Once the tickets are booked, I toss my phone to the side and stand from the bed, stretching my arms over my head. I catch her watching me in the mirror of the dresser, and her face heats. The blush flows down her neck, and I wish I had enough time to kiss every inch of it. I remind myself that we have a few more days—five to be exact—to enjoy each other.

  “Thank you,” I say, coming to stand behind her and wrapping my arms around her. We’re both naked. My cock is hard, nestled between her ass cheeks, and she smells like me, or is it that I smell like her? We smell like each other, and every minute that passes, I want more. More of this moment, more of her. Just more.

  “Thank you, Foster. This is the most incredible thing anyone has ever done for me.”

  “Thank you for going with me. We’re going to have a great time.”

  “Of course, we will,” she says, her eyes meeting mine. “We’ll be together.”

  Her words wrap around me like a hug, filling in the cracks of a lifetime of missing affection.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Eden

  * * *

  “Now boarding first class,” the attendant calls out of the speaker. Foster stands, slides his backpack, the only luggage we have with us, over his shoulder, and offers me his hand.

  “First class?” I ask, placing my hand in his and allowing him to pull me to my feet.

  “Yeah, I didn’t have time to charter a private plane, and I wanted this to be the best experience possible for your first flight.” He shrugs.

  “A private plane! Foster!”

  He chuckles. “I didn’t do it,” he says, placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me toward the doors that lead us to the plane. I’ve never flown, so I don’t know what it’s called. A door at the gate, maybe? Either way, I’m about to step foot onto an airplane for the first time, and my nerves are wrecked. “I’m right here,” he says, bending so that he’s whispering in my ear as we walk through the small tunnel, or hallway, whatever this little walkway is called.

  “You can’t keep the plane from falling out of the sky, Foster,” I tell him. The lady in front of me turns and gives me a death glare. “I’m sorry. I’m nervous. This is my first time flying,” I ramble on. She nods, gives me a sort of half smile, and turns back around, continuing down the ramp, and I clamp my mouth shut.

  “Welcome aboard,” a friendly flight attendant greets us as we step onto the plane. “Second row on your right.” Foster leads me to our seats. “Do you want the window or the aisle?” he asks. The attendant doesn’t seem to recognize Foster, which is a good thing. I don’t need people taking pictures of me freaking out. Maybe the glasses and the hat work for him as a disguise, or maybe the flight attendant and everyone on this flight and in the airport are not Rampage fans. I mean, I’ve lived in this town my entire life and never saw him before. I guess it’s possible.

  “Um, I don’t know,” I finally answer, pulling myself out of my thoughts.

  “You take the window, and we can pull the shade if you don’t want to look out. If we need to switch, we can. It’s a short two-hour flight. It will be over before you know it,” he assures me.

  I feel like such a baby, but I can’t help it. The fear is real.

  I take the window seat as instructed, and Foster shoves his duffel beneath the seat before helping me fasten my seat belt. I went to the bathroom right before they announced our boarding because I don’t want to have to get up until we’ve landed. “Thank you,” I whisper, as he double-checks my seat belt.

  “Are you excited?” he asks, sitting back in his seat and turning his head to face me.

  “I’m excited, but also nervous. Thank you for this, Foster.”

  He leans over and presses his lips to my temple, and something inside me stills. He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t need to. We understand one another in a way I’ve never experienced before. Neither one of us feels the need to fill the silence, to explain ourselves.

  I’m used to being looked at but not really seen. To show others only what I want them to see, as a way to protect myself. I only give them as little or as much as I’m willing to give. With him, it feels different. As if he recognizes the parts of me I’ve never learned how to articulate. The parts that I keep hidden for fear of rejection. I’ve never cared about that with Foster. The quiet doubts and careful hopes I keep tucked away because they’ve never felt safe to share… I share them with him.

