Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
JULES
As I placed my key in the front door lock, my brain still buzzed from the wild afternoon. My skin felt tight and warm.
Alive.
The door clicked open, and a rush of cool air washed over us. Eli stepped inside behind me, his presence impossible to ignore. It was a new awareness that everything was different now. I turned and was caught up by the smile on his face—so easy, so charming, like he owned the room.
We were both sweaty and massively satiated after our encounter in the dive shack, so we’d quickly dressed and headed toward the dive shop.
The building contained two private shower suites, but somehow, we both ended up in one.
The result being that this time, we were not so sweaty but still satiated afterward.
Part of me was shocked at my willingness—hell, it was damn near uncontrollable—to let go with Eli.
Shocked? Yes.
Regretful? Not in the slightest.
“Welcome to my humble abode,” I said as I surveyed the small space.
The cozy living room was filled with beachy decor, soft blues and greens that mirrored the distant ocean.
Framed watercolors of sunrise skies over Driftwood Beach hung on the walls, each picture a reminder of why I loved this island.
“Nice place,” Eli said, leaning against the end table near the door with a casual confidence.
He looked around, taking it all in like he was assessing a dive site—eyes scanning, evaluating, appreciating.
“I like it. Very organized.” Smile growing, his gaze took in the neatly arranged throw pillows on the couch.
Then he pointed at my bookcase in the corner.
“Do you alphabetize your books or arrange them by color?”
“Alphabetize.” I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help the smile creeping onto my lips. The lightness between us was unexpected, yet so very right. “And you should be more supportive of that, considering your sister owns a bookshop.”
“I am supportive. That’s why I noticed it right off the bat.”
“Glad to hear it. Let’s cook dinner instead of chatting about my impeccable taste in decor.” I led him into the kitchen, the heart of my home.
“Perfect! I do believe we’ve managed to work up an appetite, haven’t we?” He waggled his eyebrows, which made me laugh out loud.
“I think that’s a given.”
“What are we making? Please tell me it involves something fried.” He opened the fridge and started poking around.
“Don’t know about fried, but how about fish tacos? They’re tasty and simple,” I suggested, nudging him aside so I could grab suitable ingredients from the fridge. I set two bell peppers on the counter next to a cutting board.
“Fish tacos? You’re speaking my language!” Eli turned around to lean against the counter, his eyes lighting up. Then his smile fell, and he shook his head. “I made fish tacos a few days ago, but it didn’t go well. They just swam away.”
Unable to help it, I burst out laughing and bent over the counter. “Oh my God, Eli! That’s the most awful joke I’ve ever heard.”
His face was adorably smug. “Then why are you laughing so hard?”
Getting control of myself again, I bumped his shoulder with mine as I opened the white paper surrounding the fish. “I bought some nice dorado at the market yesterday, and I need to cook it. Just don’t expect gourmet Michelin-star stuff.”
I could feel his gaze on me, and it made my skin tingle. I reached for a knife, trying to focus on the task at hand, a light lemon herb fish, while my mind buzzed with remnants of our earlier encounter.
“All right, chef.” Eli rolled up his sleeves, revealing muscular, suntanned forearms, and grabbed a knife and a second cutting board. “What do you need me to chop? Or should I just start throwing things in the pan?”
“How about you stick to the chopping?” I replied, unable to suppress a smile. “And no throwing.”
“Hey, I could have been a culinary artist in another life.” He picked up a pepper, inspecting it closely. “But fine, let’s keep it civilized. What’s next?”
“Just slice those peppers into even pieces.” I glanced sideways as he brandished the knife with exaggerated flair. “And try not to lose a finger while you’re at it.”
“Please, the only thing I’m likely to injure is your dinner,” he shot back. As he began chopping the peppers, I couldn’t help but notice how well he maneuvered the blade.
“Are you always this competitive in the kitchen?” I grabbed a bottle of pinot gris from the fridge and poured us each a glass.
“Only when I have a worthy opponent.” He winked, tossing another piece of pepper into the bowl before accepting his wine.
I turned on the gas burner and laid the fish on the counter next to it, smiling at our easy familiarity. And what a change it was. I wanted to know more. “So what’s your story with diving? When did you start?”
“I was a teenager.” His voice shifted into something more serious and drew me in.
“Learning to dive with my sister Brenna was a game changer. We were both nervous at first. The ocean can be intimidating, you know? But once we hit the water, it felt like entering another world. Just us, the fish, and the endless blue.”
