“Hey”—he reached for my hand, his touch warm and grounding—“you’re safe with me.”
“Thanks.” I looked down and adjusted the napkin in my lap, uncertainty creeping in. “But being close to someone again… it scares me.”
“Trust me, I get that,” he said, his voice steadying. “We all have our scars, right? Just know, I’m not the cheating type.”
I reached out and stroked his forearm. For all that this man had made me want to tear my hair out over the last few years, I’d never doubted his loyalty. “I know.”
As we continued, serious conversation transitioned back to lighthearted banter. With Eli, that shift felt like the most natural thing in the world. And beneath it all, a fragile yet undeniable connection blossomed.
“You’re so close to your brothers and sisters,” I said, feeling a pang of longing for my own family moments. “It’s great that you have that connection.”
“Yeah.” A flicker of something deeper crossed his face. “Family means everything. But it’s complicated too.”
“Complicated how?”
“Our parents’ divorce,” he admitted, his voicedropping slightly. “It was ugly. Still is, honestly. They don’t speak to each other, and my dad isn’t even in the country anymore. Watching them tear each other apart turned me off commitment. I guess you could say I’m not much of aforeverkind of guy.”
“Same here. My ex turned my trust into dust.”
“I know the feeling,” Eli agreed, his gaze steady and searching. “Yet we’re both here now, right?”
My pulse quickened. We were treading into dangerous territory, but I couldn’t seem to pull back. “So, um, where does that leave us? This thing between us?”
“Honestly?” Eli ran a hand through his hair. “I like you, Jules. A lot. More than I expected to.”
I swallowed hard. “I like you too. But with work, and our history…”
“It’s a lot,” he finished.
I nodded, relieved he understood. “Exactly. But I-I don’t want to stop seeing you.”
My heart clenched as a sweet, boyish smile spread across Eli’s face. “Good. Because I don’t want to stop seeing you, either.”
We sat there, smiling at each other and both of us a little… shy? Part of me wanted to pinch myself, to make sure this wasn’t some surreal dream. How had we gone from workplace nemeses to… whatever this was?
The weight of my worries lifted, if only slightly. “So let’s take it slow, okay?”
“Slow sounds perfect.” His smile was reassuring, and I felt a surge of hope. Maybe this could work, despite the odds—and the past scars we carried. “Though one might argue what happened today doesn’t qualify as slow.”
I stared at his face, my pulse taking off. “Do you regret it?”
Eli stood and leaned over the table to press his lips to mine. It was a sweet, honest kiss. “Not in the slightest.”
“Me neither.”
I stood to clear our plates and Eli’s chair scraped back. I set the dishes in the sink, my stomach fluttering as I felt his presence behind me. His arms snaked around my waist, and I leaned back into his warmth.
“You know,” I murmured, “this could get messy. The resort, your family…”
Eli’s breath tickled my ear as he nuzzled it. “Then we keep it our little secret. No one has to know.” That familiar playful lilt wound back into his voice, yet I could sense the gravity beneath it.
“What about the rule?”
“Mom’s no workplace romance rule?”
“Yeah, Eli. That one.”
I could feel the movement as he shrugged behind me.
