Page 103 of Saving Wyatt

I put my arm around the small of his back and the other on the side of his face, and as his eyes went wide, I kissed him.

Kissed him with all my mind, body, and soul.

It didn’t matter that I was breathless, that the nerves had rendered me numb and tingly, I kissed him like I’d never kissed him before.

And he kissed me back.

I no longer cared about everyone else. Who was watching and what they thought of me. What they thought of this. Of us.

All I cared about was Ari. He was my life. He was my everything.

Turned out, coming home was as easy as breathing.

THIRTY-SIX

ARI

It was a dream.

A beautiful, feverish dream. Nothing more. Nothing less. It couldn’t be real.

He couldn’t have possibly staked his claim on me in front of the whole island like that after weeks of being tortured by his secret.

But apparently, it was still real when we pulled away from one another and I opened my eyes, and it was still real when we got in the car and went away from the town square as the people were still reeling from what had just happened.

I started to have my doubts during the day when both Warren and Wyatt were away dealing with the aftermath of what they’d done, but when he came back home and sat at the table with his brother to eat with me, I realized I wasn’t waking up from this dream. And that was more than okay with me.

“I can’t believe we did it,” Warren said.

Wyatt shook his head in equal disbelief.

“I know,” he said and put his hand on the table, on top of mine, and my throat tightened.

I glanced at Wyatt. He looked right back at me and only me. Then I turned to Warren who seemed to be trying—and failing—to hide a smirk.

“So I guess you finally talked?” I said, looking at both of them.

“We did,” Wyatt said.

“Ish,” Warren added.

I frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Warren chuckled and waved his hand. “Never mind. It’s all good. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go wash this crazy day off.” He pushed his chair back and walked into his bedroom, then a few moments later ducked into the bathroom, leaving me alone with his brother.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, stacking my hand on top of his and squeezed.

His nostrils flared as he took a big breath and smiled. “I’m honestly still trying to wrap my head around it. It’s hard to believe we’re rid of him.”

“What about his accomplices?”

It was indeed hard to believe the gigantic problem hanging over all our heads was done and out of the way for good, seemingly overnight.

“Slade and the others are taking care of that. The feds will be here in the morning and get them all behind bars for a long time. The smaller fish will either flee or hide, but we’ll get them in the end. Without Wilson’s backing, they won’t survive underwater for long.”

I nodded, trying to make sense of everything, but considering how hard it had been to even comprehend the whole operation Wilson had set up on the island, I didn’t know if I’d be able to grasp the extent of his crimes.

“Are you okay?” he asked, leaning a little closer and searching my eyes.