Page 66 of Grand Escape

I winked at Tony and made my way home. I wasn’t having a heart-to-heart in the driveway.

Heading toward my villa, I made a mental note to shave my upper legs before the wedding. We were wearing teeny-tiny minidresses, courtesy of the bride. Chewy had spared no expense. I had no idea what kind of favors he was owed, but they had arranged this whole production within two months.

Deep in thought, it wasn’t until I was feet from my villa that I noticed a person sitting in front of my door. Blowing out a deep breath, I wondered what was needed for the wedding now.

Until blue eyes stared up at me, calling me home to the water. I’d chosen this ocean paradise as my actual home, and in this moment, I felt that decision deep in my core.

Adam’s hair was as unkempt as the last time I saw him, spilling over his forehead, and his skin was golden, probably from the end of summertime and many rounds of golf. Small lines in his forehead and crinkles around his eyes made me want to soothe him.

Pushing to his feet, he met my gaze. “Ry.”

His voice bolted through my veins, igniting feelings and emotions I’d buried deep months ago. Yet, I stood there blinking at him, unable to say a thing. I couldn’t utter a word to Adam, now standing in front of me.

Seeming anxious, he’d shifted his weight from one foot to another, an uncertainty I’d never seen in him before.

“I had to come. I needed to see you, to understand why you shut me out. I’m sorry if that was wrong, but I couldn’t let it go.” Adam’s eyes blazed through me, his intensity palpable. “I guess that’s my thing. I couldn’t turn off my sadness over Becca, and then I couldn’t tamp down my wondering over you.”

This would be the moment in the rom-coms where there is the big reveal. The woman is either secretly pregnant with twins or needs a kidney to survive the next several decades.

Either way, I didn’t feel the part. Not that either of those two situations was the case when it came to me, but I was the type of woman who didn’t want or deserve that level of commitment from a decent guy. What did I do? I pushed people away. My own doing had caused this heartache.

Now Adam was back, just like all those good guys in the movies, demanding to find their woman a kidney donor or be the father those babies needed.

But he wasn’t needed here. I wasn’t pregnant—with twins or otherwise, thank God—and my kidneys worked just fine.

“Ry, come back to me,” Adam whispered, standing frozen as he drank me in.

“We were a vacation thing.” That’s the genius response I came up with. No matter how hard I tried not to, I couldn’t help but be completely tongue-tied around A. Stern.

“We were,” he said slowly, “and then we weren’t.”

“Exactly,” I said too quickly.

“We were more, Ry. You know that. This was never a vacation thing.”

I shook my head hard, my voice wobbling as I said loudly, “It was—”

“Let’s go inside,” Adam said, and I had to agree. There was no way I was making a scene out here.

I bent over to snag my keycard from underneath the planter and swiped us in, my hand trembling.

Adam followed, leaning back against the door after it closed. “I’m here for the wedding. Chewy called and insisted, but I was planning to come for you anyway. This was a convenient cover.”

“What?” My question came out breathless, and I had to sit down.

“Came in last night. Figured I’d give you the night.”

Then it hit me, and I muttered under my breath. “So, that’s what he ...”

“What? He? Who?”

“Oh, Tony mentioned something about last night. I had no idea what he was going on about. Now I do.”

Adam ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t see Tony yet.”

“He gets a guest register for the day, and a list of who is coming in and out by car. I’m guessing you had the hotel pick you up at the airport.”

Adam nodded. “Chewy and I stayed in touch, if that’s what you’re wondering. He sent me some work too. The guy knows a lot of people who are splitting.”

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