Take Me Away

by Elliott, Kelly

  Duke jumped off the bed and made a beeline out the bedroom door that had been left ajar.

  As I made my way down the hall, I could hear Nolan. He was singing. I covered my mouth with my hand and peeked around the corner to get a glimpse of him.

  “Hey, buddy. Did the smell of food get to be too much?”

  Duke barked before Nolan tossed him something he was cutting up. Belle lay patiently at his feet and seemed to be perfectly content. Nolan went back to humming, and I placed my hand on my lower stomach. So much had happened in the last week and a half. The one good thing out of all of it was that I remembered every single thing about this man. Our first kiss. The first time we made love. The first time he told me he loved me. Even the moment I told him over FaceTime that we were expecting a baby. Every memory, good and bad, was back.

  I stepped around the corner and made my way into the kitchen. Nolan looked up and paused as I walked over to him. Reaching up onto my toes, I brushed my mouth against his for a light kiss. “Hey,” I whispered.

  His arm snaked around my waist and he brought my body flush against his. “Hey, back at you.”

  Smiling up at him, I asked, “What are you making?”

  “Breakfast.”

  I laughed. “What time is it?”

  “Seven-thirty.”

  With a frown, I looked outside to see that it was sunny out. I gasped. “Did I sleep all afternoon and evening?”

  Nolan nodded. “You did. You must have really needed the sleep. I woke up around eleven last night, took both dogs out and then went for a run.”

  “A run! At night?”

  “On the treadmill in the workout room. Then I showered and laid back down with you and didn’t wake up until Belle climbed onto my chest around six and gave me my very own wake-up kiss to go potty.”

  I covered my mouth with my hand and giggled. “Thank you for taking her out. She is a bit of an early riser.”

  Nolan raised a brow as I sat on one of the kitchen island stools.

  “What are you making?” I asked.

  “Bacon, eggs, pancakes, and there’s fresh-squeezed orange juice in the fridge.”

  I felt my eyes widen. “Why are you making so much food?”

  “I was starving. I haven’t really eaten much the last few days.”

  I frowned. “Me neither. I’m sorry about running like I did.”

  Nolan looked up at me. “Don’t apologize. I wish you didn’t find out that way. I planned on telling you that night.”

  “I figured that out after I got to thinking about things.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  I shook my head. “No, I’m honestly tired of thinking about it all. What I do want to know is how you’re here. I was planning on flying out to California to see you.”

  Nolan looked back down at the pancakes he had just flipped and then turned his focus onto the eggs.

  “Nolan? What’s wrong?”

  He looked over his shoulder at me and replied, “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

  “Then tell me how you got your leave extended.”

  Clearing his throat, he removed the pancakes as he spoke. “I didn’t get my leave extended.”

  I watched him put two pancakes on each plate, then turn and get the eggs. He put one on his plate and one on mine.

  “Okay,” I said. “Nolan, are you AWOL?!”

  He laughed and shook his head. “I resigned my commission. I’m no longer active duty, but I am reserve and did tell my command that I would continue on as a consultant. Both for the Air Force and for NASA’s test pilot program.”

  I was positive my mouth was hanging open. “You left the Air Force? Can you even do that?”

  He laughed. “Yes. I’ve fulfilled my obligations from pilot training school, and since I’m an officer, I can resign at any time.”

  Words escaped me; I had no idea what to say. I was stunned, not even sure I was hearing him correctly. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

  His eyes met mine, and the way he smiled at me made me feel dizzy. “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life, Linz. I want to be here with you.”

  “Yes, but I could have moved there. I already told my parents I was going to move out there to be with you. Nolan, all I want is for us to be together. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

  A pained look crossed his face, and I slid off the chair and made my way over to him. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if I’m in California or you’re here in Texas. All I care about is that I finally have you back. I have my life back. As much as I hate some of the memories we share, I simply adore the rest of them. I cannot wait to start a new adventure with you, Nolan.”

