Page 36 of Must Love Fallen Angels

“Oh, you’re linked together, true soulmates,” Hadlee said.“How incredible.”

“What was that?”Tessa whispered, pressing her cheek to Venice’s chest and listening to his heartbeat.

“My past,” he said.“I saw it too.When you grabbed me, I saw the visions of my past.”

She curled her hands into the fabric of his shirt.“You’re really mine.”

“One hundred percent,” he said.

The following weekend, Venice was up well before dawn, his thoughts on the day ahead.He was fully moved into the cottage, and they’d already moved forward with the home inspection and gathering banking details for the purchase.They’d spent the last few evenings deep cleaning the home, getting ready to paint and replace the old flooring, and then they’d get new furniture after the home was theirs in another month.

He’d shared the night before that he’d never owned furniture or a house.He’d never had anything he couldn’t pack in a bag and take with him if he decided to leave.But now that he had Tessa, he was ready to put roots down, and that meant making the house theirs from top to bottom.

“You’re up early,” she said as she padded into the kitchen and hugged him from behind, her fingers spreading across his bare chest.He rested his hands on top of hers, smiling to himself.

“I’m too excited to sleep.”

“Because?”she prompted.

He turned in her arms and rested his hands on her hips.Her hair was tousled from sleep, and she was wearing one of his t-shirts; she looked so damn beautiful that it made his chest ache.

“Today feels important.”

“But we’re just spending the morning at the beach.”

“Yeah, the place where I first saw you, two weeks ago.The exact sandy stretch of beach where my whole life changed.”

“You are so incredibly sweet,” she said.She rose on her toes and brushed her lips over his.

“Just for you,” he said.“I never belonged anywhere, you know.I never really owned anything or had a place to call home.Ilivedin the house I was renting, but I wasn’t really living until I met you.And now I get to wake up in a house that we’re buying together and making decisions about furniture and paint, and it’s the most amazing thing in the world.”

“I was definitely just existing before I met you.”

The coffee maker burbled as it finished brewing the pot.“Ready to watch the sun come up?”

“Let me put some shorts on,” she said, hurrying from the kitchen.

He filled travel mugs and fixed the coffee the way they both liked, and by the time they were ready, Tessa had joined him, and they were carrying their beach chairs and mugs to the corner of the beach near the cottage.

They settled on their chairs to watch the sun rise.Within minutes, the darkness slowly lightened as the first rays of the dawn peeked over the water.

“I think this is my favorite time of day,” Tessa said.“Even when I could sleep in because I don’t have to work at the bookstore, I still like watching the sun rise.”

“It’s mine too.Watching the sun come up makes me feel like anything is possible.”

“I think you make me feel that way,” she said.“I like the sunrise because it’s so quiet right before it starts to rise, and the sky is so impossibly dark.And then there’s this bit of light…and it’s amazing to witness.A miracle every day.”

He thought she was a miracle.The sweetest one just for him.

They watched the sun rise, the sky turning brilliant shades of pink and yellow.

“Let’s go for a walk,” he said.

They stood, and he took her hand, leading her to the edge of the water and walking toward the lighthouse on the other side of the beach and marina.

His skin was electrified, nerves skating through him.

“Tessa?”