I watched him, riveted by the way his eyes became so expressive. “It must have built a special bond between you two.”
“Yeah, it did. We spent hours exploring. But it was pivotal for me. Diving taught me to embrace the unknown, to trust myself.” He stared at his wine, considering his words. “Brenna actually talked me into it—I was reluctant at first. Instead, I learned what I wanted to do with my life.”
“That’s so rare.” His passion resonated within me, softening the edges of my own guarded heart. “Few people get to do what they love. What they were born for.”
“Accounting isn’t your great true love?”
I ignored the gleam in his eye. “No complaints. It suits me very well. I love the precision of numbers, how black and white they are.”
“Less messy than people, that’s for sure.” His eye landed on a framed picture of my parents, my sister, and me on an end table as he chopped lettuce into ribbons. “You know all about my family. What’s your story?”
I took a sip of wine, considering. “I had a good childhood. Solid middle class. I had a best friend, Jessa, that I used to get into all kinds of trouble with.”
Eli flashed me a deadpan look, but humor lurked in his eyes. “Really. You, trouble?”
I laughed and flipped the fish in the pan.
“Probably not trouble in your definition. No police were involved.” I grinned at his eye roll.
“Jessa and I loved scavenger hunts. I started reading Jules Verne at the same time, and the two worked off each other so well. That’s what fostered my adventurous side, I think. ”
“So you and your gal-pal tore around finding hidden treasures until…? I’ve never heard you talk about her.”
My smile fell. “We grew apart by the time I left for college. Our final scavenger hunt ended in kind of a disaster during our freshman year of high school. She was sleeping over and I hid a clue in a canister of flour in the kitchen. When she tried to find it, she dropped the container, and it shattered on the floor.” I shuddered at the memory.
“Flour went everywhere. I mean everywhere. My mom completely lost it and told me to grow up. So I did. I can kind of laugh about it now, but at the time, it was a big deal. A turning point. I was mortified and felt about five years old. I cleaned up the mess and after that, the scavenger hunts were history.”
“That’s kind of sad,” he said quietly.
I shrugged one shoulder. “Mom was right. Jessa and I were in high school, not grade school. That incident helped set me on my way. I excelled in my math classes.”
“Adventures in trigonometry?” The smile was clear in his voice as he opened the package of tortillas.
I laughed again. I liked how he always made me laugh. Eli teased a lot, but it wasn’t malicious, just gentle humor. “Something like that. My future lay in spreadsheets, not treasure hunts.”
“Well, I just want you to know that no police were involved with any capers Chase and I got up to as kids.”
“I would imagine Chase’s common sense kept some sort of tether on you.”
“Yeah, he wasn’t shy about saying when one of my ideas was completely out of bounds.”
As we sat down to eat, I found myself musing on our talk about friends and trust. “It’s kind of funny that our best friends are brother and sister. It’s a wonderful thing to have someone in your life you can trust completely like that.”
Eli nodded, swallowing some of his taco. “Chase is my ride or die. And even though my siblings and I fight like dogs and cats sometimes, we’ve got each other’s backs.”
“I haven’t always been great at trusting people,” I admitted, pushing a pepper around my plate. “Not after I left home to go to Ohio State, anyway.”
Eli held my eyes, his brows rising in a silent question.
It was time to come clean with the whole story. “I told you before about Travis, my college boyfriend. What I didn’t say was that he cheated on me with my college roommate and best friend at the time.”
Eli set his fork down and gave me his full attention. “God, Jules. I’m so sorry.”
I shrugged, but it felt unnatural, forced. “It was a long time ago. But it… it changed me. Made me build walls, you know? It took years before I could even trust another friend.”
“But you did,” Eli said softly. “You’ve got Lacey now.”
I nodded, warmth blooming in my chest at the thought of her. “Yeah. Lacey’s been a godsend. She bulldozed right through those walls I put up.”
“Trust is tough,” he agreed. “But it seems like you’re doing all right now.”
“Maybe.” I hesitated, weighing my thoughts. “But it’s hard for me to open up. You’re not the only one who keeps relationships on the casual side. I don’t want to get hurt again.”
“Hey”—he reached for my hand, his touch warm and grounding—“you’re safe with me.”
“Thanks.” I looked down and adjusted the napkin in my lap, uncertainty creeping in. “But being close to someone again… it scares me.”