Chapter 39
chapter thirty-nine
LEO
I breathe in the salty air as Marisol and I walk hand in hand down Main, her new camera hanging from her neck.
She’s been adorable, making me stop every five seconds so she can take a photo, but I can’t blame her. There are so many beautiful spots here. And watching her face light up every time she takes a picture makes it all worth it.
“Leo!” I turn around to see Luna jogging toward me, the cords of her headphones knotted below her chin. I don’t know how she wears them in the gym. I’d be ripping them out. “Hey,” she puffs as she approaches us, taking one from her ear.
“Hey, Luna,” I say, and Marisol stands quietly beside me. “This is Marisol, Rafael’s sister.”
“Of course,” Luna says. “You were at Miles’s match, right?”
“Yeah.” Marisol smiles. “Can’t say I watched most of it, though. My eyes were screwed shut.”
Luna laughs. “It’s definitely something to get used to.” She tips her head before pulling her focus back to me. “Question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“Well, more like a proposal,” she says, and I tip my head, intrigued. “And totally feel free to say no, okay? I can find someone else.”
“What is it, Luna?”
“There’s been a bit of demand for a self-defense class at the gym.”
My brows pull together. “Really?”
“I know,” she says, “it’s not exactly like we live in a dangerous place. But some of the women in the gym were having a conversation about how they’d like to know how to use their strength to their advantage. How to implement it in a real-world scenario.”
Marisol folds her arms over her chest. “That’s not a bad idea.”
A smile picks at the corner of Luna’s mouth. “And look, I could run the classes by myself, but you have a specific kind of experience that could be really useful.”
I suppose I do.
“Think about it,” she says, popping her earphone back in. “There’s no pressure, I just thought I’d see if you were interested.”
“Thanks, Luna,” I say. “I’ll let you know.” She just nods before taking off down the pavement.
Marisol and I start wandering toward the dock again, and she bumps into my side. “That could be a really lovely way to put what you know to use, to help others.”
I look down at her, anticipation curling in my gut. I never thought about using the thing that caused me so much pain for good again, but maybe I can.
Maybe I could change things for people, help them feel safer with their own abilities. After what happened to Marisol, I want every woman—or man—to know how to fight back if they need to.
“I think maybe you’re right.”
I hear a squeal as we approach the docks and see Isla skipping up to meet us. “Hi,” she says before wrapping Marisol in a tight hug.
She laughs over her shoulder. “Hi.”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Isla says, taking her hand and walking back in the direction she came from.
“What about me?” I ask, and Isla waves a dismissive hand. I scoff, throwing my hands up, but Marisol grins at me over her shoulder as I follow behind them.
Looks like I’ve been replaced as the favorite.
When we reach the boat, everyone else is here—except for Rafael and May. A boat isn’t exactly the safest place for a newborn, and they’re still adjusting to their new routine.
When Marisol and I went around to the cottage yesterday, it was a mess—understandably. May is struggling to get Cami to latch, which is making feeding a difficult process, and I know May is frustrated with herself.
They were putting her to bed when we got there, so Marsiol and I spent a little time cleaning up, hoping to take at least one thing off their plate. Marisol put on a load of washing, and I cleaned up the kitchen. May was too exhausted for company, so we didn’t stay long after that.
Marisol made Rafael promise to call if they needed anything. I hope he does. I can see the effort she’s putting in to repair their relationship. She wants to be here for him.
I’m not certain I did a good job at hiding my surprise when she asked Eva if she could skip their agency’s annual event.
I thought Marisol would want to be there, to foster those relationships and cement her position with her boss.
But she wanted to skip it. To be here. I never thought I would witness that.
Marisol left this place with the intention of never coming back, and she held strong to that for years, her hurt after losing her family keeping her away from the place where all her memories were held.
I can understand that better than most, but while I ran from my bad memories, Marisol ran from her good ones.
