“Different how?” I press.
He settles onto a step behind him so his torso is exposed.
“I remember the first time my dad took me fishing. I was maybe five, clueless about how the whole thing actually worked, but enamored at the idea of walking away from the experience of having caught a fish from a giant body of water. No one had to tell me I’d like it or that it would make me smile. I tried it, and I just knew. When you’re a kid, you’re the mostyouyou’ll ever be. Not tainted by the expectations of others, no fear of failure, not worried about whether or not it will be a valuable skill that will serve you throughout your life. If you like to fish, you do it because it makes you happy. Because it makes you feel like yourself. You deserve that kind of happy in your life, Teddy. You deserve to feel likeyou.”
Tears spring to my eyes. “How did you know drawing would make me feel that way?”
“Because you did it when you were ten, and it lit up your whole face.”
“Miles…” I croak, reaching for him.
He leans away from my touch.
“Please don’t push me away again,” I plead.
His eyes settle on me with a look that’s stripped bare. I watch his own brick wall—the one that’s kept us apart for so long—detonate in one swift motion. He cups his hands over my hips and draws me onto his lap. His eyes flit between mine, and he lifts a dripping hand from the water, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“That’s my problem, Teddy. I can’t stay away from you.”
His eyes draw a path down the bridge of my nose to my lips.
“I can’t either,” I breathe, and his lips capture the gasp that follows it.
My legs circle his waist, and his hands tunnel into my hair. To my heart, it feels like finding the place I’ve longed for. To belong. He steals each breath I draw in, slanting his mouth over mine. When we part, his thumb brushes over my bottom lip.
“I’ve waited years to do that,” he says, pressing his forehead into mine.
“Yeah,” I say, because after he pulled away, I realized how long it’sfeltthat way for me too.
He holds me against him while taking in the view. “Thank you for bringing me here. No one has ever done something like this for me before.”
I rest my head against his chest, feeling the vibrations of his pulse. Between the heat of the hot pool and the comfort of his arms, I’m wrapped in the coziest blanket.
“I think I’d go anywhere with you,” I say.
On the drive home, I sit in the middle seat close to Miles. I rest my head on his shoulder, our hands entangled in my lap. It’s hard not to think about what happened between us or what willhappen when we wake up tomorrow and realize we’re both on different paths. I don’t want to wonder what it means for me, for him, even for Reed. I’m afraid if I overanalyze any of it, I’ll ruin what we have. I want to just be. Him and me. Nothing but a calm in my heart, and the stars in the sky above us.
With his gaze fixed on the road, I feather my fingers across my lips, the taste of his kiss still lingering there. It feels too good to be true being this close to him.
The drive to Lava was too long, but the drive home is too short. I feel the ending of our evening in the pit of my stomach before we’ve even parked between our cabins. Miles circles the front of the truck, opens my door, and laces our fingers together.
“Thank you for the sketchbook.”
I take the slowest steps possible to my front door.
“You don’t have to thank me, Teddy. I’d give you the moon in the sky if I thought that’s what would make you smile like that again.”
As we stop beneath the porch light, Miles turns to face me, threading his fingers between both of my hands.
“I’m not ready to say good night yet,” I admit.
A smile traces his lips. He glances over his shoulder and draws me beneath the covered bay window and out of the porch light. He crowds me up against the side of the cabin.
“Me neither,” he says before leaning in and kissing me.
Our kiss in the hot tub was one of hunger. Years, maybe, of wanting and waiting boiled down to one moment. A moment that obliterated the wall between us.
This kiss… our second kiss… is one we savor. It builds and builds into something more. A new wall. One that stands to never keep us apart again.
