The ocean breeze still clung faintly to both of us from our walk along the beach. My hand remembered the shape of Seth’s perfectly.
Warm fingers threaded through mine while we wandered along the shoreline like this wasn’t supposed to be temporary. My wolf was deeply, embarrassingly satisfied about the entire thing.
Beside me, Seth adjusted the room key in his hand while we walked down the hallway toward our room. I was glad we ended up ditching the wedding rehearsal.
The beach had been better, certainly quieter and more private.
It had just been the two of us walking along the shore while the sun dipped lower and lower, turning everything gold. Of course it didn’t hurt we kissed several times.
Seth finally unlocked the hotel room and pushed the door open.
The second we stepped inside and the door shut behind us, Seth exhaled a long breath. He was relieved.
Today had probably exhausted him. Seth had certainly handled everything better than I would’ve.
Honestly though, parts of today had unsettled me too, like seeing Seth talk to Darryl. Seth had been perfectly polite. They were certainly comfortable around each other.
Then again, I reminded myself that there was real history there.
Five years didn’t just disappear because a relationship ended, and Darryl and Seth still shared some inside jokes only they knew about.
And Darryl still knew how to make Seth laugh. Knew which drinks he liked. Knew the tiny expressions Seth made when he was annoyed.
Still, watching Darryl with Elliot eventually settled something restless in me. They were very obviously in love.
A few times, they had leaned toward each other during conversations, and shared glances across crowded rooms. They knew each other without speaking.
Seth had seemed okay with that. He appeared neither bitter nor devastated but I had a feeling he might still be a little bruised in places. Who wouldn’t be in Seth’s shoes?
Part of me wondered how. If it were me, I wasn’t sure I’d handle seeing an ex move on that gracefully. It was entirely possible Seth was just more mature than I was.
My thoughts broke apart when Seth’s stomach growled loudly in the quiet room.
Seth froze, then immediately flushed. For some unknown reason, the embarrassed look on his face hit me directly in the chest. He looked so cute.
“Wow,” I said solemnly. “That sounded serious.”
Seth groaned and dragged a hand down his face. “I can’t remember the last time we ate.”
“Breakfast maybe?”
Seth snorted softly.
“There’s a restaurant downstairs,” he said. “I read the hotel reviews earlier. Apparently the burgers are decent. We could brave human interaction one more time.”
I considered that for exactly two seconds.
Or more specifically, I considered Seth downstairs in public wearing that soft, tired expression while every idiot in the restaurant inevitably noticed how cute he was.
“Nah,” I said immediately.
Seth blinked. “No?”
“Room service?”
He laughed quietly. “That bad?”
“I’m beat,” I lied smoothly.