But she’s been in Ruby Cove more in the last five months than she has been in the last two years.
It’s conceited to think I have anything to do with it, but I think it’s true.
Until now, that is. Now, she wants to be here for her brother, for her niece.
To make new memories with the family she still has before going back to her work.
“Ah, the famous couple,” Heath says as we step onto the boat. “Out in the wild. Quick, someone get a photo.” I half expect Julia’s brother to appear out of thin air.
“Shut up,” I say, and he grins as he pulls Marisol into a hug. They have never interacted much, but Heath treats everyone like family, no matter who you are.
“Do you know all the names the internet has for you now?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I thought you didn’t use the internet?”
“What?” Marisol whips her head to look at him.
“I use the internet,” he corrects me. “I’m just not on all the apps.” Marisol smiles, her eyes glittering with amusement as she moves past Heath to talk to Marina and Miles.
“So you googled me?” I ask.
“Precisely. You’re Italy’s favorite boyfriend right now.”
“It’s ridiculous,” Caio says as he claps a hand on Heath’s shoulder. “’Cause we are far more attractive than him.”
“Right?” Heath agrees, and I just roll my eyes at both of them.
“You want a drink?” Marina appears from behind Heath’s broad back.
“I’ll just have water,” I say, and she nods before ducking inside the cabin. Heath and Caio are still yabbering about their scale of attractiveness as we all move to find a seat.
“Hey,” Marisol says as she sidles up beside me. “The others were potentially talking about spending the night out here if everyone wanted to. If not, it’s totally fine, we’ll just head in after sunset.”
“Do you want to stay?” I ask, thanking Marina as she passes me a bottle of water. “You’ve got to get to the city tomorrow.”
“I’ve got time. The party isn’t until the evening.” She raises her brows in question, and I have to stop myself from grinning like an idiot because she wants to be here with me, with my people. Our people.
“I’m easy, covergirl. Whatever you want to do.”
“Okay.” She smiles before shuffling over to talk to the girls.
There are a lot of reasons why I’m grateful that Isla and May stumbled into our lives, but I find another one as I watch how comfortable Marisol is around Marina and Isla, the way they immediately pull her in.
“I’m starting to think I would’ve been better off at home,” Heath says, and I frown over at him. “I’m going to have to spend the night with my fucking earplugs in with you six in the cabins next to me, good god.”
I chuckle and nudge him with my shoulder. He barely budges. “Listen to an audiobook or something.” Heath shakes his head, the hint of a smile on his lips. “One day, you’re going to have to open yourself up to it, man.”
“To what?” he asks, avoiding my gaze.
“To this.” I gesture to the couples around us. “To the idea that you can have that too. Goats can only give so much love.”
He snorts, but he crosses his tattooed arms over his chest. “It’s not that I’m not open to it, or that I don’t want it,” he says, and I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard him say that. “I just haven’t felt the way it’s supposed to feel.”
My brows draw together. “Have you felt it before?”
He’s quiet for a while. “I think I was too young to recognize it,” he finally says. I work it over in my head, taking in the scraps of information I’ve gotten from Heath over the last two years. “But I mean,” he shrugs, “I’ve been on dates—”
I scoff. “Since when?”
He sends a sideways glance my way. “I’m not a gossip like you, Romano. I keep some things to myself on occasion.”
I scoff again, slightly offended.
“I’ve never been with anyone who made me feel like I would be so much better off with them in my life. Don’t get me wrong, they were lovely women, there was just no…”
“Spark?” I say.
“Yeah,” he says. “No spark. And I already have plenty of lovely women in my life,” he adds as Isla comes to sit beside him, hugging his giant arm.
“Hell yeah, you do,” she says. “The right one will come along at the right time. The universe knows what it’s doing.
” She blushes as Caio winks at her before heading inside to get us out on the water.
And as I look over at where Marisol sits with Miles and Marina, her head thrown back as she laughs, I can’t help but agree with Isla.
