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He cupped her cheek and stroked her jaw, both a lover and a friend as he said, “I’m sorry, Shell. I’m sorry for every single time you’ve ever been hurt. And I’m so damn sorry that I ever hurt you.”
She looked up at him, knowing everything she was feeling was in her eyes but not wanting to hide anything from him anymore. “You already apologized. And I’ve forgiven you, Quinn.” And between yesterday and this moment they were sharing on the sand right now, Shelley realized that she truly had. Yet that didn’t change how her parents, and everyone in the world she’d grown up in, had always treated her, did it? “I suppose it’s silly, isn’t it, how I can be a confident businesswoman who’s not afraid to start over in a strange place where I only know a handful of people, but am afraid to be ignored, or forgotten, at the same time?” She tried to smile but couldn’t quite get her lips to move in the right direction. And she couldn’t keep the words from continuing to spill out, either. “How I can have so many friends and yet be afraid of never finding someone who thinks I’m enough? Someone who loves me for exactly who I am.”
THE SADNESS IN Shelley’s voice tugged at Quinn’s heart. How could she think she wasn’t enough for anyone? She was the brightest light in his life and he’d known her only a few days.
“My mom always says that love finds us when we’re busy living our lives, and that one day we realize the person we’ve just met or the person we’ve known our whole lives is the only person we can’t live without.” He’d heard her say that a million times, and yet as he repeated the words, it was as if he were hearing them for the first time.
Shelley rested her head on his shoulder. “Your mom is really wise. I like her a lot.”
He ran his hand over her hair, loving how soft and full it was and wanting to tangle his hands in her curls as he kissed her while the sun rose and the seabirds began circling the shoreline. “She likes you too, Shell.”
And so do I, exactly as you are.
“I’m glad you came by this morning, Quinn.”
“I was getting ready to go for a run when I realized that I can go for a run any day, but I only have a few days left to watch the sunrise with you.”
“You gave up your run for me?”
She sounded like he’d given up air instead of a sweaty sixty minutes. “You have no idea how special you are, do you?”
She blushed, and it reminded him of how sweet—how perfect—she’d looked last night on the boat.
He gently lifted her chin so she had to look at him, and even that one small touch sent his heart beating faster. “Every time we’re together you make me think about things I thought I’d left behind ages ago.” He had to stroke over her lower lip with his thumb, then had to follow that light caress with a kiss in the exact same place. “You make me see them all differently. That night we met at the cove, I was so pissed about being back on the island and taken away from my business at such a critical time. But then I saw you splashing in the waves, so carefree—”
“And naked. Don’t forget naked.” She laughed, while heat continued to spark between them, bright and hot. He was so damn glad to see that her smile was back. “That probably helped.”
“Naked always helps,” he agreed, smiling as he ran his fingers over the gorgeous curve of her neck and shoulders. Wanting her. Always wanting her, even as he said, “But when I saw you playing in the water, it was like my favorite cove, the place I’d used as a brooding ground, suddenly looked different. It was you, so bright and carefree, that turned that cove from a serious sulking spot into a little piece of heaven. That night I was running from everything piling up on my shoulders, trying to figure out how to get off the island as fast as possible, and then…there you were. You’re the first person, the only person, who has not only obliterated thoughts of work, Shelley, but also made my heart pound like this. It’s like everything turned from black-and-white to a kaleidoscope of color the moment I first saw you.”
His heart was pouring out of his mouth and he couldn’t stop it. Didn’t want to stop it. Not when she deserved to know everything he was feeling. “You know what I’m most afraid of right now?” He cupped her cheek in his hand. “Of dimming your bright light. Of you realizing that I’m exactly that guy you don’t want to be with. A workaholic like your father and my grandfather.”
