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Elise thanked the dockhand. Her heart raced as she whizzed back down Main Street, her hair whipping down her back, now drenched with the ever-present mist. In ten minutes, Elise found herself in front of Wayne’s house. When she caught her reflection in one of his windows, she saw a wet rat.

Never had this problem in California. Always looked spick and span and beautiful.

But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I never had a feeling like this in California.

Elise rapped on the door once, then again, then again, until Wayne yanked open the door and gave her this wide-eyed look—one that seemed to suggest she had made a mistake.

His voice, however, told her another story.

“Elise,” he breathed. “What are you doing here?”

Elise swallowed the lump in her throat. She felt too passionate to speak. She was every bit as romantic and unreasonable as the character she had created in her screenplay.

“I wasn’t leading you on,” Elise said, just as a thunderclap made the entire island shudder. “I had no idea Matt was coming. He’s never meant anything to me—and I told him that only a few minutes after we left the bar. He’s long-gone. And I wouldn’t have come all the way to Mackinac Island if I’d had everything in the world I’d needed back home. I wanted to find something else for myself. I wanted to make something happen. The Swartz family? They’re beautiful. I can’t believe I found them. But you? You’re the real reason I want to stay.”

Wayne didn’t say a word as he closed the distance between them. His lips found hers as her eyes closed and her knees gave out. His arms wrapped tightly around her waist and lifted her gently from the ground, so that she pressed hard against him, hard enough to feel the thudding of his heart through his chest.

It was a feeling she loved more than almost anything else in the world.

When Wayne set her back down, they locked eyes for a long time. Wayne collected a strand of wet hair and wrapped it around her ear.

“You’ll forgive me, then?” Elise whispered.

Wayne laughed softly. “I don’t have anything to forgive you for. I should thank you.”

“I don’t know why I deserve that.”

Wayne shrugged. “You reminded me that I have a whole life to live. You reminded me that I can keep feeling— that I have the capacity to love again.”

“Michael mentioned that you planned to leave the island?”

Wayne gestured back toward the inner shadows of the house and said, “Tell you the truth? I have a suitcase out on my bed and nothing in it. I could throw that thing off and spend a lazy day in bed. That is, if you’ll join me.”

Elise nearly swooned. Her fingers laced through his as he led her inside and slipped the door closed behind her. Just as he bent to kiss her again, her phone buzzed. He dotted a kiss on her lips and said, “You better check that, then turn it off the rest of the day. I don’t want news from the outside world. According to what I told Michael, I’m long gone.”

Elise laughed, lifted her phone, and felt a stab of fear.

“What’s up? All the color just drained from your face,” Wayne said gently.

“Apparently, Tracey just received the DNA results,” she whispered. “She wants me to come over, so we can open them all together.”

**

To be continued...

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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