Page 71 of Maddening Marine

Felicity spun around. “Sorry. Once I started, I couldn’t stop.”

He shook his head slowly. “I had no idea…” His eyes found hers. “Help me move the dresser.”

With a few grunts, they shifted it away from the wall. He caught a loose edge and pulled. “Wow.” The word was quiet, almost reverent.

Without him asking, she stepped in beside him. They worked carefully, easing the paper back in long, fragile strips. The adhesive resisted in places, forcing them to pause, find another spot.

The narrow strip became a span from one bay window to the next.

“It covers the whole wall,” he said, stepping back just enough to take it in.

“It’s exquisite.”

“Yes.” He took hold of her shoulders and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “You’re exquisite. Thank you.”

“You’re … welcome?”

“I was going to slap on chemicals to dissolve the paper. If I had—”

“It would’ve destroyed the paint.”

His grip loosened, hands dropping away, but his gaze stayed on her a second longer than necessary. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “It would have.”

Her stomach growled.

He huffed a laugh. “Shall we warm up supper?”

They didn’t bother with the table. Just sat on the floor, surrounded by ragged strips of wallpaper. Chopsticks clicked softly against cartons as they ate, occasionally stealing from each other without comment.

All the while, their attention kept drifting back to the mural.

She swallowed, the taste of food turning dull in her mouth. How badly she wanted to just crawl into that beckoning field, find a new life — something quiet, something clean. A life untouched by the kind of darkness that followed her, that lived too close beneath the surface.

“It must’ve been a wonderfully uncomplicated life,” she said after a while, something wistful threading through the words.

“Life’s as complicated as you make it,” Ronan said.

She shook her head slightly, gaze still fixed on the wall. “Sometimes you don’t get to choose.”