  The understanding between us isn’t loud or overwhelming. It’s steady. It tells me I don’t have to shrink or sharpen myself to be understood. I can just be here, exactly as I am, and that is enough. The realization is almost unsettling at how unfamiliar it feels to be met without resistance, without explanation.

  To just be me.

  Even when I’m freaking out, he’s steady, and the only steady I’ve ever had in my life is my best friend, Carrie. However, with each passing day, he shows me that I can add another name to that list. The man sitting next to me offers me that comfort and reassurance, and I know with everything that I am that I’ve completely fallen headfirst for him.

  I also know that I can’t expect him to return those feelings. I know he cares, and he’s such a nice guy, but my feelings for him are way past caring and friendship. He’s wormed his way inside my chest, inside my heart that I thought I had locked down. No, I know it was locked down. I guess it’s just that Foster Vaughn was the only one with the key.

  Once everyone is seated, the flight attendant goes through safety procedures, and with each word she says, my heart thumps a little harder. Finally, she wishes us a safe flight, and the plane begins to move. My hands grip the armrests of the seat, and I close my eyes. Chatter is all around us, but I block it out and focus on breathing.

  “Eden.” Foster’s low, deep timbre rumbles against my ear.

  I shake my head because I don’t want to open my eyes. I want to forget that I’m about to be in the sky in this tin can.

  “Baby,” he whispers, and damn him, but I have no choice but to open my eyes, because I need to see the reverence in his tone, which is displayed on his face, as well. “There she is.” He smiles softly. Reaching over, he cradles my cheek. “I’m right here,” he says, his voice so low, I almost miss it.

  “Two hours,” I say, more as a reminder to myself. I can do this. It’s only two hours.

  “What can I do?” he asks, his thumb sliding over my cheek. I don’t reply because I don’t think there is anything that can help me right now. However, when he leans over and presses his lips to mine, everything changes.

  My mind shuts down.

  It’s just the two of us, and I no longer care that I’m about to be flying through the air in a tin can at high rates of speed.

  I’m consumed with him and his kiss. The way his tongue licks at my lips before sliding against my own. He groans into my mouth, and I want to bottle the sound. I lose all track of time; hell, I’m not even sure I know my own name if someone were to ask. All I know his him and how safe he makes me feel.

  As he slows the kiss, I start to float back to reality. His forehead rests against mine, our breath mingling. “I’ve got you, Eden,” he rasps, and damn this man and the things he does to my heart.

  He pulls away and settles back into his seat.

  “Are we in the air?”

  He winks. “We are.” Reaching under the seat, he pulls out his backpack and digs around inside, pulling out my new Kindle and handing it to me. “Get lost in a story. We’ll be there before you know it.” Grabbing his iPad, he pulls up Solitaire and begins playing.

  Drawing in a deep breath, I open my Kindle, choose a book, I downloaded with my hotspot, and start to read. Thankfully, I’m able to get lost in the story. It helps that every so often, Foster reaches over and gives my thigh, my knee, or my arm a soft squeeze, just to let me know he’s there.

  When the pilot announces that we’re landing, I tense up, but Foster notices, and he once again kisses me senseless, and I don’t even take notice of the landing. Once we’re off the plane and have obtained our rental car, we head to our hotel, which is literally on the beach. The warm Florida sun shines down on us, much different from the spring weather we’re used to in Tennessee.

  “Thank you for helping me through that. Thank you for this trip. Thank you for being you, Foster Vaughn. You’ve changed my life in ways you’ll never know.”

  “Aww, birthday girl, are you getting sentimental on me?” he teases.

  “Must be the flying.” I chuckle.

  Reaching over the console, he laces his fingers with mine. “I’m glad you’re here, Eden.”

  “Me, too,” I agree, as I turn to look out the window, enjoying the view as we drive to Clearwater Beach.

  “Wow, this is massive. We didn’t need a three-bedroom suite,” I tell Foster, as I take in our room on the top floor of the hotel.

