What’s happening here?
“You can’t just wave a magic wand and suddenly give me a home and a husband and babies and pets. It’s barely been a week since I left the man that I thought I would love forever.”
“Do you miss him?”
“I’m too furious at him to miss him.”
“Willyou miss him?”
“No.” I don’t even have to think. The answer pops out like it’s been lingering in there, waiting for someone to ask. So does something else that I never thought I’d hear myself say out loud. “Leaving him was almost a relief. No. Notalmost. It—itwas. I wasrelievedto leave him.”
“Emma.” He strokes my hair. “That’s a sign.”
“Were you glad she left you?” I whisper.
“I was more worried about how it would reflect on my family than I was about hurting her. And that’s my biggest regret in my entire marriage. I wasn’t a good husband. Ilookedlike I’d be a good husband. The worldthoughtI’d be a good husband. Iplayeda husband in movies dozens of times. But I never put the energy into figuring out what it actually took tobea good husband in real life. She deserved better too.”
“We’re both disasters, aren’t we?”
“We are. And I think I passed out on your porch for a reason. I think we’re supposed to help each other through it.”
He’s going to kiss me.
Jonas isgoing to kiss me.
And fuck every warning bell in my head. Just fuck it all.
I’m going to kiss him back.
He’s been the friend that I’ve needed this week.
“I’m not relationship material right now,” I whisper as he slides both hands down my scalp to cradle my cheeks.
“I’m friend material,” he whispers back. “That’s all I’ve got.”
“I can take friend material. I like friend material.”
“Even if I do this?”
And then his lips are brushing mine, the sensations both magnetic and freeing.
Jonas is kissing me.
Jonas Rutherford—my celebrity crush and unexpected friend and everything I’ve needed here in Fiji—is kissing me.
I grip his solid forearms and lick his lower lip. “Yes,” I whisper.
Maybe this is a mistake.
But some mistakes are necessary.
And tumbling into my bed, kissing Jonas, is definitely necessary.
6
Jonas
I’m kissing Emma.
