, pressing me against the wooden door. “Are you ready to be my wife?” he growls against my lips.

“Yes.” I laugh as he wraps his arm around my waist. “Do you mind being late to our wedding?”

“That would be tragic.” He chuckles. “They’d wait all night for us though.”

There’s a knock on the door and it’s the only thing that breaks us from our trance.

“Shit, our luggage. We need that,” Easton mutters against my lips.

I step aside, smoothing my hair down on my head as the driver sets our suitcases by the door. Easton generously tips our driver, and soon, we’re alone again.

I take a few steps toward him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’m happy we’re doing this.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he says after I steal another kiss.

If we get started, we really will be late.

When we walk farther into the house, I notice all the walls are windows, and the blue ocean goes on for miles. There’s a pool back there too.

I gasp.

“Surprise,” he says, grinning. “I knew you’d react like that. Totally worth it.”

“You always have the best views.”

A small smile meets his lips. “Only when you’re in the frame.”

“You’re very good at that,” I tell him, playfully poking him in the side as I walk back to my suitcase and dress. Even he, all muscle and tattoos, wiggles away from me.

“At what?” He walks toward his suitcase.

“Saying the right thing at the right time.”

“Oh, that,” he says, but that grin tells me he knew what I was referring to. “I’ll see you on the beach in forty-five minutes?”

“I’ll be there,” I tell him, wheeling my suitcase to the largest bedroom in the house.

The bathroom is connected, and I can’t take my eyes off the beach. It looks like a calendar picture, all of it. I hang my dress on the hook in the bathroom and take it from its travel bag. I’m not sure how I managed to get this dress delivered to me before we left, but I did. It’s white with a keyhole neck, an open back, and a slit that goes to my middle thigh. The skirt is flowy and I feel like a goddess as I walk. I slide on some strappy silver sandals. As I sit on the edge of the bed, I replay it all.

Deep in my heart, I know this is the right thing to do. Easton wants to be mine, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him to be his. If it’s wrong, I don’t ever want to be right.

After I’m dressed, there’s a knock on my door.

“Please don’t be late.”

I can tell he’s grinning and can imagine the expression on his perfect face.

“We’ll see,” I say. After one last look, I take a selfie with the ring, and the fading sunlight leaks through the windows.

As the smile touches my lips, I grab Easton’s ring and the handwritten vows I started this morning. The butterflies go wild. I take another deep breath, then I follow the walking path that leads directly to the beach. The wind blows, and when I look up, I don’t see anything I recognize in the night sky, but the stars are still there.

Two torches are lit and shoved into the sand because the sun should fully set right after we finish our vows. When my toes are in the sand, Easton’s gaze is on mine. His hair blows in the breeze as the waves crash behind him. His khaki pants are rolled to his calves, and a white button-up shirt is rolled to his elbows. A smile fills his face as I walk toward him. It’s like a magnet pulls me directly to him.

“Hi, Lexi,” the officiant says as I stare at Easton.

“Hello,” I offer.

“Easton stated you’d be starting, so when you’re ready,” he says.

I give him a smile and nod, bringing my attention back to the man I’m about to marry. He lifts his hand to my cheek and I lean into his touch.

“So fucking gorgeous.”

“You are,” I whisper, feeling like I’m drowning in his blue eyes.

It’s then that he fully captures me. All of me. And I think he knows it too.

“Easton.” I laugh, holding the paper and swallowing down my excitement. “Honest truths with you, always. I considered not spilling my heart out and writing something generic, but I’m all about the adventure, and my daddy always told me to let the truth set me free. I know I suck at first impressions, and I have the worst timing in the world.”

His head falls back with laughter, messy curls bounce, and his blue eyes meet mine.

“But,” I continue, smiling. “Somehow, you find that adorable.”

“Because it is.”

“That’s how I knew you accepted me, my humor, and who I am at my core. My essence. I was nervous about what I’d say, worried I’d say too much or too little, and then I remembered that you want me for me.”

I meet his eyes with a smile, then return to the page.

“I’m so happy to be your person. I want to be the one who will join you on crazy life adventures, like getting married on a whim in Fiji because we can. Or sleeping in a one-person tent with a child-sized sleeping bag when in forty-degree weather. Or watching the Milky Way rise as the crickets surround us.” I pause, remembering what else happened. I think he’s reliving it too.