  Before I could say another word, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the box that held our wedding bands. He kept the two bands in the box and took out the one-carat princess-cut diamond and dropped down on one knee.

  Tears filled my eyes as I whispered his name. “Nolan.”

  “Linnzi Marie Cunningham, will you elope with me this weekend and finally be my wife?”

  I reached down and pulled him up so that I could throw myself against him. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” I cried out as he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the floor.

  “Finally,” he softly said, squeezing me to him.

  “I want to go somewhere, Nolan. Just the two of us. I want to make up for the lost time we’ve had.”

  He shook his head in a confused manner. “What about the job you wanted?”

  “I called her and told her I needed some time, that something personal had come up.”

  He stared at me. “I don’t want you to give up on your dreams. Not ever.”

  Placing my hand on the side of his face, I softly replied, “Nolan, I followed my dreams for eight years. It’s time to start new ones.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that all I really want to do right now is spend time with you. I want to get back to the barn, get involved with horses again, and help you settle in with the ranch now that I know we’re not going back to California. I want to just…be me. Be us. I haven’t been able to do that in so long, because I was stuck in a world I wasn’t even sure I was happy in. Does that make sense?”

  He nodded. “You don’t want to work in art anymore?”

  I shrugged and answered him honestly. “I don’t know. Ask me in a couple of months. Right now, the only thing I want to focus on is us.”

  A smile slowly spread across his handsome face. “Then I think we should start doing that right away.”

  I dug my teeth into my lower lip to keep from moaning as Nolan slid his hand up my thigh and then stopped when he realized I hadn’t put on any panties.

  “Are you…are you naked under my t-shirt?”

  I attempted to give him my sexiest smile. “I am.”

  He groaned and pulled me against him. He lifted my leg up, then grabbed my ass. “Breakfast or sex?”

  I raised my eyes as if I was actually considering his question. “I think I’ll go with…sex.”

  Nolan flashed me a smile that made my stomach clench with anticipation. He moved quickly through the kitchen and to the living room where he gently laid me on the sofa. His eyes moved over me slowly, taking in every inch of my body as he settled over me. Burying his face into my neck, he kissed along my skin until the warmth of his breath hit my ear and caused me to shiver. “I’ve missed you.”

  I moaned, wrapped my legs around him, and lifted my hips. I needed to feel him press into me. To ease the ache between my legs. “I’ve missed you too.”

  “I want to bury myself deep inside you, Linz, and stay there the rest of my life.”

  My back arched as I dug my heels into him. “Yes. Now. Nolan, please.”

  He chuckled and moved his hand slowly up my leg until he found the place where I needed his touch. Nolan pulled back and met my gaze. I felt my tongue swipe across my lips as our eyes locked. The heat between the two of us was unden
iable. It was no wonder my heart wouldn’t let me move on. It had always belonged to this one man. As did my body and my soul. I was his, and he was mine. “Do you need to come, baby?”

  “Please,” I whimpered, lifting my hips once more to gain some kind of friction.

  Nolan moved quickly, and I gasped when I felt his hot breath.

  “Oh God,” I moaned when he took my clit into his mouth and gently sucked.

  “You are mine,” he whispered as he licked and sucked.

  “Yes!” I cried out, burying my fingers into his hair. “More. Please.”

  He chuckled and gave me exactly what I begged for.

  It didn’t take me long before I cried out his name as one of the most intense orgasms of my life hit me. I floated on a cloud of bliss, slowly returning to the now. Nolan had stripped off his clothes, lifted me, and pulled the t-shirt over my head. He slowly pushed inside me.

  “Linz.” His voice sounded strained as he pushed all the way in and then covered my mouth with his. Slowly, he made love to me. Every beautiful memory of us together was finally back.

  The muscles in Nolan’s back began to shake, and I knew he was close to release. I moved more urgently, giving more of myself over to him.

  Pulling my mouth from his, I gasped when he lifted my hips and found that sweet spot that sent me over the edge once more. Nolan said my name as he pushed in deeper and groaned, both of us falling.

