Chapter Thirty-Five
Isla slipped inside and eased the door shut, the image of Andrew’s smile lingering on the other side of the threshold like a warmth she could still feel against her skin.
She leaned back against the wood, palms pressed to her flushed cheeks, her breath coming in quick, uneven, excited bursts.
The quiet of the apartment wrapped around her, but her heart was still racing, alive with the memory of his touch and the taste of his kiss.
Her feelings for Andrew had taken her by surprise—but in the best of ways.
It felt so right, even though only not that long ago she would have laughed at the very idea.
Crossing the room, she spotted Darwin darting behind a fan of green foliage. Smiling softly, she lifted the tin of food and tapped a few flakes into the water.
“Well, Darwin,” she whispered, watching him swim eagerly upward, “I don’t usually kiss and tell ... well, I don’t usually kiss ... but you’ve always been good at keeping my secrets. And oh, my—what a kiss it was.”
The fish opened and closed his mouth, snapping up the morsels as if in perfect agreement. Isla laughed under her breath.
“But it was Andrew,” she went on, her voice dropping to something more fragile. “Can you believe it? Because I hardly can. I just ... hope I’m enough to make him want to stay.”
As Darwin circled back through the plants, her smile faded. The thought tugged at her chest, that old ache she knew too well. Was opening up worth the risk? Because now—after that kiss—losing him would hurt in a way she wasn’t sure she could bear.
No, she trusted him. But fears, she knew, had a way of lingering, surfacing just when you thought you’d conquered them.