He nodded without removing his head, waiting until I wriggled before pulling back to look at me. “You okay now?”
“I think so.” I flexed my fingers to be sure, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay. The rest of the walk might be a little interesting, though.”
He chuckled, keeping a careful eye on me as he let me down. “I could carry you, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t let me.”
“You guess correctly.” My feet touched the ground and Jaxon stepped away when he was satisfied that my legs were stable enough to hold me up. “I’ve never been like this, you know? I’ve never done anything like that before.”
My limbs still felt like jelly, but I managed to get my clothes back on once I shook the leaves out of them. One or two stuck to me, but I picked them off with one hand while Jaxon wrapped the other up in his and guided us back to the path.
He looked sexy as all hell with his hair tousled from my fingers, his lips swollen, and his eyes still dark when he looked at me. “I’m sure you say that to all the guys you have sex with in a Fijian forest.”
I hit his shoulder, but it lacked the intention to actually harm him in any way. “Is that any way to speak to your wife, baby bear? I think not. You’ve obviously been a bad influence on me.”
Light came back to his eyes when he laughed, kissing me again just before we rejoined the rest of the tourists sticking to the trails. “I’ve always wanted to be one of those. Thanks for the compliment, princess.”
“I’m no princess,” I said against his lips, tossing my ponytail over my shoulder as I pulled away from him. “I’m a queen. Don’t ever forget it.”
He laughed and gave me a playful smack on the ass before slinging his arm around my shoulders as we made our way to the nearest waterfall. “Trust me. There’s absolutely no way I’d ever forget that. You have a permanent spot carved into my memories, my queen. I’ll always remember every minute that we’ve spent together.”
For the first time, it dawned on me that our holiday—and by extension, our fake marriage—was quickly coming to an end. My heart flipped over at the thought, which was surprising because it wasn’t supposed to be involved at all.
As I settled in against his side, where I really had become just as comfortable as he’d teased me about the other day, I felt tears pricking at the backs of my eyes. I wasn’t ready to let him go, and yet it wasn’t like we could stay.
Well, this is an unexpected turn of events.
Chapter 20
JAXON
I reached for Lindsay before I even opened my eyes, but my fingers didn’t touch anything other than air and bedding. A frown tugged at my brows when I realized she wasn’t there.
Worry punched me in the gut, but then I remembered where we were, and I figured she probably just needed to be alone for a while. She’d probably gone for a walk on the beach, not wanting to wake me up after all my complaining about early mornings.
Glancing at the windows, I saw that the sun was already up but it didn’t look like it’d been that way for very long. The light was still too soft and it had that definite early morning haziness to it.
Flopping back on the mattress, I yawned and let a smile break free as I thought about our hike. And after.
Sex in the woods had been fucking hot, but I hated that she had to keep quiet. I wasn’t exactly a stranger to fucking in public or semi-public places, but I’d never been as greedy for a woman’s moans as I was for hers.
At least I’d kept my promise about making her raise the roof later. We’d had a picnic near a stream when we reached the waterfall. The afternoon had been spent talking, exploring a few of the shallower caves, and having an early dinner at a small local restaurant on our way back to the hotel.
When we’d reached our bungalow, I’d hauled her into the bedroom and kept her there for the rest of the night. At around midnight, we’d ordered grilled cheese and ice cream for a snack along with a bottle of champagne, eaten in bed, and then I’d guzzled the drink from her bare flesh before we finally fell asleep at some godforsaken