“Next up is dancing at Stonehenge and ice-skating at Rockefeller Center. And I know this is happening so fast, like a whirlwind, but they say love happens when you least expect it. I wasn’t expecting you, Easton. I was avoiding you, avoiding love, avoiding living. But here you are, and I’m so grateful we found each other. I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. I know you’re the man I’m supposed to marry. I care about you so deeply,” I whisper. “I’m honored to be your friend, lover, and soon, your wife.”

He moves forward, and the officiant doesn’t say anything as Easton grabs my cheeks and kisses me.

“I couldn’t wait. I’m sorry. I needed to kiss you so desperately.”

I laugh against his mouth. “I needed it too.”

“That was perfect,” he says, touching my forehead before pulling away and sliding his notebook from his pocket. He removes the lid from his pen.

“Alexis Lexi Matthews, my fiancée, my biggest inspiration, and my soon-to-be wife. When I look at you, I see a life that I didn’t think would ever be possible for me. A life full of laughs, love, and experiences that I couldn’t have with anyone else.” He meets my eyes, glancing back at the page.

“The moment I looked into your eyes, I knew I’d found what I’d been searching for my entire life—you. Everything changed for me that day. And I know we joke that your timing is shit, but what if it’s just right? Because those tiny little mistakes led up to this very moment, the one we’re living right now. You are the woman who’s taught me what love truly is because I know you can’t be bought. I’m in love with you, Lexi. And I already know that I’ll love you until I take my last dying breath.” He smiles at me, continuing with his pen on paper.

“One second, love,” he whispers, grinning. His voice is husky, mixed with his intense gaze that sends goose bumps flying over my skin. “Stay like that for me a little longer. You’re so fucking beautiful.”

I laugh and a few tears spill down my cheeks because I know he’s drawing this moment, right now, in his book, and everything he said was straight from his heart. He finishes, shoving the notebook into his pocket, removing the space to kiss away the happy tears. I told him to prove he’s worth spending forever with, and somehow, he has.

“Before me and yourselves, you’ve proclaimed your love. Do you have the rings?”

We nod, meeting one another’s eyes, and slide the symbols onto our fingers.

The officiant smiles. “Please seal it with a kiss from now to eternity.”

My mouth crashes against Easton’s, and I’m lost in his touch as he slowly kisses me.

“My wife,” he whispers.

“My husband,” I say. The word feels foreign on my tongue, but it also feels right, like this is how it was always supposed to be.

When we pull away, Easton takes my hand, and we turn and watch the dark red sun hang lazily on the horizon. The sky bursts in rays of orange and pink as the fading light reflects across the water. It dips below the Earth, and we hold on to one another.

As I turn around, I realize we’re alone, just the two of us, exactly how I wanted. “I don’t ever want to forget this,” I admit.

Easton smiles, pulls his notebook from his pocket, and flips it to the last page. He turns it to show me the sketch. Me, with my hair blowing in the wind, smiling with the beach and sun behind me.

“This is how you see me?”

“Yes,” he says, smiling and kissing my forehead. “Gorgeous and deviant.”

I wrap my arm around his waist, tugging him against me. “Now what?”

“We’re going out,” he tells me, taking my hand and leading me back to the house.

When we’re inside, he changes shoes. I run my fingers through my hair. “Ready?”

“Yes, hubby,” I say, and when we walk outside, the Mustang is waiting for us in the driveway.

“How?”

He shrugs. “I’ve got ways.”

Easton and I climb in. We drive across town, elated, and Easton parks in front of a rustic bar.

“They only play oldies,” he says. “Tonight, we’re boomers.”

“No way,” I tell him.

“Adventures.”

Easton grabs my hand and we walk inside, our fingers interlocked.

It’s like stepping back in time with the decor and jukebox.

People are dressed in costumes and dancing in the middle of the room.

Some are playing pool in the corner, and I turn to him. We’re transported in time as I lead him to the dance floor.

Even though we’re not dressed for the occasion, neither of us has any fucks to give it as we dance and make out on the dance floor. Here, no one is watching us, no one cares, and I love seeing him like this, so free and careless, laughing and smiling. Giving him my heart is too easy.

“I’m drunk on you,” he says, wrapping his arm around me and lifting me in the air, spinning me around.

“My husband,” I say, grabbing his face to bring his lips down to mine. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Showing me the real you. I know you don’t share that version of yourself with anyone.”

His eyes darken and he smirks against my mouth. “Just you, Lexi. Only you.”