Page 19 of The Forever Experiment

I thought about him the first time I’d heard it, and now, I can’t help but wonder if he was doing the same thing at the same moment. If we sat on opposite sides of the country, reminiscing on what could’ve been—the one that got away.

There are too many coincidences between Easton and I not to believe fate played some small role in our meeting and our reconnecting, I’m not sure it’d be farfetched to believe we could’ve discovered this evocative melody at the same time.

I let my head drop against his warm chest, snaking my arms around his neck and clasping them behind it. With my movement, both of his hands land on my waist, gripping me tightly as he turns me from the wall, swaying in circles around our small bay as the fountains erupt behind us.

I know some other music plays in the distance, I know the water is lit in color and crowds cheer around us, but none of it exists to me. There is only Easton. I’m lost in his touch, his voice, his scent.

“Sometimes, I think we hardly know each other, but other parts of me feel as if I’ve known you all my life,” I admit softly.

His breath tickles the top of my head as he chuckles. “All I know is I liked you a hell of a lot when I was twenty-one, and I like you even more at thirty-one.” If I’m not mistaken, I feel his lips press a kiss into my hair. “I don’t think it’d be a stretch to believe I could like you all my life.”

“You know,” I muse, “that might’ve been the riskiest thing I’ve ever done, what we did in the library.”

“Until you married me.”

I look up at him, laughing. “Until I married you. You make me risky.”

“Sometimes, I feel like an imposter. A wanderer.” Easton sighs, his eyes going distant when he looks beyond me, though his grip tightens, as if I’m anchoring him. “I’m not that passionate about what I do. It just felt like what Ishoulddo. It felt like it would be easier to do this than be a doctor,” he shrugs, “and for some reason, I thought those were my only two options.”

“Why?”

He drops his head, offering me soft eyes. “The two most influential men in my life are a lawyer and a doctor, and I guess I’ve always wanted to be like them. I don’t know. But I’m not passionate about it. It doesn’t feel like purpose.” His lips tilt upward. “But when I watch you…it does. I like your determination, your ambition. It makes me want to work harder myself.” I feel his hands tensing in the fabric of my dress, like he’s hanging onto me. “That’s why I loved being around you in college. You were the only thing that made me care. But I think you can be wound a little tight sometimes, and I don’t know…” Easton smirks, those soft eyes becoming a smolder. “I like being the person to unwind you.”

“More like unravel me,” I murmur.

He bites his lip in that familiar way that makes me melt, sliding his hands up my back and over my shoulders. “Well, I like unraveling you.”

“I still like your hands,” I breathe as he brings them to my face, cupping my cheeks and tilting my head toward his.

The music still flows through our ears, though it feels more like the song runs through both of our chests, the thrumming of each chord a tether binding us together.

Easton’s gaze bounces between my lips and my eyes, searching for permission. Throwing all my cautious nature into the breeze that is the man standing in front of me, I tangle my fingers in the hair behind his head and pull his mouth to mine.

A surprised groan escapes him, and he opens for me, allowing my tongue to slip into his mouth and dance with his. He tightens his hold on me, forcing my back to arch and our bodies together. There’s no space between us, and yet, I desperately want to be closer.

It’s a hunger I’ve never felt with anyone else, something dormant for years, suddenly reawakened by his touch. I don’t know how to make sense of it, and at this moment, I don’t think I want to. As Easton’s mouth moves against mine and he lifts my feet off the ground, hoisting me into his arms, his hands on my hips, I feeleverything. I’m hyper-aware of where his skin meets mine, of the way he tastes, and the pounding of my heart where it presses against his. All I want is more of it, more sensation and feeling. I want to be lost in his hands and tied up in his body, entwined with his soul.

“Easton,” I breathe into his mouth. “Take me back to my room. Take me to bed.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The laugh he lets out against my lips is a salacious promise. “But you’re getting the wife treatment tonight.”

“Hmm,” I muse, nipping at his skin. “You better deliver on that.”

“I always do, Maya, baby.”

9

Easton

Maya’s stumbling, back pressedagainst the door as she attempts to fish the room key out of her purse. My lips are on her jaw, skating down her neck, refusing to allow an inch of space between us. Her heavy breath and soft whimpers of need tell me she doesn’t mind.

Finally, I hear the click of the lock, and the door falls open behind her, both of us tumbling into her room.

From the moment the words “Take me to bed” fell from her soft, full lips, I was a goner. We raced from the Bellagio to our hotel, stealing touches and blazing through each other with searing glances. The moment I had her in the elevator alone, a decade of pining and a weekend’s worth of pent up tension ripped through me. And now? I won’t let her leave my sight or my arms until she forces me away.

Even if she breaks my heart with that annulment tomorrow, I’ll gladly accept whatever she’s willing to give me tonight—anychance to call her mine, no matter how fleeting the moment may be.

Both hands cupping her face, my lips on hers, my tongue in her mouth as I walk us across the expanse of her suite until she’s pressed against the paneled windows in the bedroom that look out to the hotel’s other tower across from us and the city beyond it. She feels heavenly beneath my hands, like a dream come true.

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