Page 112 of At First Catch

Then Hadley says the most dangerous possible thing, “I think maybe I do.”

Neither of us smiles. This suddenly feels far too important for smiling.

I reach for her before I can think better of it. My hand slides carefully along her waist, pulling her closer while rain beats steadily against the windows around us.

And the moment her body fits naturally against mine again—I’m done for. The second Hadley settles against me, every rational thought in my body dissolves.

Rain crashes against the marina office windows while the rest of the outside world feels like it’s vanishing somewhere outside the warmth of her body.

My hand stays firm at her waist while her fingers curl lightly against the front of my shirt, stare lifting to mine with that same open, vulnerable warmth that keeps wrecking me one layer at a time.

“You can still stop looking at me like that,” she whispers.

I stare down at her.

“How am I looking at you?”

Hadley swallows.

“Like you’re thinking dangerous things.”

My body tenses, and Hadley notices, too. I’ve spent most of my life feeling like relationships belonged to people better at permanence than me. Meanwhile, Hadley looks at this thing between us like it scares her a little too.

I glance toward the hooks beside the office door. My jacket is still hanging there from Friday. I never took it upstairs. Never even thought about it. This office has started feeling like the first place I expect to come back to every morning.

My eyes find Hadley again. Maybe that’s why.

“Nolan.”

The softness in her voice nearly destroys me.

“Since you came back.”

I laugh once under my breath.

“Yeah. I know.”

“But it feels bigger than that?”

Everything with her feels bigger than it should this fast.

I brush my thumb against her waist before answering.

“You ever meet someone and suddenly realize your life was quieter before them?”

Her breath catches. And Christ, the look on her face afterward practically shatters me into tiny shards.

Rain drums harder against the marina roof while the space between us grows impossibly intimate. Not heavy enough that I can’t hear both our breathing now. Then Hadley’s hand slides upward against my chest.

The touch nearly destroys my remaining restraint.

I lower my forehead briefly against hers, trying desperately to hold on to some version of composure. This fails when she exhales against my mouth.

My entire body tightens.

I kiss her before I can think better of it. Slow at first, but the second Hadley melts against me with that soft little sound—I lose every remaining ounce of discipline.

The kiss deepens. Hotter. Needier. Weeks of restraint unraveling all at once inside a rain-soaked marina office.