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If anything, she looked relieved at my insistence on taking her to the boat, though a bit nervous too.
She didn’t need to be.
My only objective was to get her comfortable enough to sleep and sleep well.
By the time we parked in the lot near the marina, the rain had finally slowed. I opened the passenger door and braced a forearm on the roof, smiling at the sight inside that was illuminated by the interior overhead light. Hair a mess, sleepy-eyed, and swallowed by my clothes. She was adorable. Cody said I should ask her what happened, but I hadn’t the heart to disrupt the peace of our quiet drive here. My first and foremost instinct was to get her back to the boat, get her clean and hydrated, and bundle her up in as many soft blankets and pillows as possible.
“Vinh?” Bree asked, breaking my living daydream, which had likely not gone unnoticed. Mere days ago, I probably would’ve flushed over it, but I was beyond that. There wasn’t any room left for embarrassment once I’d settled on a decision.
I couldn’t resist leaning in and kissing her before responding, “Yes, Bree?”
She took a shuddering breath and licked her lips. “I was scared.”
I pushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear. “Tell me.”
She studied her lap for a moment, but then she did as I asked. “When I fell, I mean. The trailer was so humid from the storm, and I was just so done and so tired. I’m still so tired. And I can’t remember when I didn’t feel like this. But I was so done that I wanted to just sleep inside Grandmother’s house for a few hours, but then I fell. Why is falling so scary?” The question was barely more than a whisper, and another shuddering breath followed. “We fall so much as kids, and it’s no big deal to just get up and move on. But when you’re an adult… just standing there, doing nothing more than existing, and the world flips without warning and you’re suddenly on your back with no idea how you got there.”
My chest tightened as I moved my hand to the back of her neck and lightly stroked the soft, freckled skin there. “It’s scary,” I murmured.
She melted into my touch, rasping, “It’s scary. And I hate being scared.”
I basked in the feeling of her trust as the silence stretched between us, even as my heart ached for her. When it was clear she didn’t have more to give tonight, I crouched down and slid my arm under her knees. “Up we go, Bree.”
Not a word of protest left her lips as I lifted her into my arms and carried her into the houseboat, where I deposited her into my bathroom and pulled out a fresh toothbrush for her before giving her a moment to clean up. I hovered nearby until she was done and then helped her into bed. And by the time I had her leg securely elevated on several pillows, she was fast asleep.
I ducked out of the room and sent a text to Liem letting him know that we’d made it home safely and then did a quick walkthrough of the boat to make sure everything was in order before getting a tumbler of water from the kitchen to put on her bedside table. Task complete, I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and changed into fresh shorts and a clean T-shirt, smirking to myself when I realized that if I removed my shorts, Bree and I would be matching.
My brother was such a shit-stirrer.
I really did like her in my clothes. Any of them, all of them.
And hopefully in none soon.
Enough moonlight streamed through the window that I noticed her foot teetering precariously on the edge of the pillow pile I’d made, so I carefully rearranged it, the engineer part of my brain determined to make it the best elevation system possible. Once I was satisfied that she was secure and comfortable, I eased into bed beside her, begrudgingly keeping enough distance between us so I wouldn’t undo my work.
I lay on my back and slid my hand across the bed until I found hers and hooked my pinky with hers. The sound of her quiet breaths and the luxury of her soft skin against mine lulled me into the best night of sleep I’d had since coming to the Coast.
In a houseboat that wasn’t mine and beside a woman who technically wasn’t yet either.
But once I remedied that…
Content wouldn’t be the word for it.
Bliss was closer. Bliss was close.
30
BREE
Two platonic nights at Vinh’s later—if you didn’t count his scorching hot “good mornings” and, to my immense pleasure, the addition of “good nights” on night two—I had a lot of pent-up… emotions.
Frustration was a good umbrella term for all of them. Needy was better.
I lazed about all day yesterday, listening to audiobooks, my only decisions being how long to stay in one place before hobbling to the next—my choices ranging from Vinh’s bed, the couch, and the front deck.
It’d been a perfect day.
Or, it would have been if my ankle hadn’t been so cumbersome, Vinh hadn’t been gone for most of the day, helping at the restaurant—and staying after close to finish building another ramp for his dad—and Cody hadn’t come by and sassed me.
