Page 84 of Ex Marks the Spot
I’d happily accept one full life with him, and I’d slay the jackalpottamus myself.
After taking a dip in the Jacuzzi, I hang our wet bathing suits in the shower and don my robe, then grab Court’s off the hook and return to the bedroom.
“Here,” I say, tossing it to him.
He catches it with one hand and sets his bottle of water on the nightstand. “What’s this for?”
“I need to talk to you, but I can’t think straight when you’re naked.”
The grin he blasts me with is a heady mix of cocky and adorable. In an effort to stay focused, I cover my eyes. “Put that thing away too.”
“Okay, okay,” he laughs.
A few seconds later, I remove my hand and find him standing there with his robe open, hands on his hips, still wearing that damn grin. It’s an act of warfare, obviously, so I reach for the nearest weapon and launch my assault.
“If you don’t cover up your man parts,” I say, whacking his chest with a pillow, “I’ll be forced to?—”
Court catches the pillow and holds it over my head. “You were saying?”
It’s tempting to lose myself in the devilish glint of his blue-green eyes. I very nearly do, in fact, leaving me with no choice but to break out the big guns.
I tickle him.
I reach right inside his open robe and attack his sides before he even knows what’s coming.
Yelping, he drops the pillow and goes for my hands, returning fire with expert precision while shouting, “You’ll never take me alive!” and something else I can’t hear over the sound of my own laughter.
“Uncle!” I cry between breaths as we fall onto the bed in a tangle of arms and legs.
He lands half on top of me, which wouldn’t be that big of a problem except that my robe came untied somewhere in the battle and now my naked parts and his naked parts are dangerously close to each other.
“You’re making it really hard to apologize to you.”
His head pops up, brows bunched together. “For what?”
The mood shifts from playful to serious, cueing a flood of nerves. “So much.”
Still concerned, Court rolls to the side to fix his robe, then settles against the pillows.
I do the same but decide to stand because this is the kind of thing you say while standing, right? Like a respect thing? Or would that look like a power move because he’s sitting while I’m standing? I don’t want to look powerful, just sincere. In that case, maybe I should be on my knees?
“Hartley?”
“Hmm?” I say around my thumbnail.
“You’ve stood up and sat down twice. Is everything okay?”
Nodding, I drop my hand to my lap and gather a breath for courage. “I had a mini epiphany at the checkpoint today, and now so many things make sense and I’m kicking myself for not realizing it before.”
I pause to sort through my thoughts, but they’re swirling around like little tornados of clarity, each just as important as the others and all of them clamoring for which one goes next. I wish I could tell him everything exactly the way it came to me—full-force and all at once, like the universe revealed the answers in a completed painting, then whacked me in the face with it.
Not that I want to whack him in the face, but you know what I mean.
“Anyway, what I want to say is I’m so sorry for doubting you and calling you a coward and a liar and for spending the last six years, and most recently the last week and a half, hating you for things you never did.
“I’m sorry for forgetting that you’ve always been an incredible human being, and for accusing you of making decisions for me when all you were trying to do was put my life and my needs ahead of your own. I’m sorry youhad to break your own heart in the process, and I’m sorry for all the nights you hurt more because of what I said or how I acted.
“But mostly, I’m sorry for thinking the worst of you when all you’ve ever wanted is the best for me.”