Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 89012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Want me to get a picture of you with the pigs in the background?” Captain Jimmy asks. “Might make a good souvenir.”
“Yes. Please. That would be great,” I say, grabbing my phone and handing it to him.
Maddox puts his arm around me, tucking me against him. I wrap my arm around his waist and dip my fingertips in the band of his shorts.
“Careful,” he mutters under his breath.
“Smile,” Captain Jimmy says.
He takes a few of us. Maddox moves me in front of him for the last couple of snaps. I feel his cock against my ass.
“Thank you,” I say, taking my phone back.
Maddox turns and dives into the water. All I can do is giggle. But before I dive in after him, I take a quick selfie—getting a good shot of my cleavage—then put my phone away.
“Come on,” Maddox shouts from the water.
I smile at Captain Jimmy and then stand on the edge of the boat. Pigs frolic around the water, splashing happily around Maddox.
A lump grows in my throat as I think about how unlikely all of this is. I’m in the Bahamas, but not with the man I booked the trip for. I’m here with Maddox, the guy I never thought I’d date. We’re swimming with pigs, something I wrote off weeks ago as being impossible for the time being. And I’m happy. At this moment, right now, I’m so fucking happy.
I dive into the water before I can think about it.
Maddox is in front of me when I come up. His face is one big smile.
“Okay,” he says, laughing. “I thought this was going to be stupid as fuck, but it’s pretty cool.”
Two small pigs, babies, I think, swim up to us. We paddle around them, diving under the water and looking up at their little hooves treading water.
“Look at that one,” I say, pointing at a black pig with long white spots. “It’s almost like a zebra.”
“That one is my favorite.” He motions toward a baby pink one with a black circle around his eye. “He looks like he got in a fight and won.”
I laugh.
We float to shallower waters and sit at the water’s edge. The water laps against us as the pigs swim and play, putting on a show for the two of us. I swear the little creatures are smiling.
“Isn’t it so unexpected?” I ask, watching Maddox practically cuddle his fighter pig. “There’s this scenery—some of the most beautiful, pristine beaches in the world. And then there are pigs. It’s wild to me.”
“What does it make you feel like?”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “When you see the pigs swimming around you like this—the juxtaposition of it all—what does it make you feel like?”
I don’t know.
“Think about it. I’ll be back.”
Maddox goes into the water and swims to the boat. He speaks to Captain Jimmy, who then retrieves something from our things and hands it to Maddox before he swims back to me.
He doesn’t get settled on the sand before his pig is back. Whether Maddox admits it or not, he loves it.
I take his phone with a waterproof cover from him and stand. While he scratches his new friend, I snap some pictures of it with his phone.
“So?” he asks.
I sit beside him again, turning my face toward the sky. “This makes me believe in magic, I guess. Not wizard magic but magic in the universe.”
“I see that.”
“You do?”
He doesn’t answer me, so I glance over my shoulder. He’s watching me while he pets his pig.
“Can I take a picture with you two lovers?” I ask.
He laughs. “I guess.”
I lift the phone and snap a couple of shots of the two of us and Fighter. Then Maddox pulls me between his legs so he’s behind me, and I take a couple more.
He kisses my cheek. Snap!
He kisses my neck. Snap!
He cups my breast. Snap!
He licks the side of my face. Snap!
The last picture is of Fighter trying to push the two of us over—or me out of Maddox’s lap, rather.
We play on the beach before swimming back to the boat, then use the apple sticks to feed some of the pigs still loitering. But as the dark skies start to roll in, Captain Jimmy tells us it’s time to go.
I climb out of the water first. Maddox follows me. We get covered in towels and cuddle up again on our seats.
As we pull away from the place I’ll never forget, Maddox brings his lips to my ear.
“The pigs represent determination and courage,” he says softly. “Beauty, even where it’s not expected. Wonder. Possibility.”
My insides turn to mush.
“You look at them and see those things,” he whispers.
I nod.
“That’s what I see when I look at you.”
I can’t look at him, or else he’ll see my tears. So I hold his arms around me and repeat his words in my head so I never forget them.