“Maybe I’m not all that different now.” His voice is low and husky. I feel the heat rising on my neck now. It felt so good to be in his arms earlier today. I want him so much. All of him.
“You’re just the same, Nathan. There’s no difference.”
It’s true. It’s strange, but there’s absolutely nothing different about him. How is that possible with no memory? More than ever, I want him back. I’m crawling out of my skin.
His eyes soften and glisten. Tiny tears bead at the edges. I gently remove a few with my thumb.
“Show me some more of your research,” I say.
He jumps back into his journals until he flicks his eyes back up to meet mine, remembering something. “I can’t believe I didn’t lead with this.” Hesitating, he continues. “Something happened when I picked up Natalie.”
A cold rush of fear sweeps over me. “Is she okay?”
“Yes. When I drove up, a man was speaking to her alone. He was about sixty, with a trim beard.”
As he tells me about the encounter with the man Natalie calledWalter, my heart drops to my stomach. Could it be the same man who was watching me that night with the dogs?
“He didn’t touch her, but the things he said to her...” he tells me what Walter said, and I share what happened the night I watched the dogs.
“God, Nathan. What in the world is going on? Who is he?” I stand and start moving in circles. I need to do something. Get her out of here.
He puts his arms around me and takes a breath. “Ssh… I’ll keep both of you safe…”
“She can’t stay here right now.”
“No. Where can we take her?”
I could take her to a motel out of town, but then I’m abandoning all my responsibilities and the town’s folk during a crisis. And where would we go? Some random place far away from all the people in our lives and from the answers we need to find. Neither of us has family living outside of Maverick Key.
“Maddie,” I say. “Natalie’s comfortable sleeping over at the beach house, and she’ll be nearby with family.”
He nods, agreeing.
After we call Maddie and triple-check the doors and windows to be sure the house is all locked up, we sit back on the couch.
When will this day end? I’m so exhausted. Inside and out. But when I look at Nathan, he’s still wide awake. The photo album in his hand.
He turns back to the photos of our first beach day in Miami. “Can you tell me the story of how we met again? Please.”
Should I tell him I admired him in silence for months before we met? And that I asked for that exact lifeguard duty when I heard his friends talking about their plans for the beach. Not only did I want to learn from him—that was true—but I also had a huge crush on him. A crush that grew into friendship and into love at the same time.
“When I saw you on the beach, I decided to shoot my shot and ask you to be my mentor. I was all coolness and confidence. Drew you right into saying yes.”
“I’m sure you did.” His golden-brown eyes sparkle.
“You had one task for me—explain diel vertical migration. I aced it. And the rest was history.”
“Do it again…” he whispers. His voice is low and deep. “Describe it all to me, every detail. Go slow.”
“All right.” As I retell the lesson that I gave him beat for beat, he holds me to his chest, massaging my neck with an occasional murmur and chuckle. The faint scent of salt from the ocean clings to his skin. It never completely washes away. And he’s warm. His heart is beating a million beats a minute. And he’s… My voice grows breathier as I soak him in.
When I get to the end, he gazes into my eyes.
Then a switch flips, and that quiet fire of his flares.
He clears his throat. “She…”
Kissing my hand, he lets his lips linger against my skin. “She walks in beauty like the night… and all that’s best of dark and bright… meet in her aspect and in her eyes…” I hold my breath and wait for him to kiss me.
