Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
PRESENT DAY
Garrett
Water rains down around us, but I can’t bring myself to care when Madeline is in my arms.
“Are you okay?” I ask, grasping her by the elbows, looking her over.
“I must be crushing you,” she says, not making any effort to move.
Her face is only inches from mine, cheeks flushed, lashes wet from the spray, making her eyes appear brighter.
For the second time in two days, I could close this distance and part her lips, slide my tongue in her mouth, peel off that soaking wet dress clinging to her curves and…
I’m growing hard just thinking about it. From the hitch in her breath, she clearly feels it, too. And then she drives an elbow in my ribcage as she hurries to scramble off me.
Swearing under my breath, I dive back under the counter to turn off the water. When I climb out, she’s sitting on the floor, leaning against the opposite cabinets, staring at me. I’d give anything to know what she’s thinking right now.
“I’m sorry about this.” I wave at the water all over the floor, when what I really should be waving at is my crotch.
“I should have tightened the bolts and checked the washers before turning the water on.” I don’t know why I didn’t, I’m supposed to be a professional.
But from the moment I saw Madeline on the beach, her presence has been messing with my head.
“Are you okay?” I ask. “You’re not hurt?”
She shakes her head. “No. Are you?”
I rub my sore ribs. I’d take a beating twice as hard to have her in my arms again. “I’m good.”
“Thanks for breaking my fall.” She climbs to her feet. “I should clean this up.”
“I’ll get it.” I reach for a pile of dish towels on the counter.
She takes a quick breath as if she’s going to say something but then stops. Her eyes roam over me, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s comparing my features to the dead boyfriend she came here to find.
“I guess I’ll go unpack my suitcase,” she finally says and then turns and hurries out of the room.
Still aching from her fall on top of me, and my unfulfilled desire when she scrambled off, I mop up the water, wishing it were as easy to clean up the mess of this situation.
I toss the dish towels aside and slide back under the counter to tighten the bolts and washers like I should have done the first time.
I need to get it together because today, I might have slipped up on a little plumbing issue, but if I’m not careful the next time, I could say or do something to trigger a tsunami.
I try to focus on my sink repairs, but the whole time I can hear Madeline moving around in the bedroom, and it does nothing to get my head in the game.
How am I going to survive the entire summer with her living a couple of yards away?
How am I going to work in my shop with her lounging on her back deck in those clingy sundresses?
I should have insisted that Vanessa find Madeline a different house. But when it came down to it, I couldn’t bring myself to make the call. Just like I couldn’t bring myself to flee the island and disappear the minute I realized it was her on the beach yesterday.
Madeline. The love of my life.
Having her in my arms felt as right as it did that first time we kissed in the back of my Bronco, and in the field of wildflowers by my family’s old trailer, and all the other places where I got to hold her, touch her, feel her pressed against me.
But just like it was then, being with her is too good to be true. I knew it from the moment she looked up at me with those eyes that I love and called me Adam , the name of her childhood love.
My name … before I died in a frozen river a decade ago.