Chapter Twenty-Six
Now
Seizing the opportunity for a breather, Piper gathered the remains of their dinner with a quick “be right back.” For years,
she’d placed Wyatt firmly into a box reserved for people she would never let back into her life, which made her warm feelings
toward him—growing warmer by the second—confusing.
After burying the fish bones and soggy leaves in the sand, she stood before the ocean, feeding off the power of the waves
crashing onto the shore. The breeze cooled her flushed skin. With a stomach full of food, she could appreciate the wild beauty
of the beach, admiring the sky as the remaining traces of daylight drained away and a full moon rose overhead.
At this moment, on this beach was exactly where she was meant to be. The certainty of that feeling hit like a lightning bolt,
awakening her to a fresh start, a new beginning, a second chance. It filled her with gratitude for every path that had led
her here—here with Wyatt. He’d always been her North Star, but she’d blocked his light. And now, by some crazy twist of fate,
he was back in her life, his light calling her home.
She strolled back to him, savoring the way the silk dress slithered over her skin in the nighttime air. Halfway back, she caught Wyatt watching her like she was his favorite dessert, gaze fixed on her moonlit silhouette. His face, lit by the flicker of flames, drew her in like a magnet. His unnerving gaze never left hers. Wordlessly, she sat back down across from him, unsure of what to do or say next.
The tension between them pulsed like a glowing ember.
Wyatt broke the silence first. “I’m going to get something. Wait here.”
She protested, but he flashed her a hunky smile that was impossible to argue with.
He returned carrying the bottle of sparkling wine from the Yeti. “I think now is the perfect night to crack this open.”
Piper nodded eagerly. She could use some liquid courage. “What are we toasting to?”
“Staying alive this long. Figuring out how to catch and cook fish. Finding this bottle of prosecco.” He paused, his gaze lingering
on her lips. “Kissing you. Take your pick.”
Piper returned his soft smile. “I’ll toast to all of that.”
Wyatt pulled off the cork with a satisfying pop that made Piper want to “woo” out loud. He took a sip from the bottle before
handing it to her.
The prosecco, warm and bubbly, tickled her throat on the way down. She took another swig, then held the bottle up in a toast.
“Cheers to awful bridesmaid dresses serving more than one purpose.”
“Yes! Remind me to thank Allie for her fashion choices when we see her.” Wyatt accepted the bottle, taking a longer sip this
time. “Cheers to you finding a Yeti full of food.”
“Amen.” Piper took her turn with the bottle. “And cheers to us for not killing each other. Yet.”
Wyatt laughed. “It was touch and go there for a minute.”
“There’s still time,” Piper teased, but all her animosity toward Wyatt had evaporated with the recent rain.
They passed the bottle back and forth, reveling in the moment’s joy and the break from thinking about their next steps for
survival.
They’d finished half the bottle when Wyatt held it out in front of him to make a new toast. “I’ve got another one.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“A toast to you, Piper. I know I put on a strong front, but I’d be lost without you.” His voice cracked, and his eyes dampened.
“You’re the reason I get up every morning and keep going. And I don’t just mean on this island. I don’t know where I’d be
if you hadn’t come into my life when we were kids and if you weren’t here with me now. I’m thankful for you every day. And
I’ve missed you every day we’ve been apart.”
Unable to speak over the lump in her throat, Piper laced her fingers through his and held on tight. His gaze flicked to her
mouth, his pupils blackening his eyes except for the reflection of fire dancing in them.
Her stomach flipped.
Once she remembered how to breathe again, Piper took the bottle and set it securely next to her in the sand. Then she leaned
forward, winding her arms around his neck until her face was inches from his. His breath fell warm and sweet on her skin,
his gaze locking onto her like a target.
When his lips finally brushed against hers, feather-light and teasing, Piper let out an audible sigh. She buried her hands
in his hair and urged him closer, sealing her mouth on his, shivering as his tongue traced a delicate line along her lips.
How could his kiss still evoke the same out-of-control spiral of emotions she’d felt as a teenager? Could still make her believe
in soul mates and fairy tales and happy endings.
Kissing Wyatt felt like coming home.
Before long, kissing wasn’t enough. Wyatt pulled her into his lap, and they became a coiled knot of limbs. His hands were everywhere: tangled in her hair, caressing her back, running up the sides of her body. Focused solely on getting as close to him as physically possible, Piper wrapped her legs around his waist. The combination of prosecco and his kisses made her feel like she was floating above her body. From her position in his lap, she felt him grow hard beneath her.
He wrenched his lips from hers. “God, Piper, if we keep kissing like this...”
She interrupted his train of thought with another searing kiss. If they kept kissing, it would lead to more, which was exactly
what she wanted—way more than she wanted a milkshake right now. Dragging him down onto the sand and showing him exactly how
much she loved being his girl was all she could think about.
Piper untangled herself from his arms and stood, extending an inviting hand to Wyatt.
He put his hand in hers, and goose bumps traveled all the way up her arm and down her body in nervous anticipation. The idea
of being with Wyatt again, really being with him, was both terrifying and electrifying, but everything inside her was ready
to walk into that fire. Hell, she’d waited eight years for this moment, and now it couldn’t happen fast enough.
She led him over to the entrance of their shelter and lifted her face to kiss him again, making it obvious what she wanted.
Wyatt needed no further invitation. Within seconds, he’d backed her up against a tree, cradling her hips in his large hands,
trailing kisses along the lines of her collarbone and up the sensitive curve of her neck. Piper fisted his hair in her hands,
sighing in pleasure as his warm mouth made its way inch by delicious inch to her lips. His mouth collided with hers, and she
tugged on the ends of his curls, pulling his face closer, deepening the kiss, their tongues sparring.