The universe brought us together right when we needed each other.
Maybe Marisol is right, maybe we were always meant to end up here.
* * *
“God, I haven’t done this in years.” Marisol grins as Caio and Isla jump off the back of the boat, Isla squealing as she flies through the air.
“Nervous?” I ask.
“A little.” She laughs, and I don’t hesitate as I scoop her into my arms. “Leo!” She squeals, but I just run and jump off the ledge.
She clings to me until we hit the water, then she’s pushing me away as we both come up for air.
She laughs erratically as she wipes her eyes before pushing a splash of water in my direction.
I grin as I find her waist under the water and pull her toward me. She wraps her arms around my neck and doesn’t wait a second before bringing her lips to mine.
Caio howls like a wolf, leaving Marisol and me smiling against each other’s lips before I look to see Caio and Isla smiling over at us, Isla clinging to Caio’s back. And I realize this is the first time we’ve ever truly been us, been real, around our friends. It feels incredible.
Miles and Marina disappeared into their cabin a while ago, and Heath gave me a pointed look.
But now he sits on the bottom step leading off the boat, his feet dangling in the water, and he looks over all of us with what looks like envy.
But not the sour kind. The kind where he’s happy for all of us, but that maybe he wishes, deep down, he could find that too.
A warm glow from the sun shines off the boat, and Caio looks up at the sky. “Everyone back on the boat,” he says. “I’ve got an idea.”
All of us climb up the stairs, and Caio quickly finds himself back behind the wheel, the boat roaring to life as he drives us farther out into the sea.
Marisol stands with her towel wrapped around her, her wet hair leaving her looking like a mermaid who should be perched on a pretty rock. “You got any idea where we’re going?” she asks.
I shake my head as I open my arms, folding her into my body and covering her with my towel too. “No clue.”
Miles and Marina come back out onto the deck, Marina’s curls a little frizzier than they were earlier. “Where are we going?” she asks.
“Oh, you two weren’t there for the team meeting,” Heath says. “A little busy?”
Miles shamelessly wraps his arms around Marina’s waist and rests his chin on her shoulder. “More important things to do, Heath.” Marina fights a smile as he kisses her cheek.
“To answer your question, none of us know where we’re going,” Isla says. “Caio just said he had an idea.”
The boat turns around a corner, leaving the bay that Ruby Cove sits upon and following a rocky hillside.
And then, all of a sudden, the hillside falls away, and a tiny beach sits hidden between the rocks and shrubbery.
Too small to be a tourist destination, but big enough for the seven of us to watch the sun go down.
I smile to myself, knowing that’s exactly what he was thinking.
He anchors the boat further out, and we take the small tender boat to shore. Marina brings the cooler with all the drinks, and we all bring our towels.
I lay mine out, fighting with the breeze to get it down flat, and when I do, I see Marisol attempting to do the same thing. I reach over and tug on the corner of her towel, messing up her progress. She glares down at me.
“You don’t need it,” I say and hold my hand out to her. She rolls her eyes but folds down onto my towel, settling between my legs as everyone finds their spots. Heath and Miles crack open a couple of bottles of beer.
Isla sits sideways in Caio’s lap, her head resting on his shoulder as she smiles to herself. “Wishing you brought your sketchpad right now?” he asks her.
“Nah.” She snuggles further into him as she looks out at where the sky is golden in front of us. “I’d rather enjoy the company and the view.”
My arms settle around Marisol’s waist, and I push her hair over her shoulder, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“Today has been perfect,” she murmurs. “I don’t want it to end.”
I hold her tight. I don’t want it to end either.
After tonight, we go back to real life, with Marisol modeling in the city, and me seeing her whenever we can make it work.
That version of real life is far superior to the version that existed before, so I can’t exactly complain.
But I want to soak in every moment I can get with her while she’s here in my arms.
I rest my chin on her shoulder. “Me either.”