  “Well, this one was the only room left that faces the ocean, and I wanted you to have that experience.” He places his backpack on the kitchen table—yes, a kitchen table and a full kitchen in a hotel! “Come with me.” He holds out his hand, and I don’t hesitate to place mine in his as we tour the suite. “And this,” he says, “is the best part.” Letting go of my hand, he pulls open the living room curtains to reveal a patio door and a small patio.

  “Wow. That’s…” My voice trails off as I step closer to the door, peering outside. “The water is so blue,” I breathe. “It goes on for miles. It’s better than I ever could have imagined that it would be.”

  “Good,” he says, wrapping his arms around me from behind. “You want to go out on the balcony?”

  “We’re on the top floor.”

  He chuckles. “I know that, but it’s safe. There’s a railing, and we won’t get close to the edge. I’ll be with you the entire time.”

  “You promise you won’t let go?” I ask, turning to look at him over my shoulder.

  Bending, he kisses the tip of my nose. “I won’t let go, Eden. I promise.”

  I know what he’s saying—he’s not going to let go of me while we’re out on the balcony—but my heart, that poor organ inside my chest that’s head over heels for this man, kicks into overdrive, beating faster. But not because of my fear of heights, but because he promised never to let me go. Different context, I’m aware, but my heart apparently has a mind of its own.

  “Open it. My hands are full of precious cargo,” he says, and I relax into him as a laugh slips free from my lips. I slide it open, and together, we step cautiously out onto the patio of our top-floor hotel room and look out at the ocean.

  My breath stalls in my lungs at the vision before me.

  The ocean stretches out endlessly before us, deep blue meeting pale sky at a distant horizon. Sunlight dances across the water in shifting patterns, and the waves roll in slow, steady rhythms, crashing against the wide, sandy beach. Even from up here, the sound is soothing.

  I feel him tighten his arms just slightly, as if anchoring me there, sharing the moment without a word. The warmth of him at my back contrasts with the ocean breeze brushing my face, and I become acutely aware of how still we are, how perfectly unhurried this feels.

  If I could bottle this moment and keep it forever, I would.

  I rest my hands over his, grounding myself in the quiet weight of his embrace, and take in the incredible view. Up here, wrapped in his arms with the ocean laid out before us, time feels softer, less demanding. For a moment, nothing exists beyond the sound of the waves, the warmth behind me, and the simple, breathtaking fact that I’m here, experiencing this, feeling this.

  “I never thought I’d see this,” I admit softly. “I live on one income, and I’m frugal to a fault. This moment, being here, with you… it’s everything, Foster. I can’t tell you what this means to me.”

  “You just did,” he says, kissing my cheek. “We’ll go in whenever you’re ready.”

  “I could stand here with you forever,” I confess quietly.

  “We could,” he says, “but I promised we’d bury our toes in the sand.”

  I turn in his arms, wrapping mine around his neck. “I’m ready for whatever adventure you want to take me on,” I tell him.

  “There are no rules. No timelines. If you see something you want to do, we’ll do it. As of right now, I have us flying home on Friday, but if we need more time, then we’ll take it.”

  “This is too much,” I tell him. Guilt sits heavily that he’s paying for all of this.

  “Eden, it’s been a long damn time since I’ve been able to spend my money on someone I care about. And yes, I know I have the guys, but they have their own money. This, bringing you here, seeing your eyes light up, getting to experience this moment with you, it’s a gift. One that no amount of money could buy me. Please, don’t think about that. I promise you, this isn’t a financial hardship for me.”

  “I know—I mean, I don’t know, but I do know you’re a professional athlete, and you make a good wage, but still, that’s your money.”

  He chuckles. “A good wage? Baby, I make nineteen million a year. That doesn’t count bonuses or endorsements. Please stop worrying.”

  My mouth falls open. “That’s—a really good wage,” I say, and he tosses his head back in laughter.

  “I love that you couldn’t give a single fuck about my paycheck. That only makes me want to spoil you more.”

