Now it would.
I was going to him. We’d have so much time.
I needed to plan how to tell him.
I landed, and the surprise was on me.
Logan was there but not to pick me up.
He was there to pick up Quincey, who was flying in to surprise Nate.
11
Earlier
Logan
God, Taylor was fucking beautiful.
Every morning, every day, every evening, she took my breath away. She was raw. She was genuine. She was never demanding. She was strong. She was supportive. She knew when to fight, when to love, when to avoid, and when to stand.
She’d been through things that I never wanted to imagine. Ever. But she was here, and she was walking toward me. Barefoot. Nighttime. On a beach in Hawaii. She had flowers in her hair—flowers in her hands. A line of lights marked the path to me, where I was standing. The waves were coming in behind us, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
I loved her. I loved her so fucking much.
I wasn’t Mason.
I never had to be the one to make the hard decisions, not early on, not like him. I didn’t like feeling emotions. I used sex to push everything away, and because of that, it crippled me at times. I hadn’t processed our parents’ horrendous divorce, how they treated each other growing up. That’s what I learned. That’s what I saw love was.
Mason got his woman right away. He hid in her.
I hid in sex, drinking, and fighting. And none of it was ever enough for me.
I met Taylor in college, and I still didn’t want to deal with shit.
She loved me despite it all, and I knew she should’ve walked away from me so long ago. She never did.
Mason was strong. Samantha was strong. I’m strong, but fuck everyone because Taylor was the strongest. She endured, and she keeps smiling, and she keeps loving. There’d been a few times when she got worried about things, spoke up, stopped me from doing something stupid, but for the most part, she just loved.
She was coming toward me now, her eyes bright and shining, and she was wearing some sort of dress. She informed me she wanted off-white, but fuck if I knew the reason. She had one, and she tried to explain it in a very articulate way, but I was only fantasizing about taking it off of her. There was a slit up her leg, and as soon as I could, my hand was going there and going up to find its landing strip.
“Are you ready for this?”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away, but I responded to the minister. “Never been more ready.”
Then she was in front of me, and she was blinking back tears. I moved in, catching some of those tears and brushing them away. I smiled. “Hi.”
She laughed, a few more tears falling free. “Hiya back.”
The minister cleared his throat. “Are you both ready?”
Taylor answered this time, “Oh, boy am I.”
Her cheeks flushed, but I stepped into her and touched my lips to hers.
I never wanted them to leave.
She startled, not expecting my kiss, but softened and leaned into me. Her hand slid up my chest, rounding my neck, and I continued to kiss her because I could. This was my woman.
After a few more seconds, after I knew I had kissed away her embarrassment, I stepped back and motioned to the minister. “We’re ready.”
He started.
12
Present
Logan
“Is everything okay with Taylor?”
Nate asked that question as we were in the backyard of James’ house. He’d technically moved to a different house, saying this gigantic mausoleum was Mason’s and mine, but we both refused to claim it. For a bit, we tried to VRBO it, but that fell through. Too many parties. Too much damage. The neighborhood hadn’t liked that either, so here we were, back here. But hearing Nate’s question, I turned and studied Taylor a bit.
She and Quincey were laughing, sitting across from us. They’d gone in to mix drinks for everyone. Taylor insisted on handing them out, but they hadn’t returned to sit with us for some reason.
I studied her a bit, noticing she was holding her back. It was in her posture. She was sitting rigid, a little more guarded than necessary, and I almost wanted to punch Nate because fuck him for noticing when I hadn’t, but that was on me.
I cursed, sitting forward slowly.
Nate snorted and started laughing.
I growled. “Shut up, you asshat.”
“Way to take care of your woman.”
I flipped him off, not caring one bit how old we were. I’d flip off anyone who wanted to scold me on that crap too.
“You guys going to go see her dad?”
I nodded, not having asked Taylor but already knowing. “We always do.”
“If she wants to go alone?”
He was digging at me, and I glared at him. “You know I won’t let her do that.”