Chapter 25
He’s not supposed to remember where I keep my vases.
Hazel
I flip the envelope over a few times.
“This is ridiculous,” I mutter as I tear it open. “I deserve to know what the offer is.”
“Dear Ms. Harris, We’re excited to offer you the position of Physical Therapist. Yada yada yada. Your annual salary will consist of…”
I gasp and drop the envelope. I must be seeing things. Maybe I need glasses. No way, no how are they offering me that salary. Plus four weeks paid vacation, health care, and a retirement plan. This isn’t a good offer. It’s a great offer.
It could be the dawn of a new career for me. I could travel from VA hospital to VA hospital across the country.
My stomach sours. Instead of being away from Smuggler’s Hideaway for a few years, I’d be gone my entire career.
This is the truth I didn’t want to admit to myself. If I leave the island to become a PT somewhere else, I can’t come back in a year or two. It’s not as if the inhabitants of this island will grow. And once I’m gone, it’ll be easier to stay away.
The doorbell rings. I stuff the offer back in the envelope and shove it in a kitchen drawer before going to answer the bell.
“Miles. How did you know I’d be home?”
He kisses my cheek before handing me a bouquet of daisies and a card. “You usually don’t work on Sunday nights since you have therapy patients on Monday morning.”
“Have you been stalking me?”
He barks out a laugh. “I’m stalking you because I know your routine?”
“You also synced my schedule to your agenda.”
He shrugs. “Did you forget we live on Smuggler’s Hideaway?”
“I might not live here for long.”
The words taste like acid in my mouth, but they’re true.
“Can I come in?”
I open the door wide to allow him inside.
“Shall I put these in a vase?” he asks but doesn’t wait for a response. He marches straight to my kitchen and opens the cabinet holding the vases.
“Now I know you’re stalking me.”
He glances up from pouring water into the vase to smile at me. His blue eyes twinkle with amusement. “Why?”
I point to the vase. “How else did you know where my vases are?”
“It’s the cabinet they were in the last time I brought you flowers.”
“And you remembered?”
“I remember everything about you. Every second we’ve spent together.”
I snort. “Pretty sure you don’t remember senior skip day when you drank a bottle of moonshine before riding Siren’s Spiral at Mermaid Mystical Gardens.”
“Correction. I remember almost every second we’ve spent together.”
“I wish I didn’t remember senior skip day. Vomiting is not attractive.”
Miles shrugs. “We were stupid kids.”
I lift an eyebrow. “And you’re not stupid anymore?”
He sighs before putting the vase of daisies on my kitchen table. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to Hudson about a job for you without telling you in advance.”
I clear my throat. “Try again.”
“I shouldn’t have spoken to Hudson about a job for you, full stop?”
“Ding! Ding! Ding! Correct answer.”
“Can we sit down and discuss this?”
“I don’t know what there is to discuss. You tried controlling me. I didn’t enjoy it.”
He grasps my hand and leads me to the living room, where we settle on the couch next to each other. Despite the inches between us, I can feel the heat radiating off him. Miles always did run hotter than normal. Probably a good thing considering his love for surfing in the ocean all year round.
Miles squeezes my hand. “I truly am sorry. I panicked.”
“You panicked?”
He blows out a breath. “The thought of you not living on this island…Of not being near me. Of not bumping into you at the restaurant or bar. It unravels me.”
How long have I waited for Miles to talk this way? To admit the effect I have on him? To not run away from me and his feelings for me?
No matter how long I’ve waited, I can’t let him control my life and my career.
“Causing you to lose control of your actions?”
“Causing me to become a first-class idiot who should have told you how worried he was instead of getting all sneaky.”
I sigh. “I used to enjoy it when you were sneaky.”
He smirks. “When we were in high school and we’d sneak into the biology lab after school to spend time together where the librarian couldn’t find us?”
I slap his stomach. “You were always mean to the librarian.”
“She told me I’d never amount to much!”
“Because you never finished your homework.”
“I did, too! Just not at the library.”
“You were too busy distracting me.”
He waggles his eyebrows. “I never heard you complaining.”
Of course not! I’m not an idiot. The times I fooled around with Miles in the library stacks are some of my best memories from high school.
His blue eyes heat and he leans toward me. I hold up a hand. “Slow your mermaid loving mind. We’re not done discussing how you tried to control my life.”
“I promise not to try and control you again.”
“What happens the next time you panic?”
He shrugs. “I can’t predict the future. I can promise I won’t go running off and try to control your life without involving you.”
“Let’s test this theory.” I stand.
“Where are you going?”
“Hold on a sec.” I retrieve the envelope with the offer from the VA before returning and throwing it on Miles’s lap.
“What’s this?”
“Read it.”
“It’s your personal mail.”
“As if respecting someone’s privacy has ever stopped you before. You’re still on Cora’s blacklist. She will never forgive you for rifling through the letters in her postbag.”
“You are giving me permission to open this?” I nod and he opens the envelope.
My knee bounces as I watch him read the letter. I study his face but he doesn’t give anything away. No panic. No surprise. No happiness.
“Since when do you have a poker face?”
“Since I lost a poker game to Zane and he forced me to babysit Adele. I don’t know what they feed that baby but her diapers are nasty.”
I tap the letter. “What do you think?”
He smiles. “I think this is a wonderful opportunity for you.”
“And?” Where’s the panic?
“And I don’t know what Hudson offered you, but it’s going to be hard to beat this. Especially since you said you really enjoy working with military members.”
“I’ll have to move.”
“Make sure you get an apartment with a big enough bedroom for a king-sized bed.”
My brow wrinkles. “What?”
He motions to himself. “I’m too tall to sleep on a smaller bed.”
“You sleep on the bed?”
“Yeah.” He tugs on one of my curls. “When I visit every weekend.”
“Every weekend?”
“And holidays. Although, I’ll be travelling for work more often. I may have to skip a weekend here or there.”
“You’re serious. You would drive to the mainland to visit me every weekend?”
“I’m dead serious.”
“But you won’t have time to surf. What about your surfing lessons?”
“None of it matters.”
My head rears back. “Excuse me. I’m hallucinating again. Did you say surfing doesn’t matter? Do I need to find my thermometer to take your temperature?”
“As long as it’s not a rectal thermometer,” he mutters before clearing his throat. “Surfing is a sport I enjoy. It’s not my life. You are.”
“What?”
He throws the letter onto the coffee table before grasping my hands. “Hazel Harris, you are what matters. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’ll never stop loving you.”
I gaze into his eyes but there’s no hint of deception. It’s all honesty with a hint of heat.
These are the words I’ve longed to hear from Miles for years. The words I dreamed he’d say when he returned home all those years ago. Instead, he ignored me most of the time. I want to reach for him. I want to believe him. But I don’t know if I can.
Miles tugs on my hands until I’m forced to straddle him. He palms my face. “I don’t expect you to say the words back to me. I need to show you they’re true. I need to prove to you I’m here to stay. I won’t run away.”
I snarl. “Will you stop saying the perfect words?”
“Nope.” He kisses my nose. “I will spend the rest of my life searching for the perfect words to tell you how much you mean to me.”
“Miles.”
“Shush now. Let me show you how I feel.”
He melds his lips to mine and I gasp. He seizes the opportunity to thrust his tongue into my mouth. His wild, ocean taste hits me and I forget all about being cautious. Forget all about my fears, he’ll abandon me.
Forget everything but how he tastes and how he makes me feel.