Ryder shrugged, not wanting to admit Kinley had a point. Or that he didn’t really have a good reason to want a cabin, except that he wanted a bigger boat. “It’s been twenty minutes. We should switch out the bait. We’ll get yours first, then I’ll grab mine.”
They worked in sync as a team, pulling Ryder further into the past, to the summer they spent nearly every day together. Riding bikes, fishing from the shore, eating ice cream cones on park benches.
“What’s that crooked smile about?” Kinley asked once the bait was switched. She didn’t seem in any hurry for the fish to bite, and for that Ryder was thankful. “It looks suspicious.”
“We used to get ice cream.”
“It’s theonesweet treat you actually like. Or did. But only butter pecan, right?”
He busied himself studying the depth finder, unable to shake the feelings stirring inside him.She remembers. The air felt heavier in his lungs. Charged in an uncomfortable way as emotions he’d put under lock and key attempted escape. They were a forty-minute ride from town, and without any fish biting yet, he didn’t have a good excuse to go back. But he felt like running anyway. It all felt too . . .much. After Mercedes left, Ryder swore he was done. With relationships. With women. With love. With it all. Kinley back in town for a few days wouldn’t change any of that.
Keeping his guard up should be easy, but Kinley’s mere presence weakened his defenses.
“I’m sorry, Ryder.”
Her unexpected apology drew his attention from the depth finder. “What on earth do you have to be sorry for?”
“I was so horrible to you. After my mom died. You didn’t deserve that.”
“It was a long time ago, Kin.” Apologies, emotions, regrets, all of it made him squirm. He yearned to change the subject, but the sincerity in her eyes forced him to swallow down his discomfort.
“You were my friend, Ryder. But Iblamedyou.”
Ryder remembered that terrible day with eerie vividness. The one when they ventured out despite strict instructions from Kinley’s mom. They only meant to ride out to the pier, grab ice cream cones, and race right back to the house. “If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me. I convinced you to stay out longer. Not to go home right away like you were supposed to.”Because I wanted to kiss you. “Itwasmy fault.”
“I agreed to go,” Kinley finally said. “I knew my mom wasn’t feeling well, and I willingly went to the pier anyway. You didn’t steal those final minutes from me, but I punished you for it anyway.”
For weeks after her mom died, Ryder stopped by the cabin only to be turned away by Fiona or yelled at by Kinley. In less than kind words, she barked at him to go away and never come back. He came back anyway.
He cared deeply about Kinley. It wasn’t just that kiss. It was everything about her.
But after months went by and his heart could no longer take being wrung out day after day, he eventually gave up.
“I should’ve kept coming back,” he said. “I never should’ve stopped.”
“I told you to leave me alone.” Kinley wiped away a tear with the side of her hand, her gaze locked on the mountains in the distance. Rowdy licked her hand, resting her body against Kinley’s legs. For such a young, energetic dog, she had a gentle side that both touched and warmed him. A dog this well behaved, someone took a lot of time and energy to train her.
“I was mean about it, too. I was so mad, and I unfairly directed my anger at you. It didn’t feel right to be so happy one minute, and completely destroyed the next. Ryder, I’m so sorry.”
So happy?Ryder swallowed, relieved in so many ways to know Kinley had felt the magic of that first kiss, too. The stolen kiss beneath the pier was the highlight of his summer. He still remembered the way his heart soared. He’d been waiting for weeks to kiss her, and when it finally happened . . . he’d never experienced anything like it.
He wanted to feel that again.
Abandoning his pole, he was across the boat in two strides. “Kin, I—” he said, struggling to choose the right words. Their first kiss felt like a forbidden topic, one they both no doubt thought about but refused to voice.
If he couldn’t vocalize his thoughts, he could channel them another way. His gaze dropped to her lips, remembering the way the sun shone thrown the pillars beneath the pier the first and only time he’d tasted her kiss. He reached out a hand, intending to caress her cheek. But it never made it. “You have a bite.”
One thrilling moment shattered and gave way to a new one. Excitement filled her widened eyes. He’d be tempted to give up his fishing boat if it meant seeing that smile every day. “Did I catch a halibut? What do I do?” Her hands wrapped around the handle of her rod. “Do I reel it in?”
Rowdy barked enthusiastically, tail wagging in earnest.
Ryder let the traitorous urge to kiss her wash away as she went into fisherman mode. “Don’t do anything yet. Just wait. When you see the end of the rod’s just bobbing up and down like that, it’s too soon. The hook might get pulled away from its mouth, and he’ll get away. Wait until the tip is bent over.”
“I’ve never caught a halibut before,” she squealed, biting her bottom lip. “I’ve only ever been fishing with you.”
With one stride, he could close the gap between them. Turn her cheek to face him. He felt his frozen heart thawing with each moment they spent together.
The gentle rocking of the boat brought his focus back to the line. The catch tugged it harder. The tip of the rod bent all the way over, arching in an extreme way. “Is it going to break?”
