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I’m sure he shouted a lot of other things, but Jonah and I are already halfway down the rocky pass, out of breath. It isn’t until we reach the bottom that we slow down and start laughing. “It’s fucking difficult to run with a boner in your shorts!” I cry out. Jonah catches his breath and laughs back at me. “I knew we weren’t supposed to be up there!” We’re clinging to each other, laughing.
Then we stop, standing at the foot of the path leading up, and realize we’re still half-hugging. After a moment, we reluctantly separate, then stare into each other’s eyes.
“I, uh …” Jonah clears his throat. “I got a little carried away up there.”
Carried away …? “So?”
“I don’t regret it. It felt good. It felt …” He grabs his own nuts and makes a quick adjustment. “… very good. I just don’t want you to …” He glances off toward the gravel where my bike awaits us, thinking.
I take a step closer to him. He looks at me, startled. “You don’t want me to what?”
“To think I’m just like everyone else. Looking for some fun, for a fling. I don’t want to cheapen whatever’s going on between us.”
“You’re not, trust me.”
“You asked me what I’m running from. The truth is, all I wanted to do this weekend was not work at the store, read a nice book on the beach, and enjoy the change of scenery. This?” He gestures between us. “This wasn’t what I was looking for. But now that I’ve gotten a taste of it … now that I’ve met you and … and spent a little time …” He flushes and slaps a hand to his forehead. “Ugh, this is all coming out wrong.”
“Jonah …”
He drops his hands. “What I’m trying to say is that I actually like you, and I don’t want to mess this up.”
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard those words. It’s been a longer time since hearing them has made me feel like my whole world just came together in an instant. Just like the perfect dream, where paradise can be built in a mere matter of hours within your mind, Jonah invaded my island and turned everything upside-down in just a day.
I take his hand and place it on my chest. Jonah meets my eyes. “You feel that?”
“Your heart’s racing.”
“That’s real. I’m just as nervous about messing this all up, too.”
Jonah tilts his head. “Well, we also did just run down a long path narrowly escaping the scary lighthouse man.”
I chuckle. “True. But I’m pretty sure he had nothing to do with the situation in our shorts right now, nor what we did when we were sitting on that cliff up there.”
He stares in thought at the hand I’ve put on my chest. “Do you … want to …” he starts to ask.
There goes my heart again. I can’t hide its reaction when his hand is pressed over it, feeling every desperate thump and thrash. “Yeah …?”
“… come back to my hotel with me?” he finishes, and his eyes lift to meet mine. “I mean, you live here, and you have seen a lot, but … have you been to the resorts?”
“I haven’t really been, no.”
“They’re pretty nice. Maybe I can show you something you truly haven’t seen yet.” He smiles. “And we can keep this as innocent and slow-moving as we want. I’m not …” He chuckles nervously suddenly. “I’m not inviting you back to bang you or anything. It’s just … the Elysian has great room service, I don’t know if you’ve eaten, and they have this crazy selection of movies and channels, and—”
“Sold. Let’s go.”
He grins.
A moment later, we’re back on my bike. The engine rips out as we head up the dirt road cutting through the brush, then spill onto Montehugh Street. I take that all the way down to Boardwalk Street, where we reach the parking lot of the Elysian Seaside Resort and Spa. After I pull into a spot and cut off the engine, we’re off the bike and heading toward the hotel. Of course I’ve seen this place many times, but I never bothered to go inside. What need would I have to do that?
And to think, I just scolded my little brother for being on this side of the island, here at this very resort.
We pass through the doors. The receptionist at the counter, Beckett, perks up at my arrival. He seems about to say my name, then stops, squinting suspiciously. Does he think I’m here to settle a score with the way he treated Skipper yesterday? Is he nervous? Let him be. I just shoot him a withering look and let the fear remain in his eyes.
The next second, we’re heading up the elevator, and its gentle hum is all we hear. Jonah drums a hand nervously on his thigh. The elevator moves slower than the tide.
