This woman could read a grocery list, and I would find it sexy.
So why am I still so scared to tell her how I feel?
Chapter
Eight
IRIS
Slidingthe glass door to the villa open, I slip outside. I walk the few feet off the back deck until I reach the beach. The grains of sand shift under my feet, making me smile. A breeze kicks up, and I wrap the blanket around me tighter. I walk down to the water’s edge. The water is warm as it crashes against my feet, but my eyes are on the horizon. The first hints of orange are starting to rise.
A new day.
There is something about a sunrise. It makes me feel hopeful that yesterday’s problems are just that, yesterday’s, and today is a new day ready for all the opportunities it might bring.
I sit down right there on the beach, uncaring about getting wet, and watch the sun. I close my eyes as the waves crash against me and the sun heats my skin.
God, I needed this.
I might love Boston as my home, and London might be my favorite city to visit, but there is nothing like watching a sunrise on a beach where the air is so humid you feel sticky as soonas you step outside. It is as if you are transported into another world. One where the plights of the world cannot reach you.
I zone out until the sound of a ringing phone disturbs me.
My eyes open to find a man running down the beach in my direction.
“Sorry,” a guy mutters as he runs by before answering his phone.
I get up and head back to the villa I’m sharing with Max. It’s the same one we always share when we come down here, but somehow it feels different this time.
Maybe I’m different.
I drop the wet blanket on the deck before stepping into the outdoor shower and start to wash the sand off my feet.
I should have brought my toiletries out here with me. I could have showered in nature.
Once the sand is off, I head inside and get ready for the day. As soon as I step inside, I know he’s already gone. He never sleeps well when we are away from home. Well, in Boston he has no issues, but I suppose that was home long before New York was.
An hour later, and I’m ready to get to work. My phone rings as I leave my room.
“Hello,” I say without looking at my screen.
“Do you want hot or cold chai?” Max asks.
“Cold.”
“I’ll meet you in the lobby in fifteen minutes,” he says before hanging up the phone.
Laughing, I shake my head.
That man. I never know what to expect when it comes to him.
It’s no wonder I fell for him.
No, no, you’re over him.
At least, I’m trying to forget the crush I harbored for years.
Sighing, I enter the lobby and look around. There are electricians hanging chandeliers and other workers doing whatever they are assigned. The place is coming together smoothly. Right on time and on budget. When we decided to remodel after the last hurricane, I wasn’t sure we would make the deadline. Yet here we are.
