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“I think … I’m sad that my father treated my mother so poorly and that she stayed with him for us, and after all the sacrifices she made, I’m completely fine never speaking to him again.”

Preston reaches for my hand, and I can feel the tears pricking at my eyes.

I don’t want to cry over my father. A man I thought loved me my entire life never did. A man I trusted failed me, and I …

The tears come anyway.

“I think the only thing I’m mad about is that he ruined trust for me. He was the one person who was supposed to be there to support and guide me, and he failed. Instead, he showed me how easy it is to lie and manipulate someone who loves you. How am I supposed to trust anyone around me, Preston? How do I be different? How do I become better?”

He rushes to me and wraps me in his arms.

“You do it one day at a time, Sunny. One day at a time. And you do it with people at your side who care about you. The ones who haven’t let you down. Gavin, Dutton, Brooke, Wren, and⁠—”

“You,” I say before he can name names.

He pulls back to look at me, but he doesn’t say anything.

“You care about me, right?” I ask.

I watch as he swallows and slowly nods.

“More than I ever thought I could.”

He wraps me in another hug, kissing the top of my head.

The world has always referred to waterfalls as magical, and I never understood it until now.

Until this moment right here, where I’m pretty sure I’m in love with Preston King.

Chapter

Twenty-Three

PRESTON

I knew the moment we stepped onto the plane that I would regret agreeing to leave the new us in St. Lucia.

I don’t want to leave it anywhere. I want to take it with me back to Lovers, to LA, to all the places she and I go together.

But it’s her call. This is how she wanted things to go, and I need to respect it.

Even if I can think of a dozen ways to disrespect her right now in the air.

“Thank you,” Grace says sweetly to our flight attendant for the day as she hands her a soda. When my father flies, he has a staff that he requests over and over. I don’t. I think it’s nice having different people on different flights. Although right now, with the way this one keeps looking back and forth between Grace and me, I’m glad we have all our staff sign an NDA before they can fly with us.

The stewardess smiles back at Grace and then returns to her post.

“Did you have a good time?” I lean in to ask.

Grace leans her head to the side and rolls her eyes. “Did you really just ask me that?”

“I did.”

“I think you know the answer to it.”

“I don’t know. I don’t like to assume. I like to hear it word for word.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she says through a smile and then sips her drink.