Unfortunately, it has to be because, in two days, she’ll be gone forever.
After brushing my teeth, combing my hair out, and washing my face, I look at myself in the mirror. It’s the day after Christmas, and for the first time in I don’t even know how many years, I’m not hungover from drinking alone while trying to numb the sadness from the night before. Instead, Ridge and I spent the entire night naked, in front of the fireplace, giving each other orgasm after orgasm—always coming together too.
To be honest, I’m a little sad that the power is back on because I had such a good time in the dark. There was just something about the fire and us being the only source of keeping each other warm that was so sexy and intimate. But there’s an aching in my gut, and I know it’s because tomorrow, I’m flying back to the city.
Walking out of the bathroom, I head into the kitchen to find Ridge sitting on a barstool, drinking his coffee with a second cup beside him. Steam flows from the top, and I smile as I walk around the island and plop down beside him.
“Happy to have the power back?” I say, leaning toward him and pressing my shoulder to his.
“Kinda.” He cranes his neck to look down at me and smirks. “Though I gotta say, that whole … sex all night long by the fire was pretty hot.” He raises his brows up and down. “I didn’t knowmy dick was capable of coming that many times or staying hard that long.” He winks. “Kinda think I have a superpower.”
I roll my eyes but laugh. “Or maybe it’s me with the superpower for making you capable of doing that.” I shrug. “Ever think about that?”
“Oh, is that it?” he drawls, tickling my side. Or attempting to. “Are you seriously not ticklish?”
“Nope,” I say flatly. “Not even a little.”
“That’s … kind of creepy,” he utters. “So, you’re leaving tomorrow. Aside from all the snow, it’s fairly warm out today, so I figured I could show you a few things in the area before you have to go back to the big city and forget all about this place.” He nudges me playfully. “Some … local treasures, I guess you could say.”
“That sounds perfect,” I answer, trying not to think about what it’s going to be like to leave here tomorrow. “What’s first on your list?”
“You’ll see,” he says cryptically before he slides from the stool, tugging me up with him. “Get your ass ready, woman. Time is ticking!”
As I rush toward his room to get ready for the day, I force myself to ignore the ache in my chest. I need to enjoy what time I have left with a man, who, not many days ago, I couldn’t stand. And now? All I want to do is have more time with him.
Maybe it’s a good thing I have to leave Holiday Harbor tomorrow. Any more time spent here, and I’d fall for this fisherman. And Lord knows that it would never work between us.
I tell myself that I’m just showing her around the town to be nice and to give her the full Maine experience, but the truth is, I think a part of me is hoping she’ll love it so much that she won’t want to leave. I don’t know why anyone who visits here would want to leave. It’s beautiful. And peaceful. But I suppose the things I love about my home state might be things that she doesn’t love. That’s why she loves the city, which is just another reason it could never work between us.
Still, I don’t know how tomorrow is going to go when I drop her off at the airport. I know that it’ll be hard as hell to say goodbye to her. But will she be sad? Or maybe secretly happy to get back to her life? I don’t fucking know. All I know is, I like having her here. I’m not ready for her to go.
Maybe it was meant to be a short-lived fling, but that’s not how I see it anymore.
We walk along our first stop, which is a beach that sits on my cousin’s land. It’s the next town over from mine, but where most of our oceanfront is rocky, his has an actual sand beach. But the beach isn’t the best part; it’s the old shipwreck that’s on the tiny island in front of it.
“That is so cool,” Stella whispers, staring out at the water. “When did that happen?”
“Back about thirty years ago or so. It was a rough night, and the ship broke free from its mooring and went up on its side out there.” I wave toward it. “They decided to keep it there for history reasons because the boat belonged to a rich guy who owned a big chunk of the town.”
She looks from me and back to the shipwreck before, suddenly, she laughs. “That story isn’t nearly as cool as I thought it was going to be.” She tilts her head to the side. “Here I thought, you were going to tell me that it was a pirate ship or something off the wall.”
“Well, fuck you then,” I deadpan. “I’m sorry; let me make something up. It was people looking for treasure two hundred years ago. Pirates saw them and realized they were looking for the same thing, and they decided to fire at them, making the ship capsize and eventually wash up.” I shrug my shoulders. “Not a single survivor, and they say, sometimes, their bones still wash up on these shores.”
She stares at me. Then, slowly, her lips turn up, and she pats my arm. “All right,thatright there was the story I was looking for. Thank you. Now, I’m satisfied, and anyone who asks me about the shipwreck in Maine, I’m sharing that story, not the lame-ass first one.”
“Yeah, okay,” I murmur, poking her side. “Speaking of satisfied, you seemed satisfied last night.” I pause. “Many times.”
“Oh, pfft. Get over yourself.” She narrows her eyes, but when I hold her gaze, she rolls them. “Fine.” She throws her head back, holding her arms out. “I was highly satisfied. Happy now?”
“I will be if we can repeat it again tonight.” I flash her a small grin. “And maybe in the morning before your flight leaves too.After all, I need to fill you so full that I’ll be with you after you’re gone.”
Amused, she looks down before grabbing a few flat rocks and holding them up. “If you can skip a single rock six times, you’ve got yourself a deal.” She passes me two of them. “I’ll give you two tries.”
“And if I can’t do it?” I ask, knowing damn well I can do more than six skips, but wanting to play along with her little game.
“Well, I guess you’ll have to satisfy yourself,” she coos.
“That’s fine; I’ve been doing that in the shower every day since you got here.” I shrug. “Only the first few times, I had to picture a fantasy. And now, well, I’ve fucked you so many different ways that I have all kinds of material up here to use when I stroke my dick.” I point to my head.
