Music drifts up from somewhere below me. It’s faint at first, just a few notes carried on the breeze, and then it gets obnoxiously loud. It’s “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison. I roll my eyes.
Some asshole is disturbing everyone’s peace, and I’m ready to go downstairs and curse out whoever it is. Then it gets louder, to the point where the windows behind me rattle.
I stand up, and that’s when I see Dyson Carter Banks standing in the sand below the balcony, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. A big-ass speaker is beside him. His hair is messy, and he’s grinning up at me with a sparkle in his eyes. The sight of him standing there rewrites every horrible thing I believed about today.
“You cheesy asshole!” I scream, and the laugh and the sob come out at the same time.
“Come down here and say it to my face!” he yells over Van Morrison.
“I’m gonna kick your ass, Dyson Carter Banks!”
“Quit talking about it and do it!”
I take the stairs so fast that my feet barely touch the wood. I nearly wipe out on the second-floor landing, catching the railing with one hand before my momentum carries me forward. The lobby is a blur.
I take the porch steps two at a time and cross the yard barefoot in the sand. He sees me coming and lowers the speaker just before I crash into him hard enough to knock him back three steps. He lifts me into his arms and spins me around.
My arms lock around his neck, and my legs wrap around his waist, and I bury my face in his shoulder. I’m crying so hard that I can barely breathe, and the words I’ve been holding in all summer come pouring out of me. I almost lost him, and I’ll never make that mistake again.
“I love you,” I say into his neck. “I love you so much.”
His arms tighten around me, and he holds me off the ground like I weigh nothing. His face presses into my hair, and when he speaks, his voice cracks wide open. “I love you too. So damn much.”
“Brown Eyed Girl” continues to play at our feet. The sun is low, and the ocean sparkles behind him. I’m holding on to a man who didn’t leave. He stayed. He chose this island. He chose me.
I pull back just enough to see his face.
“Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“I’m sorry. Don’t ever fucking plan on it,” he says and kisses me deeper.
chapter thirty-one
Dyson
Her face is buried in my neck, and her legs are wrapped around me, and she said she loves me. I’m holding her so tight, making sure this is real.
“Brown Eyed Girl” fades out, and the music stops. My heart is beating so hard that she can probably feel it through my chest.
“You’re trembling,” she whispers.
“So are you.”
She pulls back, and her eyes are red and swollen. Her face is a mess, and she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
“Where did you go?” she asks.
“New York. I had a board meeting that couldn’t happen over the phone.” I set her down but keep my hands on her waist. “I restructured my position. Gideon is running the day-to-day. I’ll be remote unless I’m needed in person.”
She blinks. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m staying.”
The tension from her shoulders melts away.
“I was rushing this morning and wrote you a note that I found in my bag. I was going to text you but lost my phone. I didn’t have your number memorized. I asked my assistant tocall the B&B and leave a message,” I explain. “Clearly, you didn’t hear from me and I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I thought you were gone.” Her voice is small. “I found the keys to your room on the counter, and I thought that was your answer.”
