I raised my head and looked at him curiously. “Everything okay?”
Tyler wasn’t meeting my eyes, looking off to the side at the cracked leg of one of our kitchen table chairs. His voice sounded tight and scratchy when he spoke. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”Even as he said it, I noticed his shorts, and it made me feel just as flushed and sweaty as I was ten seconds before coming into the house.
As if he could sense me watching him, Tyler turned his head and looked directly at me. But he didn’t look embarrassed—his dark eyes were inky, swirling with desire. We hadn’t had sex before, and it wasn’t lost on me how monumental this moment felt.
I didn’t even have to say what I was thinking, because it wasn’t like he didn’t already know. Tyler’s always been able to read me like a book, and this moment was no different. Wordlessly, I pressed my lips to his.
The kiss was delicate at first, but it didn’t stay that way for long. Tyler’s tongue explored my mouth curiously, in a way that he hadn’t ever done before. A way that sent electric currents zinging up my spine and into my fingertips, down to my toes.
“God, Olive,” Tyler whispered against me, both of us growing feverish. “I love you so much. How did I land such a beautiful girl?” His words of praise sang through my heart and all its chambers, through my bloodstream, roaring in my ears. And there was a dull ache in my chest that I couldn’t—and didn’t want to—ignore.
He loves me. Tyler Ferris said he loves me.
I didn’t think any sweeter words had ever existed in the history of all human language.
He broke our kiss to press his mouth up against the shell of my ear, his voice low and husky. “I’m ready if you are, Ol.” Then he ran his hands down my sides, making me shiver all over.
After that, it didn’t take long for us to scramble up from the floor and wind up on my bed, a blurry tangle of lips and fingers and discarded clothing and skin. Tyler was in the middleof searching through his tossed-aside pants for his wallet when I reached under my mattress and presented him with a thin foil square of my own.
He gave me a cheeky grin, standing there beautiful and so very, very mine in a way that I thought was forever. “Typical Olive. I’m not sure why I expected any different. I’m shocked this wasn’t already penned into your planner.”
I waggled the foil at him. “You know I’m always prepared.” And while it was the truth, and I really did feel prepared, it didn’t stop my spine from stiffening the moment right before it happened, with Tyler poised above me and looking down at me with such a tender look of concern that it felt like he squeezed my heart.
“What are you nervous about?” His voice was soft and concerned.
“I don’t know.” I buried my head in the crook of his shoulder to avoid looking at his face, even though I knew the last thing he’d do right now—or ever—was mock me for how I was feeling. “I just hope it’s good. Not that, like, I’m worried about you being bad or anything, because you’reyou,so I don’t really think it’s going to be an issue…” I trailed off, sighing. “I hope I make you feel good enough, because I love you, too.”
I’d remember every second of that moment for the rest of my life, but what stuck with me and shone brighter than anything else was the gentle way the tip of his nose brushed mine, and the soft feathering of his breath on my lips as he moved, comforting me through every second.
“With us, Ol, it’ll always be good.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
With us, it’ll always be good.
The only sounds in the car are the rush of wind through the windows and the dull hum of the tires against the pavement as we coast along the highways of Hawai?i. My entire face feels like it’s on fire, and I’m flushed from my head down to the tips of my toes, thinking about the night that Tyler first said those words to me. That perfect, awkward, amazing night. The one that led to several similar nights, the memories of which make my blood tingle and start up the surprising hammer of my pulse in the base of my throat.
I’ll remember every second of that first night for the rest of my life. The gentle whisper of his voice soothing my nerves.With us, Ol, it’ll always be good.
Always.
Always.
Always.
What happens when always eventually ends?
Right now, I’m feeling not only flustered, but there’s also a distinct, cozy warmth nestled at the center of my chest. It’sstarted raining outside, a gentle drizzle pattering against the windshield. We didn’t think about putting the top back on the Jeep before we left Leonard’s, so droplets land on our cheeks and arms and hair as Tyler drives, but with the accompanying warm breeze, it’s kind of nice.
Tyler looks over at me curiously as we head to the next stop on our adventure—he revealed we’re heading down to the island’s famous Diamond Head dormant volcano for a small hike before going back for dinner. As we sail down the road, my brain traitorously focuses on a raindrop on the apple of his cheek, my fingers practically twitching in my lap, itching to brush it away. But I hold firm. “What’s wrong?” he asks, frowning slightly.
“Nothing,” I answer, a little too quickly. I force myself to clear my throat and get some more words out, watching the gray clouds swim by overhead. “Just thinking.”
“About what?”
I’m a terrible liar and I’m certain Tyler sees right through it when I skirt my gaze away from him and say, “About how crazy it is that of all people I could have been stuck next to on that flight, it was you.”
He hums in thought for a second while we drive. “You know,” he says after a beat. “Part of me wants to agree about how nuts that is. But I can’t shake the feeling…” He shrugs and keeps his eyes on the road, the windshield wipers gentlyswooshingin between our breaths. “I don’t know. I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s nobody elsebutyou that could’ve been assigned the spot next to me on that flight.”
