“You coming, Monroe?”
Her lips parted in surprise, but she didn’t hesitate. She took his hand, letting him pull her onto the boat, the warmth of his palm sending a shiver through her.
He guided them away from the shore, taking them where the inlet stretched wide and seemed endless. The boat rocked gently as he killed the engine, the silence between them thick with something unsaid.
“This is my favorite time of day for this spot,” he admitted, his arm wrapping around her waist.
She tilted her head up at him. “Why?”
His eyes held something deep, something reverent.
“Because it’s yours.” He said softly, as if he was unsure if he should say it.
Her breath caught. “What do you mean?”
“Turn around and look,” he said.
She did. And what she saw stole the air from her lungs.
There, just beyond the bend, sat the midnight blue house on the hill. The dock where everything had changed.
Her chest tightened.
"Last night, when I told you about the Echoes of Us… this was part of it." His fingers brushed against her cheek. "I told myself if I ever got another chance with you, I’d give you everything you deserve."
She swallowed hard, tears pricking her eyes.
"You deserve the ocean and the shore, Savannah." He kissed her temple. "But this is the best I can do."
A tear slipped down her cheek, and Chase wiped it away with his thumb, his touch achingly tender.
"I think I get it now," she whispered.
He smiled, pressing a lingering kiss to the top of her head.
"I knew you would."
As the sky deepened, she curled into him, the stars blinking awake above them.He pulled out a blanket, wrapping it around both of them as they sat on the bow, watching the sky melt into twilight.
Savannah traced the inked patterns along his forearm, the warmth of his body seeping into hers, the steady rhythm of his breath grounding her in the moment.
"You know," she murmured, "I wish we could stay like this forever."
Chase’s fingers skimmed her jaw, tilting her chin up until their eyes met. "We can."
Her breath hitched at the weight of those words, at the way his gaze darkened with something more, something deeper.
But before she could speak, he kissed her—slow and unhurried, his lips moving over hers with a tenderness that made her heart ache.
It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t desperate.
It was something infinitely more dangerous.
It was a promise.
She knew this wasn’t just a rekindled spark.
It was a wildfire.
