I scoot over when we get to our seats, tucking my bag under the seat in front of me. The attendant comes over when Ace takes his seat and asks us what we would like to drink. The both of us answer water and then laugh. I lean over and kiss him on the lips, and it is really sinking in that I won't be able to do that either when we get home. My head is telling me that it's okay since I got to kiss him all week long. We spent yesterday afternoon in the ocean in front of the villa. With my legs wrapped around his waist, we kissed for most of the afternoon.
I look out of the plane as my nerves start getting the best of me. My leg moves up and down, and he reaches over and grabs my hand in his. I look over in time to see him bring our joined hands to his lips where he kisses my fingers. "It's going to be okay." I don't answer him. Instead, I just look out the window as people start filling the plane. The captain comes out, and I close my eyes and lay my head back on the headrest when the plane starts to move.
"Shelby." I open my eyes, looking over at him. He leans onto the middle armrest. "What was your favorite part of this week?" His eyes turn just a touch darker.
"Um." I start to think. "There are lots of times actually." His hand comes up to my cheek as his thumb rubs my lips. "I don't know if I can pinpoint just one," I say, ignoring the way my heart is pounding in my chest, also knowing that it has nothing to do with the plane moving but everything to do with the man next to me. "What about you?"
"That's easy," he says. "You finding out that it was me who kissed you two years ago."
"Ace." I say his name, and he comes in and kisses my lips. His tongue slips into my mouth, and just like every other time, it's better than I remembered. I could spend hours just kissing him, and during this whole week, I have. He lets go of my lips now. "We're in the air."
I gasp and look out the window seeing the white clouds. "You kissed me to distract me?"
"No." He shakes his head. "I kissed you because it's my second-favorite thing to do with my mouth." I tilt my head to the side.
"Do I want to know what the first thing is?" I ask him, laughing.
He looks around. "I wish I could show you," he says, leaning his head back on the headrest. The smile on his face makes his eyes go even lighter, and I lean in for one more kiss before turning and looking out the window.
The flight goes by in record time. The whole time, my stomach is getting tighter and tighter while the pressure makes me feel like I can't breathe. The plane stops, and the seat belt sign goes off, and everyone starts to stand. I grab my bag as I get up and stand, waiting for the people to start moving. He smiles at me and leans forward, and I take one last kiss from him. He makes me pass in front of him, and I smile at the attendant on my way out. His hand finds mine, and I look down, knowing I should say something. “Ace,” I start to say to him as we walk toward the baggage claim.
“There she is.” I hear my sisters’ voices and slip my hand out of his. He looks down for a second at his empty hand and then looks ahead. I want to stop him from walking so fast away from me and tell him maybe we should talk. But all I hear is my sisters’ voices. "The not-newlyweds." I look up and see that my sisters are there with a huge sign that says:
Mr. & Mrs. Baker.
I laugh and look at Ace, who doesn't look at me, and I can feel his walls are up. "Hey," I greet when we get close enough to my sisters.
Clarabella comes over to me. "Shit, getting left at the altar agrees with you," she says, kissing my cheek, and I look over to see Presley give Ace a hug as she jokes with him. "You look amazing."
"It's the tan," I mumble and look over to see if I can catch Ace's eyes, but Clarabella is switching sides with Presley to hug him.
"You look," Presley says, looking at me, and she searches my eyes. "I don't know what that look is," she says, laughing, and hugs me. It's the look of a properly fucked woman who is wondering how she can prolong this without trying to sound needy.