The drive back to my townhouse felt both endless and too short. When he pulled up to the curb, I should have said goodnight and retreated to the safety of my beige walls. Instead, I invited him to walk me to the door. We stood on my doorstep, the porch light casting shadows across his chiseled face. Every nerve in my body was attuned to his presence and the bare inches separating us.
“Thank you for dinner. It was...” I searched for the right words. “A good start.”
“Yeah.” His gaze was locked on my lips. “It was.”
He should have turned and left. I should have opened my door. But neither of us moved. This was the moment where the rules were supposed to kick in, but they felt like a flimsy, ridiculous lie.
So I took a step.
I closed the space between us, laid a hand on the solid warmth of his chest, and rose on my toes. He didn’t move, his breath catching as I brushed my lips against his. My kiss wasn’t a demand. It was a question. And when his hand came up to cup the back of my neck, I had my answer.
I melted against him, my hands circling his neck as our kiss heated. His tongue swept against mine, and I made a sound I barely recognized. He groaned, his other hand moving to my waist and pulling me flush against him. I could feel the hard planes of his body and the evidence of his desire pressing against my hip.
This was nothing like our careful boundaries.
This was fire and need and twelve years of wanting compressed into a single moment.
When he finally pulled back, we were both breathinghard. I waited for him to say something about the kiss, about how we’d just obliterated every rule we’d set.
Instead, he took a deliberate step back, his hands falling away. “I’ll see you on the boat.”
The words reinforced the boundaries. He was protecting himself and pulling back before we crossed a line we couldn’t uncross.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. I’d been the one to leave twelve years ago, choosing my future over him. Now he was setting the limits. I couldn’t even be hurt by it, because I’d earned this caution. I’d taught him that loving me meant being left behind.
I gave him a shaky nod. “See you then. Goodnight.”
He nodded, his jaw like iron, and turned to walk back to his truck. My body still hummed with unfulfilled desire, and my heart ached with the weight of everything unsaid.
As his taillights disappeared down the street, I sank onto my doorstep, Lila’s words echoing in my head with devastating clarity.
“You’re playing with dynamite.”
She was right. This careful arrangement wasn’t safe. It was anything but simple. It was a slow-motion heartbreak I’d willingly signed up for, and I had no idea how to stop it.
The worst part?
I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
Chapter Nine
BRADEN
The lunch rushat Tidal Hops was winding down, but my mind was stuck on Tessa’s doorstep three nights ago. I went through the motions of wiping down the bar and refilling the garnish trays as images replayed in my head.
Through dinner, I’d heard something new in her voice. Beneath the confidence and undeniable pride, there was a quiet hum of regret. Maybe even the barest hint of doubt. It was the last thing I expected from the woman who had been so certain when she left Dove Key. It changed things. Could the brilliant scientist, the one who got away, be questioning the very life she’d chosen?
Then came the kiss goodnight.
Her idea this time, not mine. And twelve years of heartache were obliterated in one melding of lips. For a second, all I wanted was to pull her inside and finish what we’d started. But I’d managed to step back, wish her a good night, and walk away with my control intact. I was proud of that, but the victory was hollow. We’d agreed tosee where things went, but my heart hadn't signed that contract. The sheer force of my need for her was terrifying. The dam I’d spent twelve years building had developed a thousand cracks, and I had a feeling it was going to burst. I wasn’t sure I had any more doorstep goodnights left in me.
“Okay, spill.” Maria’s voice sliced through my thoughts. She planted her hands on her hips and faced me. “What’s going on with you and the gorgeous scientist?”
I kept my focus on the bar top, wiping a spot that was already clean. “The Lower Keys are a marine research hub, Maria. You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“Don’t be a smartass. The one who was sitting right here the other day, looking at you like you hung the moon.” Maria’s dark eyes sparkled with knowing amusement. “The one you gave a personal tour to. The one who made you smile like an idiot all afternoon. Before you went back to being all brooding and intense.”
“I’m not brooding.”
