I may never see my father again, but he made his bed. He decided where his loyalties lay long ago.

  As for me, I’m standing on the edge of a cliff, about to jump.

  I look down and experience slight vertigo as I see my toes curl at the edge of the rock. Below me is startling blue water, smooth and calm, a little jewel set apart from the crashing waves on the other side of the inlet.

  I’m not afraid. I’ve done everything there is to do on this island, except this one thing.

  I’m not afraid of anything anymore.

  A man’s hand slips into mine.

  I look next to me, and Brooks is there. I have a good feeling he’ll always be there. “Ready?”

  “You’re going to do this with me?”

  “I’m going to do everything with you. I’ll hold your hand when you jump off a cliff, whatever kind of cliff.”

  “I love you,” I breathe.

  He smiles. “I know.”

  “That’s Han Solo, not Dr. Jones,” I tease.

  “Dr. Jones never settled down. Han Solo is a more loyal character.”

  I shake my head. “I love you, nerd. Let’s go.”

  I suck in my breath and bend my knees, getting ready to fling myself off the rock.

  “I love you too, my dragonfly.”

  Epilogue

  One year later

  Jax

  The Nature Nerds is not something I ever thought I would hear used about me.

  My and Brooks’s social media following has exploded with a shared channel devoted to exploration and environmental awareness.

  Brooks and I still work together at Cerulean Resort, but we travel around the world together in the off-season, giving talks and filming our adventures.

  Sierra teases me about turning into a bug nerd. Honestly, I’m still squeamish around bugs and wildlife, but as long as Brooks is with me, I’m in good hands.

  Even after a whole year together, he still likes to sit with me and kiss me as the sun sets. On this particular night, I’ve got unsettling news.

  Brooks is poring over his planner for the following year and bouncing ideas off me. “We could do Bali and then Australia, or we could do South Korea first and work our way down and across Oceania before we come back home. Or we could cancel all of it and do a tour of southern Africa. I know you’ve always wanted to surf in South Africa, so I’ll book lessons for you.”

  I rest my hand on his forearm.

  “I think we’ll be staying home all next year,” I say.

  He doesn’t hear me at first, or perhaps he’s tuning me out. “We could also do China since we’ve never been there. They have this crazy arachnid I’ve been dying to see in person at the zoo there…wait. What did you say?” Brooks turns to me and blinks.

  I smile and sip my soda. “I said all next year is canceled, I think.”

  “Why? What’s wrong? Are you sick? Did something happen? Do you not like it anymore? I know I said that if you ever decide you don’t want to do this anymore, we could stop, no questions asked, but I’m sorry, I have questions.”

  I place my index finger over his lips to gently silence him. He’s ready to move heaven and earth on a whim, just for me, at a moment’s notice. I love him so damn much.

  “I’m not sick. But the doctor says it’s best if I don’t travel anywhere too remote.”

  His brows come together. “Why?”

  “Because although I may be acclimated to island life, I’m still a city girl at heart. And, I’d like to deliver at a hospital here or at least somewhere with an actual hospital and a NICU, just in case.”

  Brooks’s jaw drops, and he stares at me with a look of such incredulity I think I’ve shorted out his brain.

  “I’ve missed a few pieces here. Baby, are you pregnant?”

  “As of three weeks ago? Yes.”

  I can see his brain doing the math. “Three weeks ago…” he mutters, tapping his lip.

  “That’s when we were on Temple Island, drunk on fermented mangos….” I remind him.

  He laughs. “Oh yeah. Me, you and the monkeys.”

  “Fortunately, the monkeys left us alone.”

  “But they didn’t take too kindly to us using their sturdiest branch.” We do have a shared affinity for outdoor shenanigans.

  I stare at him and wait for him to absorb what’s happening.

  Without another word, and as calm as can be, my Brooks slides his hand over my tummy. “We’re going to have a little bug? All to ourselves?”

  I laugh and dryly say, “No, we have to sacrifice it to the volcano god,” I say. Thank god I settled down with a man who appreciates my weird sense of humor.

  His eyes brighten, and he says, “We should have the baby in the volcano.”

  “No.”

  “We could set up a glamping tent; it’ll be as cozy as our house.”

  “No, Brooks.”

  “The resort employs a doula,” he offers.

  “Brooks, I swear to god….”

  Brooks catches my lip between his, and all thoughts of continuing this ridiculous argument evaporate.

  “I love you, my little dragonfly,” he whispers.

  “You’re going to be the best daddy ever,” I say.

  “As long as the kid likes the outdoors, otherwise I’m not sure what to do.”

  I think for a moment and remind him of the time he almost lost a kid on the volcano tour. “Well, if he turns out to be a brat, we can always push him down into the crater,” I say.

  “Hopefully, by that time, he’ll already know how to swim,” Brooks replies.

  “He’s ours; of course he will.”

  We sit and share a comfortable silence as the sun goes down. Waiting for the arrival of our next chapter, and excited to see what the dawn brings.

  My person. My people. My family. Myself. We are all where we need to be. I didn’t need to learn to stop running away; I just needed to run to the right place.

  THE END

  Thank you for reading Honeymoon Hideout! If you enjoyed this short story, please visit my website for links to my Amazon page where you can find lots more titles to read. Follow me there to keep up with my latest releases. Or, just say hello! Turn the page and find out where to track me down on social media and email, or sign up for my mailing list to be the first to know about upcoming projects.

  About the Author

  Abby Knox lives a dual life. Fantasy Abby would love to live on a farm with goats, bees, chickens, donkeys and alpaca, making her own soap, yarn, honey and cheese. Reality Abby has no desire to do actual farm work. So, the ever-pragmatic Reality Abby keeps Fantasy Abby happy by putting her into adorable little works of romantic fiction with her pretend hobbies. Both Abbies hope you enjoy her sweet, sexy — sometimes a little over the top and weird — storytelling.

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  More by Abby Knox

  The complete Homemade Heat series is now available on AMZ and with KU.

  Check out Abby’s other titles!

  511 Kissme Lane (book 19 in the multi-author Cherry Falls series!)

  Not the Rebound Guy

  Butter Queen

  Pumpkin King

  Fighting For Dylan (book four in a six-author MMA series!)

  Hot Off The Press

  The Halloween Bet

  The Christmas Pickup

  …and plenty more on my Amazon page!

 

 

  Abby Knox, Honeymoon Hideout

 

 

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