  I wrapped my arms tightly around him, holding on with an almost death grip. As if I was afraid he’d slip away again. “I love you, Nolan. So very much.”

  He lifted his head and looked deep into my eyes as he smiled. “I love you more.”

  Linnzi

  I STOOD ON the balcony, drew in a deep breath of salty ocean air, and smiled. The light breeze made me shiver, and I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed them to get a bit of heat flowing through me.

  “Are you cold, sweetheart?”

  Nolan.

  His whispered words against my ear nearly sent me into a tailspin.

  Slowly I turned to see him standing in front of me, dressed only in a towel. My eyes took in his fit physique with greed as I felt my entire body heat at the sight of him. “Not anymore.”

  A crooked smile appeared on his face, and he leaned down ever so slowly and brushed his lips against mine. “Good morning, Mrs. Byers.”

  I wanted to purr like a kitten every time he called me that. Instead, I returned his smile with one I hoped had an equal effect on him. “Good morning, Mr. Byers.”

  His blue eyes turned dark, and he leaned down once more to kiss me. This time he bit on my lower lip and sucked it into his mouth before running his tongue over it. I grabbed onto the railing to hold myself up as my knees shook and my insides pulsed with need.

  He let my lip go and then ran his thumb over my bottom lip, his eyes watching the action with deep interest. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  I raised a single brow, and he laughed.

  “Are you hungry for food, my beautiful wife?”

  “I suppose I could eat something, considering you’ve had me in that bed for the last twelve hours doing naughty things to my body.”

  He winked. “You seemed to enjoy it.”

  “Oh, I did. Very much so.”

  “Good, I’ll give you a repeat performance later.”

  He took my hand in his and led us back into the private bungalow we had rented for our honeymoon.

  “St. Lucia is beautiful,” I said as I made my way to the sitting area where two trays of food were waiting for us. They were overflowing with fruit, eggs, muffins, and at least three different types of breads and jams.

  “It is very beautiful,” Nolan said, motioning for me to sit first.

  “This is enough food to feed a small army.”

  He settled himself across from me and immediately tore into his food. I couldn’t help but smile. Someone had certainly worked up an appetite last night.

  “What we don’t eat we can put in the small fridge,” he said between bites.

  I smothered berry jam over a piece of wheat bread and sat back, my feet tucked up under me. “What are we going to do on the first official day of our honeymoon?”

  Nolan glanced up at me and smiled. “Well, I thought I would introduce you to a few hobbies I’ve developed over the last few years.”

  “Really? That sounds like fun.”

  He gave me a lopsided grin that made my insides feel like they had combusted.

  “What’s that smile for?” I asked, taking a bite of my toast.

  “The first thing we’re going to do is kitesurfing.”

  I frowned. “Kitesurfing?”

  He grinned. “Yeah.”

  “Um, okay.”

  “After that there’s a tour that takes us to this amazing waterfall. Then we’ll come back here, have dinner, and maybe enjoy a nice walk on the beach.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  He grinned, clearly pleased that his plans for today were going to work. “Tomorrow I’ve got us booked on an ATV tour.”

  I reached over and grabbed some grapes. “That sounds like fun.”

  He nodded and took a bite of his eggs before washing it down with orange juice. “Then, ziplining.”

  I laughed as I shook my head. “Hell no.”

  Nolan lifted his eyes and gave me a deep frown. “What do you mean?”

  “I am not going ziplining.”

  He tilted his head as if I’d just said the craziest thing in the world. “But it’s through the rainforest, Linz. It’s going to be beautiful.”

  “I have no doubt it would be beautiful, but have you forgotten? I’m afraid of heights.”

  Nolan laughed.

  “You think that’s funny?”

  He shrugged. “I mean, you’re strapped in. I’ve done it a dozen or more times. Over canyons.”

  “You also flew fighter jets and made them stall out on purpose. You don’t get to be the judge of stuff like this.”

