Page 71 of Meet Me in Tahiti

“Ugh,” Avery groaned. “Way too late.”

Jenna chuckled into her coffee and shot Tessa a knowing grin. “Avery may have danced a little too much last night.”

“I don’t think it was the dancing…” said Tessa wryly. She laughed and slid into an empty seat, heart still a little heavy from the night before, but light enough to float through this moment. There would be time for everything else later. But not yet.

Jules, already in full crew mode, brought out a tray of stacked pancakes, her curls pulled into a neat ponytail today.

“These smell amazing,” Tessa said as Jules placed them on the table.

“Thanks,” Jules replied with a warm smile. “Last breakfast of the trip, figured I’d go big.”

“You going home after this, Jules?” Nate asked pleasantly, looking up as he sat down and reached for the syrup. Nate, somehow, looked like he hadn’t had a thing to drink last night. How did the guy stay so healthy?

Jules nodded. “Yep. I live in Raiatea, like Malik and Russ. Not too far from the marina, actually.”

Nate nodded. “Nice…”

“Did you have fun last night, Jules?” Jenna asked with a grin. “You were definitely out there holding your own on the dance floor.”

Jules laughed. “Thanks. I did. It was a good night. Looked like you guys had fun, too?”

“And then some…” Drew nodded, not smiling, but squinting as he added a small mountain of sausages to his plate of pancakes.

Tessa grinned as she sipped her coffee, watching the way the crew moved around them with practiced ease. Malik and Russ entered the deck, chatting about docking times and wind speeds. Russ nodded and turned toward the breakfast table.

Their eyes met.

For a moment, the sounds around them fell away—just the two of them, a quiet understanding wrapped in a long look that stretched around the morning chatter.

He smiled. Not forced, not guarded—just a soft, genuine smile that reached his eyes.

“Hey,” he said as he came up behind her chair. “How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty well,” she said, returning his smile, remembering how he’d left in the early hours of the morning. “You?”

“I did,” he said simply, and their gazes held a little longer. No one else in the room seemed to notice, but to Tessa, it was like a string of electricity humming quietly between them. Their secret.

He moved on, heading toward the galley to grab something, and she let out a small breath.

Behind her, Marin emerged from the lower deck andwhispered, “That look said more than breakfast ever could.”

Tessa elbowed her gently, trying to hide the grin that was taking over her face. “Shhh.”

Soon after, someone mentioned packing, and like a chain reaction, the rest of the group groaned in unison.

“Ugh, don’t say the P word yet,” Kyle said, eyes closing.

“No, we really need to,” Jenna admitted. “I want to take my time and not forget something. I swear, every time I leave a hotel, I leave a phone charger behind.”

“Same,” Avery agreed, standing with her plate. “I’m gonna head down and start now, before we get moving.”

Tessa lingered at the table a little longer, her thoughts drifting again to the soft sound of the waves, the weight of Russ’s arms around her in the quiet dark last night, and the kisses they hadn’t wanted to end. She wasn’t ready to leave, but she would. And she would carry this with her.

Every part of it.

Chapter

Twenty

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