40. Adrian

Chapter 40

Adrian

T he saltwater sloshed against the side of the boat, rocking it gently and sending the first hints of cooler air over us.

Laid out on a recliner at the far end of the deck and blocking the last views of the sun dipping below the horizon, Ava rested with a book in her hand, the red of her hair blazing brightly from the last rays of sunlight. Her black bikini and a little sash that tied at her waist were all that covered her, but as the wind hit again, she reached absentmindedly for the towel behind her, feeling blindly with her hand until she could pull it over herself, not wanting to tear her gaze from the book for a second.

It was adorable, really, how she found herself so intensely absorbed by the images in her mind as she read instead of the view beside us. Mountains sprouted where the land met both the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno, with colorful houses and buildings and roads built into the sides of it. Streetlamps kicked on one by one, lighting it beautifully—and yet, she stared at her book.

I leaned back against the worn teak of the sailboat's deck, the soft creak of wood beneath me blending with the quiet lapping of the waves against the hull and the soft cry from the other side of the deck.

"Lucas," I said quietly, leaning down to my left and stroking the top of his head to get his attention. He looked up at me, tearing his gaze from his handheld games console. "Can you check on the girls for me?"

"Sure," he grinned, setting his screen to one side and pushing off his chair. He'd had a growth spurt recently, and I tried not to let it bother me that my ten-year-old was almost as tall as my shoulders. He was only a handful of inches shorter than Ava now.

I watched him as he walked across the deck in his bright yellow life vest, sticking out like a sore thumb against the deep brown of the deck and the darkening blue water. He squatted down in front of their swings, distracting both of them enough to calm the little cries from Leah. Or Lucy. It was hard to tell from a distance.

Letting my gaze drift back over to Ava as the sun finally blinked out, I fully expected to find her either still engrossed in her book or watching Lucas and the girls. Instead, I found a set of green eyes looking directly at me.

Hey , I mouthed.

Hi , she grinned.

I nodded my head away from both of us as a quiet request for her to come to me, laughed as she threw her head back and groaned in counterfeit exhaustion. She pushed herself upright and wrapped the towel around her shoulders, walked right past Lucas and placed a little kiss on the top of his head, before finally padding across to me.

Her skin had turned sunkissed in the month we'd spent traveling around Europe, her freckles bolder, her eyes brighter. She was fucking beautiful—in all honesty, she was probably the most beautiful thing I'd seen, outshining every coastline, every work of art in every museum, every setting or rising sun.

And she was mine.

"I was reading," she grumbled, leaning her weight into me as I took her face in my hand.

"You were. And then you were looking at me," I chuckled. "Is it so awful of me to want a minute with my wife?"

Long lashes fluttered up at me as she stuck her lower lip out. "Yes," she deadpanned. "Criminal behavior, if you ask me."

I snorted. "Lock me up then."

"Oh, I'll absolutely be reporting you to INTERPOL."

"And rip our children away from their father? Monstrous." I pressed my lips to her cheek, her jaw, the soft spot beneath her ear, letting my nose trail along her skin. "At least I'll have something pretty to play with if I'll be on the run."

"You're such an ass," she said, a breathy chuckle turning into a little gasp as the tip of my nose ghosted across the spot on her neck that made her shiver.

"I love you, too."

I pulled her in with a hand around her waist, pressing her flush against me. The wind kicked up again, carrying the scent of salt and citrus from the shore, a reminder of the lemon groves nestled in the cliffs above. The temperature was dropping, and soon, we'd need to move somewhere warmer, somewhere sunnier. But for the next week at least, the Amalfi Coast was warm enough during the day to keep us a little longer.

"Their birthday is next week," I said softly, dragging her attention back to my eyes as I lifted my head from the crook of her neck. I'd been meaning to discuss her plans when it came to birthday celebrations, but every time she'd managed to distract me, managed to wipe the thought from my mind.

Her expression flattened sarcastically. "I know that."

"Did you want to fly back home?" I offered, tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear as the wind whipped. One of the twins cried out again, and Lucas's voice carried as he soothed them. "Your dad might want to see them."

Her lips formed a hard line, and I dragged my thumb along her cheek, trying to smooth out the muscles. She sighed. "Can I be honest for a minute?"

"Of course you can."

"Guys, I think Lucy is hungry," Lucas called, his head popping up on the other side of the deck. "Want me to feed them both?"

"Yes, please," we said in unison.

Lucas lifted a single hand with his thumb up as he descended into the interior of the boat.

"Right, honesty hour," I chuckled, drawing her attention back to me as she tried to crane her neck to watch Lucas disappear. "Go."

Her mouth scrunched up on one side while she tucked herself back into my chest. "Yeah, sorry," she sighed. "I…don't think I want to go back to New York anytime soon."

My brows knit together as I studied her expression, trying to pick it apart in my mind. I bumped her nose with mine. "Why? We can't keep Lucas out of school once summer is over."

She shrugged. "It's just nothing in comparison to all of this." She nodded her head toward the cliffs and villages behind us. "We could homeschool Lucas, at least for a little bit."

A creeping laughter crawled up my throat. "I'm sorry," I chuckled. "But you were just nose-deep in a book five minutes ago and not paying a single lick of attention to our surroundings."

Her eyes rolled dramatically. "You know what I mean."

I pressed a kiss against her lips. "I do," I whispered. "We can look at homeschooling Lucas."

The grin that spread across her cheeks was as wide as the cliffs behind us.

"But that still doesn't give me any idea what you want to do for their birthday," I teased, pressing in a little further, forcing her back to bend as I kissed her again, and again, and again. Her stoicism broke, little fits of giggles breaking free, and there she was, pretty in the twilight and the reflections of the streetlamps in the water, pretty in my arms.

"I'll call him," she said through her fits. "We can see if he wants to fly out, okay?"

"Would you be happy with that?"

"Yes," she beamed. "I'd be happy with anything other than going home just yet, as long as I've got you and Lucas and the girls. Honestly."

Behind her, the stars were just beginning to blink into view in the velvety hues of twilight, the light of them reflecting just barely off the mostly calm water beneath. She looked up at me, those same stars twinkling in her eyes, shimmering and magnificent, and a sense of pure calm washed over me as I pressed my mouth to hers again, lingering against her lips. Out here with her, with our kids, under the fading light of day and the emerging glow of night, everything felt right—like this was exactly where I belonged, where we belonged, and for once, there was nothing missing.

"I'm not going anywhere, Aves," I grinned. "You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."

THE END