Piper couldn’t decide if she wanted time to slow down or speed up. She wanted Wyatt to rake his hands over her body, to put out the fire he’d started, the fire that threatened to consume her whole. But she didn’t want this moment—Wyatt Brooks kissing her, wanting her, on a moonlit beach—to end. She slid a hand between them and pushed gently on his chest, creating a few inches of breathing room. He rested his forehead against hers, both of them panting heavily.
“We can stop if you—” he started, but Piper shushed him by placing a finger to his lips.
He nipped at her fingertips before she reached for the top button of his shirt and undid it, a teasing smile playing across
her face. Standing still, he watched, stormy eyes intense and smoldering, as she undid each button, working her way down one
by one until she could push back the fabric, revealing his broad chest and taut stomach. Unable to help herself, she ran her
hands along his smooth skin, marveling at the muscles quivering under her touch. How many times had she wanted to touch him,
to feel his solid steadiness beneath her hands? And now she had free rein. If possible, her heart thrummed louder.
A jagged scar she hadn’t noticed before shone in the moonlight above his rib cage. Deliberately, she pressed her lips to it,
then tugged his shirt off completely and traced kisses along the outline of the black tattoo that started at his bicep and
extended to his shoulder. His breathing grew uneven, his eyes unfocused when Piper continued kissing down his flat stomach.
Her lips curved into a smile. She loved having this effect on Wyatt and hoped his knees were as weak as hers. She wrestled
with his shorts, pulling them down over his hips, dipping her fingers beneath the front of his waistband to the tickle of
hair underneath. Before she could explore much further, one of Wyatt’s strong hands closed over hers in a viselike grip, the
other cupping under her chin, dragging her upward, forcing her to look at him before he ravaged her mouth with his lips, his
tongue, his heat.
When her lips were swollen from his kiss, he grazed his teeth along her jaw and nipped at the sensitive spot below her ear. Then he turned his attention to the swell of her breasts, burn ing her skin with his hot mouth. Bending his head lower, he ravished first one, then the other, through the nearly sheer silk of her dress. Piper gasped, arching her back, heat pooling between her legs. He caught her gaze with a devilish grin. Payback for her earlier assault. When he finally lifted her dress over her head and pulled off the rest of his clothes, she was desperate to feel his hard body against hers.
Shrouded only in the fire’s glow and light from the moon, he pulled her down to their bedding and continued worshipping her
breasts, her stomach, her thighs, then came back to her lips.
“How is it possible that you’re this goddamn beautiful?” he murmured, his lips doing dangerous things to her earlobe. “I’ve
fantasized about this hundreds of times, but this, you, are so much better than my imagination.”
She shook her head. “You’re the one with the hot army body.”
He framed her face with his hands. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d get lucky enough to be with you, like this,
again. I swear, Piper, I won’t screw it up this time.”
“Just don’t leave,” she whispered before pulling his mouth back to hers. She didn’t want to think about the past right now.
Couldn’t think about anything besides how intensely she needed his hands on her skin, his lips on her body. Wrapping one of
her long bare legs around him, she hitched herself against his hard length.
A glint of silver flashing in the dark caught her attention. Wyatt had produced a condom seemingly out of nowhere.
“I figured we should be careful given our circumstances,” he said, looking sheepish as he rolled onto his back and maneuvered
on the condom.
Piper laughed. “You just happened to have that handy?”
“I had it in my backpack. I brought it on the off, off, off chance that something might happen between us at the wedding.” He captured her lips with his again. “And I’ll admit I’ve been thinking about this moment for days, so I tucked it into my pillow just in case.”
“So, was this all an elaborate plot to sleep with me?” she teased, kissing him back.
“Yeah, I chartered a plane and crashed it, hoping I’d wear you down enough to let me have my way with you.”
“Well, it worked, if that helps. Was it worth it?”
“We’re about to find out,” he growled, moving back over her. “Is this okay?” He cradled her beneath him, his eyes searching
hers in the moonlight.
She nodded, panting, and pressed her naked body against his, punctuating her words. When he pushed into her, Piper almost
cried in relief. He trembled, clasping her hand in his. She held on like a prayer.
The keening of insects saturated the air, matching the increased synchrony of their breathlessness. They moved like they were
trying to lose themselves in each other, to drown out everything else. Like this alone kept them alive. Wyatt’s callused hands
moved lawlessly over every inch of her body, stoking the fire that had been simmering for days until it boiled over, feverish
and desperate.
Until there was nothing but Wyatt. No sand, no plane crash, no island. Nothing but them together.
Afterward, he tucked her under his arm, not letting her go. “Are you good?”
“Never been better.” She dropped a kiss on his chest, right above his heart.
“I love your freckles.” He kissed her nose.
Piper squirmed. “I usually cover them up, but there’s no hiding them here, especially with all the sun I’m getting.”
“I’m glad. These freckles drove me crazy in high school. I spent hours finding constellations on your face.”
Piper suppressed her maniac smile. “That’s very cute and a little stalkerish.”
He shrugged. “I never denied being obsessed with you. Still am.”
It wasn’t quite an admission of love, but it was as close to one as Piper needed now. She leaned in and kissed him once more.
Kissing Wyatt felt inevitable, sleeping together fated.
Aftershocks of happiness shot through Piper like fireworks all night long. Every time she stirred in her sleep, Wyatt’s arm
tightened around her, or she woke and found herself wrapped around him. Twin flames dancing in the dark. She’d worried that
being intimate with Wyatt would remind her of the last night they’d spent together—right before he broke her heart—but it
was a salve to her hurt. Wyatt’s kisses melted away the last wisps of pain, cracking her resolve like an icy pond in spring.
It had taken eight years and one plane crash to bring them to this moment, but it had been worth the wait. That night, the
stars shone solely for them.
It was a tiny slice of heaven, smack-dab in the middle of hell.