Page 101 of Until Then

Tilting her head back, she blinks up at me with wide, trusting eyes. “Promise me?”

With a thumb, I graze her bottom lip. I want to kiss her. Ialwayswant to kiss her.

In all the years I’ve been alone, not a single person has tempted me the way Izzy James does.

“I promise.”

She grasps my hand and laces her fingers with mine. “All right, let’s do this.”

I open the door and keep a tight hold on her as we step outside and grab the railing. The wind sends her hair whipping around her shoulders. She tries to tuck the long strands behind her ears, but to no avail.

“Hold on.” I let go of her hand, then quickly step behind her so I can wrap one arm around her torso and use the other to hold her hair back. “Does that help?”

“Yes. This is… look at that view, Derrick.”

“Do you want to move closer to the edge?”

“No.” The word bursts out of her. “No,” she says, a little calmer this time, settling her hand on top of mine over her stomach. “I’m good right here.”

The beach is a distance away, but we have a bird’s-eye view of the people dotted along the shore waiting for the sunset.

“Would you take a picture with me?” she asks. “Maybe just our hands?”

“Sure.”

She sets us up so our hands are clasped and resting on the railing—though she’s careful to keep the rest of her body well away from the edge—and snaps the photo, getting our hands and the view beyond.

“Would you care if I shared this?”

“Shared it?” I ask stupidly.

“On my social media.”

I hesitate. Because even I—someone not well versed in the happenings of social media—know it’s a serious declaration.

But that hesitation only lasts a heartbeat. Let the world know she’s mine. “I don’t mind.”

She taps on her phone screen for a moment, leaning into me like she knows I’ll keep her safe, and when she’s done, she tucks her phone away, and we take in the scene once again.

“God, I love it here.” Her voice is soft, reverent. “I think whatever drew my sister here was meant for me, too.”

My chest fills with warmth at that admission. “It’s a special place.”

I grew up here, raised my kids here. While a lot of people dream of leaving the place they’ve always known, eager for adventure, I’m not one of them. There’s nowhere else on Earth that will feel like this place does. The town, the people, are like a beating heart that keeps the blood moving through my veins.

She turns around carefully so that she’s facing me, her entire body practically wrapped around me. When she places a palm on my chest, I can’t help but wonder if she feels the way my heart stutters at her touch.

“You’re special, too, you know?”

I grunt. “I don’t know about that.”

She smiles, her eyes tracing the shape of my lips. “To me you are.”

I can’t stop the smile that overtakes my face. Being Izzy’s someone special is better than being anyone else’s something.

She stands on her tiptoes and presses her mouth to mine. The kiss is soft. Sweet. It feels like a promise.

Turning back around, she clasps her arms around mine where it’s looped around her and smiles into the setting sun. I gather her hair back again, securing it in my hand.

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