the tingle was accompanied by a healthy dose of lust. It’d taken everything I had to turn him down this morning, but I knew that he would make good on his promise of keeping me in bed all day and I’d really wanted to go to the spa.
As for turning him down again once we’d gotten there, that’d purely been my inhibitions talking. The treatment rooms were private in terms of the fact that one was shielded from view of the occupants of the neighboring rooms, but they were definitely not soundproofed. We’d heard other couples laughing and talking while on our balcony, and I knew there was no way they wouldn’t hear us if we did anything on ours.
I wasn’t a prude. I just really didn’t want to have to look people in the eye after if he made me scream and moan the way he had last night. And none of those noises had been fake or exaggerated.
Jaxon squeezed my hand, peering down at me as we walked along the moonlit beach with the waves crashing gently to the shore. “What’s got your mind all busy?”
“Nothing much.” I bit my lip, averting my gaze to stare at the luminous, glowing white ball as it hung just above the horizon. “Just about how this trip has turned out really differently from what I’d expected.”
“You’re starting to realize meeting me was a happy accident, aren’t you?” He didn’t smirk. His expression was filled with genuine warmth as he walked beside me.
I nodded. “Maybe I am, but the same can be said about you meeting me.”
“True, but I never thought otherwise.” He bumped his side gently into mine. “I realized what a happy accident meeting you was as soon as I saw you laughing into my shoulder when I threatened the manager.”
“Jeez. I can’t believe that was only days ago. It feels like I’ve known you for years.” It was true, even though it was a truth that scared me a little.
“What can I say? I’m an easy guy to get to know.” He licked his lips, his eyes narrowing as he brought our joined hands up to drape his arm over my shoulders again without letting go of my hand. “Actually, that’s a lie. I’m really not that easy to get to know. I feel the same way about you, though. It seems almost impossible that it’s been less than a week.”
“Well, I suppose we’re already living together,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. “If you count the cumulative amount of hours we’ve spent together so far, I think it’ll probably be the equivalent to having dated for at least a couple of months back in the real world.”
“How do you figure?”
“Think about the average length of dates and how many times a week you see that person.” I got comfortable in the crook of his shoulder and pressed a kiss to the top of his arm. “We’ve barely left each other’s sight in—what is it now—probably just over a hundred hours?”
“What do you think the average length of a date is?” he asked. “About three or four hours?”
“If it’s going well, yes. It’s probably around there somewhere.” I rocked my head from side to side while I thought. “That’s either thirty-three or twenty-five dates worth of time we’ve spent together.”
“How many times a week do you think regular couples go on dates?” He grinned down at me. “Two or three nights a week?”
I shrugged. “Seems fair enough. We’d have to look it up to be sure.”
“I don’t really give a fuck, but let’s accept for the sake of argument that we’re right. That means we’ve spent as much time together as people who have been dating for anywhere between two to four months.”
“Wow.” I blinked back my surprise. “A lot of people who’ve been dating for that length of time are either engaged or married for real.”
“See, baby bear?” He gave me another of the fake, dopey looks he seemed to love so much. “We’re meant to be.”
I checked his hip with my own but couldn’t hide my smile. “Yeah, it’s got to be that. You’re actually becoming less annoying with time. I haven’t found one of your socks in the bathroom in all this time.”
“Does that mean I can start leaving my socks in the bathroom now?”
I shook my head and punched his side gently. “Don’t you dare. The fact that you fold up your clothes and pack them away so neatly is one of the most