Page 78 of Runaway Bride and Prejudice

“Aw,” Lex says with a sniffle.

“Are you crying?” Grey asks, and I hear a wobble in her voice.

“I’m going to hang up if you both start crying. I’ll call Callie instead.”

“NO!” they both say in unison.

“We’ll stop,” Grey says, clearly struggling to keep her voice even.

“Fine. But I need to tell you the whole story,” I say. “And I don’t have long.”

CHAPTER 15

Amelia

A girl could get usedto this. Sweat resulting from straight-up sunshine, a Diet Dr Pepper delivered poolside, and Van on the lounge chair next to me with his eyes closed, which allows me to unabashedly stare at him any time I want to.

And anyone who might judge me for how often I stare hasn’t seen the man shirtless. Or even with a shirt. The man is just plain stareable.

His physical prowess aside, I’m trying to figure how he managed to make me smile more in the past two days than I ever have before. Like,ever. Or maybe as far back as childhood when I still had two parents and my days consisted of cartoons and playing on playgrounds and I hadn’t yet seen any signs of how cruel life could be.

Van has a magic about him. And it’s definitelyhim, not just the fun things we’ve done, the new experiences, the ease of a resort vacation.

Though I have really been living out one of the new rules I scrawled for myself in the yellow notebook:Try something new every day.

I didn’t think anything could top zip lining, which turned out to be one of my favorite thingsever. But hooking my arm through Van’s and dragging him through the park to look at alligators is a close second. When I asked Van how he could have a dragon living on his chest full-time and not like alligators, he didn’t have a good answer.

The highlight of that day I’ll never, ever admit, even under threat of waterboarding, is when Van licked ice cream off my arm.

I’ll also never admit how often I’ve replayed that moment in my mind. Or how, whenever I happen to glance at his mouth, all I’m thinking about is how warm it felt on my skin.

If I close my eyes, I swear, I can still feel his lips there.

In short, alligator parks are a ten out of ten stars. Would recommend.

Yesterday, after I briefly and accidentally got to “meet” two of Van’s sisters, we did a snorkeling expedition at midday. It was fun despite being too murky to see much. We spent the later afternoon on the beach, where I half-heartedly skimmed the book I bought and Van took a nap. The man wasn’t kidding about liking his naps.

When I asked if it was an angry or sad nap, he smiled and said it was a happy nap.

While he was happy napping, a wedding took place a few hundred yards away from our lounge chairs. And because I’m a sucker for punishment, I forced myself to watch. I thought it might be upsetting but was surprised when I felt wistful longing rather than sad regret.

In fact, my eyes kept darting from the bride and groom to the man softly snoring next to me, one big arm thrown over his face. Wondering. Imagining. Dreaming.

Then chastising myself for being so foolish.

I’m not sure what it says about me that I could almost marry one man on a Saturday and by Monday, I’m picturing a wedding with a different man.

But here we are.

Maybe if Van was only attractive and charming in that flirtatious way, I would just have a crush. One easily shed when we go our separate ways.

But he’s not only that. And, as quick and reckless and unbelievable as it sounds to admit, this is more than a crush. Just like I told him: he’smore.

I glance at Van again, smiling when I see the faint outline of a lopsided smiley face on his abs. Yesterday, I drew it carefully in sunscreen while he softly snored. He slept just long enough for it to work.

When he woke up and saw it, he threw me over his shoulder, marched into the ocean, and tossed me. Which led to me begging him to launch me again and again. I loved the moments when I was in the air, suspended and about to come down.

I loved being in Van’s arms before he threw me even more.

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