Tyler led me to the street, his arm still hooked around my shoulders. We watched the fireworks for close to an hour before the finale lit up the night sky.

Tyler hugged me to him.

“Is it lame that I’m thinking about how many fires the fireworks could potentially start?” I said, looking up at the incredible bursts of light.

Tyler turned to look at me. “Is it lame that I want to kiss you right now?”

I could still see the fireworks in my peripheral, feeling a bit sentimental. This was a particularly poignant Independence Day.

I closed my eyes, and Tyler leaned down, touching his lips to mine. What had started out as sweet and innocent quickly changed, and I gripped his T-shirt in my fists. When I pulled him against me, I could feel him harden inside his jeans, making me moan in his mouth.

He took a step back, still holding me in his arms. “That was awesome and unexpected.”

“We should definitely go home,” I said, breathless.

He held up his keys. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

My body jerked me awake, my eyes wide and staring at the ceiling above while I panicked for just a moment, trying to recall where I was, and whose arms were around me. In my dreams, I had been on a yacht in Sanya with Finley, feeling the hot sun on my olive skin and looking at the world through a pair of five-hundred-dollar sunglasses.

I touched the heel of my hand to my forehead, already mourning the carefree feeling I had on the imaginary boat with my sweet sister.

My cell phone buzzed, and I reached over to retrieve it from the wooden nightstand someone had cut from a log. Finley was texting me. The previous texts were of her looking bored on a beautiful beach, slathered in suntan lotion on the bow of Andiamo, or effortlessly beautiful while she shopped on Hainan Island. The last few texts were the increasingly impatient requests for me to contact her. I read over the saltiest one that she’d sent since she’d left, and couldn’t help but smile.

Ellison, text me back. I want proof of life, or else I’m getting on the next plane to Denver so help me god.

I typed a response but let my thumb hover over the SEND button. Sending I’m alive, I’m happy, I miss you wouldn’t be enough.

Tyler’s lips touched my temple. “Send it.” He cleared the hoarseness from his voice. “She’s worried.”

“She’ll want to call me.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

“She’ll know something’s wrong. She can read me, even halfway across the world.”

“Ellie,” Tyler said, holding my body against his. “You can’t duck this forever. You’re going to have to talk to her sometime.”