  He laughed once more. “Please? For me, will you at least try it once?”

  I exhaled and chewed on my lip. It did sound rather fun. “Okay, I’ll do the ziplining, but if I don’t like it, you won’t pressure me to do it again.”

  “Of course not. Why would you even think I would?”

  “Let’s see, that time at Six Flags when you made me go on that one ride that dropped straight down. Then you kept bugging me to do it again after I told you I peed my pants.”

  His brows pulled in for a moment, and then he lost it laughing. “That’s right! I forgot all about that.”

  “Ha,” I said as I shot him a dirty look. “Good thing my memory came back.”

  He shook his head and popped a blueberry into his mouth. “I’m going to guess the sunrise balloon ride is out then.”

  I nearly choked on my scrambled eggs. “Yes, that is a hard pass. A very, very hard pass.”

  “Kayaking?”

  “Rapids or smooth water?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Kayaking is out.”

  I fought to keep a smile off my face. “I will hike, boat, swim.” I pointed at him. “And that doesn’t mean scuba dive.”

  “Damn,” he mumbled.

  “Tours, spas, fishing, biking.”

  “Parasailing?” he asked in a hopeful voice.

  My mouth fell open in shock.

  He let out a small grunt. “I’ll take that as a no.”

  “How about a romantic picnic?”

  A brilliantly beautiful smile erupted on his face. “I can arrange that. Oh! Maybe after we can go zorbing.”

  I closed my eyes and counted to ten. “Nolan, is this type of adventure going to happen on every vacation from now on? I’m all about doing fun, adventurous stuff, but I think I need to establish some rules.”

  “Rules?” he asked with one brow raised.

  “No jumping out of things. No running down hills in balls or with cows chasing us.”

  He chuckled. “Cows?”


  “Bulls, whatever! No jumping off of anything while I’m attached to a rope. Or out of a plane. I’m all for sitting back and watching you do it, but I don’t think I’m going to ever be ready to go full-on crazy like you.”

  “I don’t go full-on crazy.”

  I gave him a questioning stare.

  “Fine. I really think you’d like the zorbing, though.”

  “The hamster ball?”

  He nodded and winked. “Trust me.”

  I sighed. “Fine. Since it is our honeymoon, I’ll do that.” I held up my hand when he went to talk. “But…in return, I want to go on a sailboat and snorkel with dolphins.”

  “I can do that.”

  Smiling, I reached for his hand. “And maybe we don’t have to fill every part of the day with doing something. I’m totally fine simply staying here.”

  “In bed?” he asked as he wiggled his brows.

  “Yes. Or on the sofa. Out on the deck. In the pool.”

  Nolan gave me a hard look. “We’re not having sex in the pool.”

  Laughing, I shook my head. “I wasn’t only talking about sex!”

  “I was!” Nolan wiped his mouth with his napkin, stood, and then reached for my hand. “Speaking of sex, I do believe I am recharged.”

  I stumbled out of the clear ball and fell to the ground, gasping for breath. “Holy shit. What was that?”

  Nolan ran up to me, a huge smile on his face. “Was that not the most fun you’ve ever had?”

  Glancing up at him, I was positive that if my eyes could shoot daggers, my husband would be covered in them. “Fun? Fun? You call that fun!”

  He nodded and helped me up. “You didn’t like it?”

  “I was pretty sure I was going to die a few times. I was out of control.”

  Nolan pressed his lips together tightly and looked away.

  “If you so much as laugh, Nolan Byers, I will withhold sex for the rest of our honeymoon.”

  He held up his hands and worked hard at not laughing. Really hard.

  “I want to go back to the room and soak in a hot bath.”

  “You really didn’t have fun?” He slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him as we headed toward the parking lot.

  With a defeated sigh, I replied, “I will admit that at first it was kind of fun. Then, the hill got steep and turned, and I went up these walls, lost control, and sort of…tumbled down the hill.”