Page 184 of The Vacation Mix-Up
Goddamn, beautiful, strong-willed, frustratingly stubborn woman!
“Riles—”
“Riley.”
My jaw tics, and she cocks an eyebrow.
“All I’m saying is stop letting Georgia dictate your life beyond what is reasonable… and lawful. You’re smarter and stronger than that. You deserve better. And if we’re going to try to make this work, I deserve better too.”
Tears well in her eyes before she blinks them away.
“I don’t want to argue, sweetheart.” I press my lips to hers. “This is our last night on the cruise.”
She swallows. “I don’t want to argue either, but I?—”
Dropping my hands, I wrap them around her waist and lift her higher, my lips once again fused to hers.
Where they should be.
Where I hope they’ll stay for a long time to come.
chapter twenty-seven
RILES
He’s right, I know he is, but that doesn’t change anything. At least not yet. I have a plan, one I’ve had for years, and I must see it through. If I don’t, then what have I accomplished? Failure. I can’t do that to myself, nor can I do it to Mom. I know she wanted me to be happy, regardless of where my life takes me, but if I give up what I’ve worked so hard for, then every sacrifice I’ve made up to this point will be for nothing.
I’ll just have to try harder to accommodate Riley into my life, because he’s worth it and because I want him to be a part of it. I can still achieve my dreams, but I no longer have to do it alone. No man before him has made me feel the way he makes me feel, and I desperately don’t want to lose that.
I don’t want to losehim.
“We need to get ready for the farewell dinner,” Riley says, placing me on my feet again before heading to the closet.
Lips tingling, my heart in tatters yet somehow still whole and effervescent, I quit foreboding. “I hope everyone is there tonight so we can say goodbye.”
“Even Ben?”
“Especially Ben. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I think I’m going to miss him.”
Riley pokes his head around the open door, his sexy eyes crinkling. “You’re right. I can’t believe you just said that.”
“He’s a good person.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Reaching behind his shoulders, he gathers the back of his T-shirt in his hand and pulls it over his head, his perfectly sculpted abdomen making my mouth water. I chew my lip, admiring the view and how he drapes his black shirt over his shoulders, slides his arms inside, and leisurely secures one button at a time.
“Are you just going to stand there gawking at me, or are you going to get ready?”
I weigh my options. “I choose gawk.”
“We’ll be late,” he warns.
Scoffing, I let my ponytail out and comb my fingers through my hair. “I’m never late.”
“Keep staring at me like that and you will be.”
I keep staring.
