“Hey, hey.” Mal’s soft voice drew me back into the present. “You all right, baby? What’s wrong?”
“No, nothing.” I shook my head and tried to convince myself that the words were true.
“I don’t believe you. I’m over here performing a naked bump-and-grind and you didn’t even notice.”
I gave a wet sounding laugh. “Seriously? You did not.”
“You don’t know because you weren’t even here. So seriously, what’s going on?”
“I just, I guess I’m a little overwhelmed by everything. So much changed in a short amount of time. It’s kind of a lot.”
I was afraid to put my actual fears into words. Was this a mistake? Did I just marry my rebound guy? What was Paige going to say?
What was my mom going to say?
Was I really going to start a new life in LA?
Oh god. What was I doing?
“Hey, hey.” Mal jumped onto the bed next to me and took me in his arms. “You are going to be fine. We’re going to be fine. Because we love each other and want to be together, right?”
“Right,” I repeated, but my weak tone didn’t sound all that emphatic. Or believable.
Mal sat back on his heels. “Do you want to rip up the marriage license? Because we can. It’s not official until it’s signed, and Samu isn’t taking it over to the main island until tomorrow.”
He was referring to the document we signed last night that he’d jumped through a million hoops and bribed half a dozen people to get pushed through.
My heart felt heavy as I looked into his concerned expression.
I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t break his already fragile heart. I couldn’t be one more person who walked away from him.
“It’s not that. I don’t want to cancel it or whatever. I’m just…scared. It’s a lot.”
“Itisa lot. But I promise I’ll be standing next to you the whole way, holding your hand or holding you up if need be. We’ll do it together.”
How could I doubt this when he said things like that?
I sat up and kissed him, trying to put all my love and devotion into the action. He was just so special and wonderful. How was this my life?
Sensing I needed tenderness over hunger, Mal stretched out on his side next to me and continued to kiss me with a gentleness that made tears well in my eyes.
“I love you, Saylor, and I’m going to spend the rest of our life making sure you understand just how special and amazing and worthy you are.”
Now the tears rolled unashamedly down my cheeks, and he pressed a few kisses to stem the flow before kissing his way down my body.
I threaded my fingers through his hair as he laved attention to my breasts. He was obsessed with them. I giggled at the thought.
“I’m trying to turn you on, and you’re over here giggling. What the hell?” Mal grumbled.
“Sorry. I was just thinking about how you’re obsessed with my breasts.”
“I’m obsessed about every part of you, but your tits are a work of art.”
I laughed more.
“Seriously. This body is the thing artists spend their whole career trying to get down in whatever medium they work in—paint, marble, text, lyrics. I could spend my whole life worshipping them, and it’d be a life well spent.”
