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Jess turned around and followed his gaze toward the sky. “It’s just a stray shower coming in. It won’t be too bad.”
He knew better. Myles shrugged and jogged a few paces ahead of her. “Fine. Let’s go. There’s something I want to talk to you about anyway…”
She passed him. “Now?”
Myles stopped mid-stride and looked around at the empty beach. “It’s as good a time as any.”
“Maybe it is… but I don’t know. I just have a lot on my mind right now. Can it wait?”
He furrowed his brow but recovered quickly. “Is there another choice?”
Jess stopped and bent over. She exhaled as loudly as she could. “Okay. You
’re right. I’m sorry… let’s hear it.”
He kept walking before stopping and turning around. “Nah, no worries. It can wait. It’s really not that important, anyway. How’s the writing coming?”
“It’s not.”
“I went over your timeline. I left you my notes in the drawer, just in case it helps.”
She stuck out her bottom lip just a tad. “That was thoughtful of you.”
Myles watched the big raindrops begin to fall. He could smell the heavy rain coming. “It’s no big deal. We should turn back.”
“Just a little while longer. I love the rain.”
He looked up at the sky. It was turning darker by the second. “It’s not the rain I’m worried about. You don’t want to get caught in a storm like this, Jess.”
“Maybe I do.”
He hesitated. “I don’t think you realize what you’re in for.”
She sat down in the sand and dug her feet in. “If you want to go Myles, just go.”
He wasn’t going to leave her there. He wasn’t that kind of guy. And maybe she wasn’t that kind of girl. Because she’d known, she’d seen right through him, and she’d called him out on it—and to her credit, she’d given him the option. But it wasn’t completely lost on him that she hadn’t asked him to stay either.
They sat in stubborn silence as the storm picked up steam. Jess sat watching the light show in the sky while he watched her. Finally, with the rain beating down on them, for no apparent reason, she stood up. Myles followed suit. He waited for her to give in while they stood there in an unspoken standoff facing one another until a roll of thunder sounded, startling them both. Jess turned and made a run for it and he followed close behind. The sky lit up and the thunder sounded all around as buckets of rain poured from the sky. He counted the distance between the flash and the boom and as the gap closed, he picked up speed a little, but found Jess unable to keep up. She stopped and doubled over.
Myles turned back and bent down in front of her. “Climb on.”
“You are not carrying me!”
“I’m not leaving you, either. And I want to get out of this weather. It’s getting cold out. And, the way I see it, we don’t have many options. Don’t be stubborn now, Jessica. This isn’t the time.”
Jess eyed him, her expression pained. After a few seconds, she relented and climbed on his back. He lifted her up and through the thunder and the rain, he heard the words he hadn’t expected would come so soon, if at all. “Don’t worry about it. I understand.”
She understood. Myles felt his breath catch. A part of him wanted to stop then and there, put her down, and explain where he was coming from. But they were in the thick of the storm, and the only thing Myles could focus on was what he’d been trained to do, and that was to get back to safety. So, instead he sucked in as much air as he could manage and made for the cottage.
Unsure what to say and whether or not to say anything at all, Myles handed Jess a towel he’d left on the counter and then grabbed another for himself. He turned and watched the rain pound against the glass. “That’s some storm rolling in.”
When she didn’t respond, he turned to find her glaring at him. She toweled off her hair and wrung it out before she walked over to him and pressed her wet body against his. Her expression was unreadable, which was almost never the case anymore. “Make love to me,” she said with her eyes on his.
Myles studied her face and smoothed her wet hair away from it. Then he slowly peeled her out of her clothes and stripped out of his until they were standing in the middle of the living room naked, staring at one another in silence. “Have you forgotten what to do?” she finally asked, her expression confused.
Myles shook his head. “No.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