  “Oh, no, this trip is like a decade of birthday presents or more.” His words echo in my mind. That’s—a lot of money, but being here with him, it’s priceless. Getting to share this trip with him feels right, and no amount of money could replace this memory for me. Even without the fancy plane ticket or the massive suite, this is what I know will be the best trip I’ll ever take because it’s with him.

  “Not a chance, baby.” He winks. “Now, are you ready to go feel the sand between your toes?”

  “Yes,” I say, standing on my toes and pressing my lips to his. It’s a quick peck, but I’m taking every chance I have to touch him, to kiss him while we’re on this trip. I don’t know what happens when we get home, and if we’re making memories, I want the full Foster Vaughn experience.

  He swoops in for another kiss. This one is longer and full of promise—at least that’s what my heart thinks. My head is telling me to slow down, but for once, I’m not letting that stop me. I’ve been reserved my entire life. I’ve never allowed a man to get close, not trusting anyone enough. I know in my heart that if Foster walks away, I’ll be heartbroken, but I’ll be a better person just from having known him.

  Getting this time with him is a precious gift I’ll always cherish. He’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever known. And even though I know it’s going to hurt, I don’t want to miss a single solitary second of the time we have together.

  “Fuck,” he rasps, pulling out of the kiss and standing to his full height. “We need to get out of this room.”

  “It’s such a nice room, though. And it’s got three beds, two couches, a kitchen table, a countertop.” I tick off each one, and he groans, diving in for another kiss.

  “Sand. I promised you sand,” he says against my lips, making me laugh.

  “Later.”

  He nods. “Later.” Taking my hand, he grabs the keycard, makes sure he has his phone, wallet, and rental keys, and we’re out the door. He pulls me close, wrapping his arm around my waist as we ride the elevator to the ground floor.

  Five minutes later, I’m standing barefoot in the white sand. My toes are buried, and my heart is full. I stare out at the deep blue waters as I try to remember that this is real life. I’m not dreaming.

  “You plan on getting those toes wet?” he asks me.

  “Patience, Mr. Vaughn. I’m enjoying this.”

  His chuckle is deep and husky. “Take all the time you need, babe,” he says, coming to stand next to me, digging his own toes into the white crystals.

  I take a slow, deep breath, letting the scent of salt and sunscreen fill my lungs. The sun warms my back, and the gentle lap of the waves against the shore makes my chest tighten with happiness.

  I can’t believe that I’m here.

  The breeze tousles my hair, and for a second, everything else disappears. Just the sand, the sea, and the quiet warmth of him beside me.

  I can feel Foster’s gaze, but it doesn’t bother me. His presence is comforting and grounding. Without saying a word, he takes my hand in his, and together, we take leisurely steps toward the water. The water kisses our ankles. A small splash rises, and I can’t help but laugh freely as we step further into the wave.

  He turns so that we’re facing one another. He lifts his palms to my cheeks and grins down at me. “You’re pure temptation, baby,” he murmurs, a playful glint in his eyes.

  I shake my head, smiling. “I’m just me.”

  “Exactly,” he muses, bending to cup water in his hands and splashing me with it.

  I shriek with laughter, and that’s how we spend the rest of our day. We laugh and play in the water like kids. Our clothes are soaked, but I can’t seem to find it in me to care. As the sun starts to set, hand in hand, we make our way back to the hotel. Our feet are covered in sand, our clothes are wet, and our smiles are wide.

  Today is a day that I’ll never forget.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Foster

  * * *

  “I’ve never been on a boat,” Eden says, bouncing in the passenger seat of our rental. “I don’t know if I’ll like it.”

  “I’ll be with you. Can you swim?”

  “Yeah, but Foster, there are things in the ocean that want to eat me,” she says, her tone serious. I have to bite the corner of my mouth to keep my laughter at bay.

  “Nothing in the water is going to eat you. I won’t let it,” I assure her.