Page 114 of At First Catch

I laugh.

“My jacket’s been hanging on that hook for three days because I keep assuming I’ll be back here before I go anywhere else.”

My eyes drift toward the rain-covered docks.

“I used to walk into this office thinking about permits.”

I look back at her.

“Now I wonder if you’re already here.”

The realization lands somewhere deep inside me.

I came here to rebuild a marina. Somewhere along the way, I started building a life around the woman standing in front of me.

The honesty leaves me feeling exposed afterward. I’ve handed her every vulnerable part of me without protection.

“You know what’s scary?” she asks.

“What?”

“I don’t think any of that sounds too fast to me.”

Emotion presses painfully against my chest, then Hadley steps even closer. Close enough that her forehead brushes mine again.

“I think I’ve been waiting for you longer than I realized,” she whispers.

The breath leaves my lungs completely, and I kiss her again

Not frantic this time.

More like I’m trying to pour every impossible feeling I have into the space between our mouths.

Hadley melts into me with a soft sound that sends heat straight through my entire body. Suddenly, I’m focused on pulling her closer. I want intimacy with her that has nothing to do with sex.

I want lazy mornings, her clothes in my apartment upstairs, her sitting on the marina counter while I work. I want one of her hair ties around the kitchen faucet.

The domesticity of the thoughts startles me enough that I almost laugh against her mouth.

Instead I kiss her harder.

Hadley’s fingers slide into my hair again, and my pulse stumbles violently. No one touches me like this.

The storm rattles on outside while tension coils tighter between our bodies with every passing second.

Then Hadley whispers against my mouth, “Tell me to go home if this is too much.”

I pull back just enough to look at her.

Her question isn’t really about going home. It’s about whether I’ll take care of what’s in my arms.

My thumb brushes across her cheek.

“You’re never too much,” I say.

Emotion flashes across her face so quickly it nearly steals my breath, then she kisses me again before I can recover.

And this time?