“I know.” My nails raked down his back. “I feel it too.”
The pleasure built slowly, achingly, until I was on the edge. He seemed to sense it because his hand slipped between us, finding that perfect spot that made me shatter.
I came with his name on my lips, my body clenching around him. He followed moments later, my name a prayer as he buried his face in my neck.
We lay tangled together afterward, our heartbeats gradually slowing, neither of us willing to move. His hand traced lazy patterns on my hip, and I played with the hair at the nape of his neck.
“That was...” I didn’t have words.
“Yeah.” He pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “It was.”
We were quiet for a while, just breathing together. Then, softly: “Tell me about Blue Point Bay.”
I stiffened. “What?”
“Tell me about your life there. Your studio, your world. Help me understand why you can’t leave it.”
I pulled back to look at him. “Dex…”
“Please.” His eyes were serious. “If we only have this short time, I want to understand all of you. Even the parts that take you away from me.”
So I told him. About my studio, small but successful. About the coastal light that made Blue Point Bay perfect for photography.
And then, because his eyes were so gentle and his arms were so safe, I told him about Wren.
“She’s my cousin, but she’s more like my sister. We grew up together, me and her were the closest because we’re the same age. Then there’s Scarlett, Claire and Ford.” I turned my face into his chest, needing the comfort of his heartbeat. “When we were in high school we were down on the beach one summer. We had a bonfire going, music playing, everyone was generally just being stupid like kids do. But we did it all the time. We grew up on that beach you know? Someone decided to go for a swim, and then pretty much everyone was going in. Kelsey was the third in our trio. We did everything together. She had this light about her. Everyone wanted to be her friend.”
I shifted in his arms, nestling in deeper and giving myself a moment to prepare for the worst part.
“So when Kelsey said she wanted to swim, we all went to swim. It happened so quickly, even now I’m not sure I can remember the whole thing. The sea looked so calm that night but we should have known better. Kelsey got caught in a rip tide, she was right there in front of us and then she was gone. Wren wanted to go after her but Claire pulled her out, got everyone back out to the beach. We called for help, we screamed at that ocean for what felt like hours. They never found Kelsey’s body. It never gave her back to us. Wren blamed herself, and then she lashed out and blamed everyone she could. It was a dark time for our family. She barely finished high school, she just retreated into her room and hardly ever came out. She’d learned how to code, made money doing that. The lighthouse came up for a sale and she bought it without any of us knowing. It was a wreck back then but she moved herself in any way. She’s done it up over the years, let us help when she started to let some of us back in.It’s actually really nice. But it’s like she’s spending her whole life in the lighthouse staring out at the ocean waiting for it to give Kelsey back.”
His arms tightened around me. “Shit, Leigh, I don’t even have words that.”
“It was a really hard time for the whole town. No one blamed Wren. They didn’t blame any of us. It was just a tragic accident.”
“And that’s why you take care of her.”
“Someone has to.” I looked up at him. “She’s not okay, Dex. She has nightmares, panic attacks. Some days she can barely function. And I’m the only one who can get through to her. The only one she’ll talk to when it gets bad. Claire is with her now, but I think Wren blames her nearly as much as she blames herself.”
He was quiet for a moment, his fingers still tracing patterns on my skin. “Does she know? About us?”
“Of course. And she’d be the first person to tell me to stay here with you. But she needs me Dex. She’s better than she used to be, but she’s not ready to be alone.”
“So you’re staying for her.”
“In a way. But it’s also because my whole life is there. My business, my home, everything I’ve built.” But even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t the whole truth. I could move those things.
He seemed to know it too. “Leigh, I have to ask you something. And I need you to really think about the answer.”
“Okay.”
“What do you want?” He shifted so he could see my face. “Not what you think you should want, not what’s practical or responsible. What do you actually want? If you could have anything, what would it be?”
I opened my mouth to say I didn’t know. To deflect, to avoid.
But looking into his eyes, I couldn’t lie.
“You,” I whispered. “I want you. I want this. I want to wake up next to you every morning and photograph your family and have Sunday dinners at the farm. I want to be part of this beautiful world you’ve shown me.”
