I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Things are still new and fresh.
It’s almost ten o’clock at night when I put the finishing touches on the presentation from the comfort of my bed. I’d hoped to be done a lot sooner than this, but given that Beau’s been busy all day, it wouldn’t have mattered much. He must be exhausted, and tomorrow’s an important day.
I send the final file to him with a short message in the body of the email:City Council Presentation. Starring Beau Palmer.
I press send and close my laptop as there’s a tap on my window.
My mouth breaks into an unstoppable grin. I have no chill, shoving my laptop aside and rushing over to the window to open it.
Beau’s face is turned up toward mine, his uniform shirt is unbuttoned, and his hair is a little less orderly than usual. With a few minutes, I could disorder him even more, I bet.
I stare down at him, and he stares up at me for a few seconds in silence.
He lets out a satisfied sigh. “I already feel so much better.”
“Me too,” I say, feeling a bit shy all of a sudden. “I just emailed you.”
“Thank you,” he says. “Any chance you want to come down here? I desperately need sleep, but I need you more. Just a few minutes, even.”
“Catch me?” I tease, making as if to climb through the window.
“I’d love to,” he says with a sleepy smile. “But I don’t think I could catch a baseball right now, GG. My body is wrecked.”
I have a few other words to describe his body. “Fine. I’ll come down the normal way.”
“Don’t take too long,” he hurries to add before I shut the window.
My heart thumps with anticipation as I hurry downstairs on cloud nine.
He’s waiting on the deck, and I yank open the sliding door and run toward him, wrapping my arms around him. There’s a millisecond of surprise on his part, then his arms close around me, and he buries his face in my hair.
I can hardly believe how good it feels to hug him. Only now do I realize how miserable I’ve been the last two days.
“Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?” he mumbles into my hair.
I pull back and look at him. “I wasn’t ever actually mad at you. I was just…”
“Hurt,” he says.
I nod, feeling the lump creep into my throat again. “It’s dumb.”
“It’s not.” He runs his fingers from my temple, back to my ponytail. “It killed me a little inside to answer the council’s question.”
“You were just doing your job.”
“I know, but I never want to hurt you, Gemma. Not ever.”
I search his eyes, but I already know he’s telling the truth, so I put my hand on his jaw and pull his mouth to mine. My mouth can’t form the right words, but maybe they can communicate this way.
His arms shift, falling from around me, and I feel his hands on my face, his fingers pressing against the hollow under my ears as his lips explore mine.
I have no idea what I’m doing with my life. No idea what we are. I don’t really see a future for us, as much as I want to. But Idon’t know how to stay away from him. I don’t know how to stop the hope.
After a minute, he pulls back.
“You’re tired,” I say.
“I think I got a second wind,” he says with a sly little smile that might just have the power to keep me here on the island indefinitely.
