Page 104 of Forever with the CEO

***

Allison

I’d never been to this part of the harbor. Then again, there were lots of parts of Boston that I hadn’t been to.

“Your smile is amazing,” Nick remarked as we stood in line.

I put one hand over my mouth to hide it. “I think it’s a bit too obvious.”

“What do you mean, obvious?”

I made a come-here motion, and he lowered his ear to my mouth. “That it says I got laid last night, and it was amazing.” Nick burst out laughing. I hadn’t seen that coming. “Well, now thatwillgive us away.”

I started to sip from my smoothie we’d bought from the nearby cart. Nick had just gotten a bagel, and he’d already devoured it. His laughter made me laugh too.

“Nick, people are starting to look at us,” I admonished.

He cleared his throat, but it took several tries for him to stop. “Let them watch us, then. What’s wrong with us being happy?”

Nothing, I realized. Absolutely nothing.

His eyes were playful. God, was this really happening? Last night, I had so many worries, and now I had zero. I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Things were as confusing as ever, but I was looking forward to spending this “marriage with benefits” with Nick. Why hadn’t we thought about it from the beginning? It made so much more sense.

“How long is the cruise?” I asked.

“Just an hour.”

“That’s not so bad. That means we’ll still make it in time to pick up the twins.”

Nick took my free hand in his. “I’ve timed everything. I don’t want you to worry about anything. I’m picking up all the slack today.”

“That, husband, is one of the sexiest things you’ve said to me.”

He jerked his head back in surprise.

“Okay, maybe not, but it’s right there in the top five or something.”

“Fuck me,” he said. The lady next to us actually jumped. “Sorry, ma’am,” Nick apologized before focusing on me. On a whisper, he added, “I must do better, then.”

“No, trust me. This is a good thing. You being... I don’t know. Forget it.”

At the office, I didn’t have issues stating my ideas, but when it came to Nick, I found myself at a loss for words far too often.

When our ferry finally arrived, I was absolutely giddy to get on. The line moved slowly, as the person taking the tickets was very thorough about all the details. Were there people faking tickets to get onto a ferry? That seemed strange, but you’d sure think so the way she was scrutinizing them.

A few minutes later, we were inside and found comfortable seats on a bench in the middle. I would have preferred to sit in the front, but this would do. The seats were comfy, and there was a menu pinned to the backrest of the bench in front of us. I immediately inspected it. They didn’t have much, so it was good I had a smoothie.

As the boat moved out of the harbor, I looked around with a huge grin on my face. I hadn’t been so happy in months. I turned to tell Nick this and found him looking at me.

“What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face? Smoothie?” I asked.

“No. Why?”

“You’re looking at me so intently.”

“I want to memorize everything about you today.”

“It’s just that...” I bit my lip once again, at a loss as to how to explain myself. “I haven’t been this happy in a long while. Honestly, I’m not sure if I’veeverbeen this happy. Especially not on a date.”

---