“I don’t think you’re messed up. Owing money to criminals is”—I sucked in a breath through my teeth—“troubling, but you did it for a good reason. And you’ll pay them off and never have to deal with them again.” I turned my hand palm up to his and laced our fingers. “I don’t want to go back.”
His eyebrows pulled together. “Why?”
I shrugged, smiling. “Because there is no place in the world I would rather be than with you.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, voice low but hopeful. His lips seemed to fight a bigger smile. “It will take a long time to get the reward. Years. Or it might not work out with a finder’s fee at all, and you’ll end up with a broke fishing boat owner whose house is a pile of ashes.”
“I don’t care about that. And we can rebuild the house. It was a piece of crap anyway, had horrible air conditioning, and the plumbing was awful.”
He threw his head back and laughed. I loved his rich laugh, and I would hold tight to that sound for as long as my memory allowed.
“What about your battle to fight cybercrime?” he asked.
“I can fight it from any place in the world.”
“You might grow bored with me. There are no more mysteries to solve, no secret messages to break. You’ll be the girlfriend of a guy who takes tourists to catch fish.”
“What about the resort you want to build?”
Hunter rubbed his face, releasing a muffled groan of exhaustion, then looked away to where the highest pick of the reef-protected volcanic island came into view over starboard. “You were right. Teaku isn’t the perfect place, and I know nothing about running a business.”
“You know how to run the charter business.”
“That’s because Edward taught me how to do it.”
“You could always learn how to do something else.” I bumped his shoulder with mine. “I’ll help you. We could also go sailing for a while. I don’t have my dad’s ashes with me or his diary, but I have a list of all the islands he wanted to visit imprinted in here.” I tapped a finger on my temple. “I think that would make him happy. It would make me happy, too.”
“I’d love to do that.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Wonder Woman, I don’t think I ever lived before you walked into my life.”
“You mean shipwrecked into your life?”
“Yes,” he said, his lips brushing against mine softly. “I wanted to tell you that I loved you for days. It was like a ticking bomb inside my heart waiting to go off. I should have said it when I knew it.”
“And when was it?” I smiled.
“The day we were trying to lift theReely Nauti. I came around the boat and saw you hanging on the rope.”
“Really? When I was sweaty and angry, hanging on the cable like a kid who was about to fail their PE class.”
“You were so determined and not afraid of work, and so beautiful, and good God, you were so snappy when you were tired. And my heart was in deep, deep trouble.” He kissed me again. “I need to be honest with you. When I saw theReely Nauti’sdamage, I was relieved and scared all at once. It meant I had more time with you, but I knew I’d only fall in love with you more, and it would be torture to say goodbye to you when you left.” His eyes crinkled from the smile.
“Some people say falling in love is like cliff diving—exhilarating and stupid—and others say it’s like falling asleep slowly and then all at once, and I don’t know how it happened to me, but…” I smiled. “All I know is when I thought of home, I saw you instead, and that’s when I knew I loved you.”
Hunter kissed my temple and hugged me. “I love you, beautiful.”
The man saw me when I was near death, bruised and dirty, with greasy hair, not even wearing a lip gloss, and Hunter still found me attractive.
“If you think I’m beautiful, wait until you see me all dolled up. You’ll pass out from lack of oxygen to your brain because your blood will drain down south too quickly.”
He chuckled. “I have no doubt about that.” He pulled away, eyebrows slightly furrowed. “I don’t think you ever told me your middle name?”
“Louise. It’s my mom’s name. What is yours?”
“James.”
“Mmm, I like it. Hunter James Holden,” I said, brushing my lips against his.
A blast of a boat horn jolted us from our happy bubble. We got up and watched a cabin cruiser approaching us. It wasn’t a coast guard, but a large, gray boat.
