Yes. But I think every time with you is the best ever.
“You do?”
Did I just say that out loud?
“Yes,” she says in a thrilled tone. “You sound like me. I must be rubbing off on you.”
She raises her head to look at me.
Her hair is a mess of beautiful black locks framing her flushed face.
Her blue eyes are shining as she smiles.
I’m hit with such awareness of the joy I feel in this moment that I can’t push it aside.
I’ve been doing this allwrong.
I’ve been waiting for a sign to know what to do about our no-strings deal.
A part of me even thought that if I brought her to Lucky Bay and she fit in, that would be my proof to take the risk with her.
But I don’t need to wait.
I already know.
“I’m no good on land,” I say to her.
She wrinkles her nose. “Okay.”
“And I’m trying to let go of living only when I’m at sea.”
She tilts her head. “What are you saying, Michael?”
“I guess what I’m saying is I’m going to tell you what I’m about to say while we’re in the air.”
She visibly inhales. “What is it?”
“I love you.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Emery
My lips part, but no sound comes out.
I swallow hard three times and finally, I whisper, “Michael Wild, you just rendered me speechless.”
“I’m not done yet.” He takes my chin in his hand. “Here’s the truth—I don’t want no-strings.”
“You-you don’t?” Hope—hope that we’re on the same page—is flooding my heart.
“No.” His dark eyes blaze into mine. “I want strings with you, Emery Walker. Being connected to you is the most free and the most joy I’ve ever felt in my life.”
I can’t take my eyes off of him.
“I don’t know how this is going to work long-distance or back and forth or what,” he says. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. But I don’t want to lose you on a technicality—because I was too much of a coward to go all in. So just to be clear—I’m all in, Mimi.”
He opens his arms, and I dive into them.
