Page 93 of Burner Account

How the hell have I gone without this for so long?

“So.” Tanner’s smile was softer now. “We should start planning our trip to Hawaii.”

“Ooh, right. That’s coming up fast.”

“Mmhmm.” He gently laced our fingers together. “Anything you want to do while we’re there?”

“I have no idea, honestly. I’ve never been there. Have you?”

“I’ve been to Maui, but not Oahu.” He shrugged. “I guess we should take a look at TripAdvisor and see what there is to do.”

“Good call. We could—” I hesitated. “I was about to say we should sneak off some night and fuck on the beach, but…” I made a face. “Sand.”

Tanner laughed. “Well, and cameras.”

“Cameras?” But then I caught up. “Oh. Right. Especially if people know there are some hockey players in town.”

“Yeah.” He scowled. “I know that kind of puts a damper on things, but…”

“To be fair, I have to be careful of my career too.”

“Sure, but you don’t have cameras following you around. Or, well, you didn’t before you started dating me.”

I shrugged. “It hasn’t been that bad. Hockey players aren’t quite as high profile as, like, football stars or A-list actors, and I am a hundred percent okay with that.”

He chuckled. “Me too. Believe me.” Running his fingers along my arm, he added, “But we probably shouldn’t chance someone snapping a picture of us in public without our pants on.”

I gave a melodramatic sigh and echoed a snarky remark he’d made a while back: “Well, you just take the fun out of everything, don’t you?”

Tanner grinned unrepentantly. “I do. I’m such a buzzkill.”

“Absolutely. The worst.”

Laughing, he swung his legs down to the floor and slid toward me on the couch. “So we can’t have sex on the beach…” He drew me in closer and brushed our lips together. “But we will have a swanky room in a resort. I’m sure there’s plenty we can do in that bed.”

“Ooh, now you’re talking.” I nudged him onto his back and settled my hips between his amazing thighs. “Should we get one with a jacuzzi tub or something?”

Tanner grinned against my lips. “Hell yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you kidding?” He wrapped his arms around my neck. “That would be hot as hell.”

“It better be. No point in a jacuzzi tub if it’s cold.”

Tanner’s laughter sent ripples of both affection and desire through me. I was so far gone for this man. Right now, the part of my brain that usually chimed in with why I shouldn’t pin too much hope on this thing between us was uncharacteristically silent. Those voices that never failed to remind me of my place in the world didn’t say a word.

Or maybe they did, and I just didn’t hear them over Tanner’s soft sighs and moans as we made out and wound each other up. All I knew was that this—everything we were and everything we were doing, here and now—was perfect.

The room we were staying in now was far from a luxury suite in a Hawaiian resort.

But as Tanner and I segued from laughing and kissing to something much hotter…

As we made our way down the hall to the bed we’d been sharing…

The guest room suited me just fine.

We meantto fly in two days before the wedding, but thanks to some delayed flights, we wound up coming in the day of the rehearsal. That was fine—we were going to be occupied with wedding activities for the next couple of days, and after that, we could explore the island on our own. I was so looking forward to that. Hawaii had been on my bucket list since forever, and I’d spent hours poring over TripAdvisor to see what we could do while we were here. The wedding was on Oahu, which had a ton to do, and we were going to Maui for a few days at the end of the trip. I couldn’twait.

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