Outside, the rain continues to fall a little harder. But inside, wrapped in her arms, everything finally feels still.
And for the first time since leaving home, for the first time in alongtime actually…
I don’t feel like I’m running anymore.
I feel like I finally belong.
CHAPTER 01: JESSIE
Sunlight glinting off his bare skin… Salt thick in the air.
The alarm on my phone went off, the annoying chiming sound starting low and slowly picking up speed, but my eyes were already open. I reached for the screen, hit snooze, and stared up at the ceiling.
5 a.m.
Fuck.
The sun was still asleep beyond my window as I sat on the edge of the bed, breathing in slow, steady pulls, attempting to calm the tightness in my chest.
You can do this. You’re a brave, ballsy motherfucker. You got this.
My stomach twisted anyway. I kept my eyes on the wall, fingers curled in the sheets. The seconds dragged by until the alarm chimed again.
“Jessie,” came a rough, irritated mumble from the bed in the other corner of the room. “That fucking thing goes off one more time, and your ass is sleeping on the couch tonight.”
A breathy laugh escaped me. “The event dragged on forever?”
Rory’s hand shot out from under the covers, pointing at the door. “Get the fuck out.”
He was usually charming as fuck—just not before sunrise… or coffee. As he kept muttering about the ass crack of dawn and never getting enough sleep, I grabbed my clothes and slipped out, heading for the bathroom and closing the door as quietly as I could.
We roomed together for a reason, our schedules lining up just right.Rory the bartender and Jay the grill master.A match made in sleep heaven.
Not today, though.
When I stepped into the hallway, I caught sight of Lani and Trevor in the kitchen, hunched over the counter with mugs of coffee, their voices low and lazy with sleep—both of them heading into breakfast shift at the resort. The three-bedroom apartment housing four cooks and a bartender was usually loud and chaotic, but in these early hours, when one shift bled into the next, it felt calm.
For once, I got first dibs on the shower, which meant piping hot water—my usual preference, but it did nothing for me today. I neededsomething icy cold to snap me out of it, to make me face the day instead of hiding behind routine.
“Good luck,” Lani called a little while later as I opened the apartment door, ready to leave. There was a knowing glint in her eyes. Meddling little minx.
I grumbled and stepped outside, drawing in a deep breath as the island’s soft summer breeze brushed over my skin.
The drive was tense. I put on the classics—Queen, of course, because Freddie always managed to cheer me up—but my heart still beat a little too fast.
Nothing is ever going to change if you don’t take a risk,Lani’s voice echoed in my head. And she was right. After Sarah and I broke up, which had been the right call for both of us, I had thrown myself into work. A kitchen is the perfect place to hide when you don’t want to feel anything. The more shifts you take, the better the pay, and no one questions it when you’re pulling doubles, especially if you’re a middleman on the line.
I’d already been at the resort for four years, but that last year I worked harder than I ever had. It paid off. A year later, I was still single, but now I was in charge of the grill.
The problem was that once I got there, I couldn’t keep hiding behind extra shifts. Five years into this job, I finally had stability. Routine. A place that felt like it was mine. But all that free time meant I noticed when my bed was empty.
And then, of course, he had shown up at the resort.
So now my overactive brain had latched onto the one guy it had no business fixating on. First, because he was the son of one of the owners, which was a massive no. Then, because he was a he, and even though I had always known I liked guys just as much as girls, I had never actually been with one—a couple of makeout sessions a million years ago notwithstanding.
I really had to get a crush on the hot playboy whose smile looked like fucking sunshine.Fucking perfect, Jessie. Stellar move.
Since I couldn’t ask him out, I made a desperate attempt to get over it by actually dating someone else. Lani had shown me this ad—stranger sessions,a photo shoot where you got matched with someone you’d never met before. I’d worked up the nerve, filled out the form, and now here I was, pulling into a parking space at Pa?akai Beach with my heart in my throat, minutes away from my first blind date. With a guy. Before the fucking sun was up.
