Page 104 of Tourist Trap

"Yeah, baby," he murmurs, hands brushing through my hair as a gentle breeze rolls over us. It's a cooler night, and the sound of people laughing mixed with the waves crashing against the shore and the crackling fire settles my soul. I realize, in this moment, I want nothing more in this world than to keep this.

Not just Miles, but this house. This place where he was raised, this place his grandfather built, this place where I fell in love with him.

I bite my lip, knowing he's not going to like what I have to say next, but knowing I have to all the same.

"I'm going to say something, and you're not going to like it, but before you go off the handle and react, I need you to listen to me. Listen to what I'm really saying instead of how you're feeling." I feel like a therapist talking to him like this, but here we are.

"Okay…" he says. "Should I be nervous?"

"No. But you know I love you, right?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"And you love me?" It might be a bit soon from the grand declaration of love to pull this card, but if I'm being honest, it's been sitting with me for weeks, and I haven't found the right opening to give him my offer and this is as good as I’m going to get.

"Yeah? Claire, where are you going with this?"

"And you know I love this place. Seaside Point, our friends, the Seabreeze…this house." His body goes tense with my last word, and I keep speaking, not wanting to pause and get lost in my thoughts. "I told you to listen before you react, Miles."

"Claire…"

I move, shifting so I'm facing him, my knees now on either side of him. I'm in one of his too-big shirts and a pair of boy-short panties, so the playing field might not be super even, but I'm willing to work my womanly wiles to get my way.

"If something happens—if you need to buy the house sooner than you planned and don't have all of the money, I want you to let me help out."

He closes his eyes and sighs, any hint of distraction from my being in his lap gone.

"Claire—" I cut him off with a soft kiss before holding his face in my hands and forcing him to look at me.

"I don't want to lose this. For you, yeah, I guess, but selfishly, for me too. I love it here. I love that I fell in love with you here, and I broke you out of your shell here—" He opens one eye and glares at me, and I give him a wide smile. "I love that your mom was raised here and that you were raised here. I want to convince Nate to let us watch Sophie for a week on summer break, and I secretly want her to fall in love with Jonah one day. I love lying on your chest and listening to the waves in bed, and I'm going to love watching the snow fall on the shore in the winter."

"Claire—"

"I don't want to lose this. I have the money. I've been saving for years. Call it…call it an investment in my future," I whisper.

He looks at me, brow furrowed, before his face clears, going soft. His hands move up, ghosting along my back before he tugs me back down to his chest.

"An investment in your future?" he asks into my hair, and somehow, I know he needs this, this barrier where I can't read his face.

I let him have it while explaining.

"Our future. I want to raise our kids here, Miles." I smile at the mere thought of kids with Miles' eyes and my hair. "I just…I have the money. It's just sitting there, and I can't stomach the idea of losing this place just because you were too stubborn to accept help."

I can feel him readying to argue, but I shake my head, on a roll now.

"You don't get it. I spent my entire life waiting for something to feel right, for someone, and somewhere to feel right. I found it here. Let me help you protect it."

"Claire—"

Finally, I sit up and put a finger to his mouth.

"Please, don't say no, Miles. Please. If you want to make some kind of plan to pay me back, whatever, I'll spend it on dumb shit anyway. Just…think about it. Give it a good thought, not just your impulse of no."

"Claire," he starts, and I open my mouth to argue, but he shakes his head. "No. Now it's my turn. Now you're going to listen tome."

"Okay," I whisper, eyes wide and definitely not turned on by bossy Miles.

He smiles, knowing I absolutely am.

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