Page 73 of Saving Wyatt

“Then what happened? How did you end up together?”

“Aren’t you impatient!” he said.

I shrugged. “What can I say? I’m invested.”

Ari chuckled, but he continued.

“I thought that was it, to be honest. There was a whole continent and an ocean between us. Like, what were the chances he’d keep in touch? But he did. He messaged me as soon as he landed. And we started texting. Then we started video-calling, and that Christmas, I went to California to meet him and spend Christmas with him. I kinda never went back.”

“You didn’t?”

He shook his head. “I took my chance. I didn’t think I’d ever meet anyone like him, so I stayed with him, and he supported me through the process of getting my medical degree recognized here. We got married quite quickly so I wouldn’t have a problem with my visa. It was a long process, but I never looked back.”

I looked at him, studied his eyes, the peace in them as he talked about Evan, and I felt my own heart race.

“It sounds like the kind of story you read about in romance novels.”

Ari laughed, though there was a sadness in his face as he did. “Yeah, because famously all romance novels end in tragedy.”

“Still,” I said. “I could never compete with that. I’m not even out.”

Ari put his hand on my face and stroked my cheek as he said, “I never asked you to compete with anyone.”

“No?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Do you want to compete? For me, I mean? Do you want a relationship or…or just a…”

“I don’t want a hookup if that’s what you’re about to suggest. I thought I’d made myself clear.”

“Good. I’m not looking for a hookup either. Despite what has happened two nights in a row.”

I chuckled but turned serious after a moment as I gazed into his eyes. “I want you. You’re a beautiful human. You deserve all the happiness in the world, and I don’t know if…if I can give you that.”

Ari stroked my cheek, my cheekbone, my temple, his lips pressed together before he spoke. “You’re talking as if you’re not a beautiful human too. As if you don’t deserve happiness too.”

“I don’t know that I do. Look at all the pain I’ve caused.” I turned away from his penetrating gaze and tried to breathe, but my throat tightened and my chest felt constricted.

“You didn’t cause anything. Everything you’ve done, you’ve done because you care. Because you love your island and your people. Because you didn’t want to let evil take over. That…” he said and pressed his hand on my face so that I turned my head and looked at him again. “That is a good man. You are a good man. I know you think you don’t deserve good things, Wyatt. I know you think you ruin everything, but I’m going to prove to you that you don’t. That you do deserve the same happiness, the same love, the same affection that everyone else does.”

My heart beat so loud it threatened to rip out of my chest, and when I looked into those gorgeous brown eyes, I almost believed him.

“You’re incredible,” I said.

I wanted him. I wanted this. I wanted all of us, but…

If I didn’t ruin everything with my secrecy and fear, then Wilson would. If he found out how much Ari meant to me—how much more he could mean to me—there was no telling what he might do.

“That I do know.” Ari smirked and leaned forward to trap my lips with his, and for a fleeting moment, I forgot about Wilson. It was easy when Ari was holding me so tight. When we were so close, our bodies might as well be melded together, and I kissed him back.

I never wanted to let go of him. I never wanted out of his bedroom, hell, I never wanted out of this bed. If we could stay here forever, in Warren’s and Ari’s apartment where we were safe and happy, I would.

“Oh shit!” I exclaimed, realization hitting me like a truck, and I pulled away with a grimace that terrified Ari.

“What?” he asked.

“I just realized we’ve been defiling my brother’s bed,” I said.

That was one way to get my brother to never talk to me again. And all this time I thought it’d be the gay thing.