“Should we put our rings on?”
I paused midstep, was surprised I didn’t fall. “Why would we do that?”
“Because we’re supposed to be on our honeymoon? Because I’m gonna say you’re my husband when all the guys want a piece of me, because who can blame them?”
I rolled my eyes. “We don’t have to wear the rings.”
“Let’s just wear the rings.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Fine.” I held my palm out as if it was such a hardship and there was nothing in the world I wanted less than to be married to him.
“Drunk us has shitty taste.” Caden handed one over.
“I’m sure we didn’t have a lot of options since, you know, it was last-minute and all.”
“But we did get matching ones. How cute.”
“There is seriously something wrong with you.” I slid the simple band on my finger, watching as Caden did the same. Emotion clogged my throat, made my chest ache with want. I turned away before Caden could see.
The resort was huge, the restaurants with both indoor and outdoor seating and every kind of food you could want.
As I knew it would be, there were a lot of eyes on us. It was still pretty early for dinner, but after the night we’d had and traveling, we were both exhausted. We ordered beer, steak and potatoes, and just…hung out. Nothing was different about us. It wasn’t weird that we were wearing wedding rings and were officially husband and husband. We laughed and chatted like we always would.
“What are our plans this week?” Caden asked.
“Not sure. Whatever you want. I want to do some swimming, exploring, dancing.”
“Absolutely to dancing.” Caden loved it. “Is there zip-lining?” he asked, making my heart race with excitement.
“Yes! I wanted to do that, but Jack isn’t into it, so I decided against it.” I’d never zip-lined before, and always wanted to.
“Just because he didn’t like it, didn’t mean you couldn’t do it, A.”
“I know, but it was our honeymoon.”
He groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
“You know, sometimes you seem awfully jealous.”
“Bite me, Bailey-Hill. I just knew he wasn’t right for you.” The waiter approached us right then, and Caden said to him, “It’s our honeymoon. I think that calls for dessert.”
I knew Caden, and he was going to spend the whole damn week telling people we were married and on our honeymoon. He just liked to fool around that way.
And I would probably spend the week wishing it was forever.
Chapter Six
Caden
I knew I was going overboard with the whole being-married thing—wearing the rings, telling people and things like that—but I was feeling…weird about it. Not bad-weird or anything against Alex, just…okay-weird. Kinda-like-it-weird. Settled-weird. It was throwing me for a loop, and when I didn’t know how to deal with something or what to make of it, I usually turned a little obnoxious about it. I was lucky Alex had put up with me for so long. I was a bit of a crazy friend.
After dinner and dessert, we went back to our suite, changed into sleep shorts, and lay in bed, watching true-crime shows until we fell asleep. We were both suckers for that shit and always had been.
It was morning now. I could feel the sun heating the room, a sliver of light across the bed, and…Alex’s body beneath mine. Not under me, under me, but he was on his side, and I’d curled up behind him, fit my legs with his, my chest against his back, my cock nuzzling his ass. It wasn’t the first time we’d accidentally ended up cuddling. How could we not, when we’d spent so much of our lives sharing a bed? But it felt different with the weight of the shitty wedding ring on my finger. Seriously, if we ever got married for real, we’d choose way better representations than this.
If we ever got married for real? That wasn’t supposed to be a possibility. It wasn’t supposed to be something I ever considered, because I was straight and wanted to stay single.
“Your dick is getting a little friendly with my ass back there, slugger,” Alex said, his voice husky and sleepy.
“It’s morning wood, asshole. It has nothing to do with you, and I like that, you calling me slugger. Is that because you feel what I’m packing?”
“Oh my God!” Alex groaned. “Why am I friends with you?”
“Because you love me.” We both stiffened at my words—beyond my cock, that was. Neither of us should have been surprised. I was definitely the open-mouth-insert-foot one in our relationship, and Alex did love me, and I loved him. But now we were married, and I’d been feeling freakishly weird about Jackass, and all I could think about was that one night when Alex told me he was in love with me. I’d blown it off for years, thinking it was just a random drunken thing, but given our current situation, talking about him loving me felt like a step too far.