“I like how the wine affected you.”
“I’m sure you did. But I’ll take some water.”
He got them both a bottle and returned to the couch. “I don’t want to hurt you. That’s not my plan.”
“What is your plan? Do you even have one?”
“Most times no. This time it’s going to work in my favor. This thing we have, that I think started a long time ago, never had a chance to develop. I want to see where it goes. Do you?”
“I’d like that, but you should know, I’m not leaving this island. I’ve got a home.”
“I don’t have a home,” he said. “Which means I can make one anywhere. Nothing is tying me anywhere.”
“And that includes here.”
“You’re here,” he said. Short of coming off cheesy or desperate, he admitted, “As long as you’re willing to see where this takes us, I’ve got the time to give it everything.”
Because the only thing he’d ever given everything to in the past was his career and it burned him out and made him run for a gypsy life.
He was tired of running, searching, and throwing darts at a map.
“Then I’ll make the time to do the same.”
22
A PURPOSE
“Iwondered how long it’d be before you let me see your place,” Arik said the next Friday.
“I figured if you were going to meet my family in a few days, the least you could do was see where I lived. You can pick me up here.”
Or maybe stay the night.
She was running out of the strength to fight off the heat he ignited inside of her.
“I can do that,” he said. “Show me around.”
“Not much to see. It’s a tiny space with little view or quiet, but it works.”
She could get a bigger place now. A nicer view. But she could save more if she stayed and this worked for her.
It wasn’t as if she spent much time here.
“I live in hotels, so this is bigger than anything I’ve had in years.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t rented homes or villas or beaches in foreign countries.”
“I have but rarely. I like staying in the US most times. No clue why. It’s hard enough being alone when you travel, but when you don’t understand the language it’s even harder to fit in.”
“Learning a new language should be a hobby then,” she said, poking her finger into his side.
“I need to feel a passion for it.”
“Oh, like puzzles,” she said.
She’d gone back yesterday and they finished the puzzle. He’d been working on it without her. He said he couldn’t just leave it there. The mountain design had been staring at him, begging him to fit the pieces in place.
She wondered if that was how he looked at her.
