Page 41 of Nora's Kraken

He shakes his head, chagrined. “Something that reminded me of the first day I, uh, saw you.”

“When you stalked me, you mean.”

Elias’s eyes sparkle. “Such sass.”

I open my mouth to offer him some more, but he catches my chin between his finger and thumb, and turns my face toward his, nipping lightly at my bottom lip.

“Such delicious sass,” he murmurs.

Knowing I could get far, far too caught up in that kiss, I pull away and roll my eyes. “Save it. Tell me what you were thinking.”

“When you left the coffee shop, you looked up at the clouds and smiled. It was raining a little that morning, and it made me wonder why you looked so happy about that.”

He noticed that?

“I grew up in Phoenix,” I explain. “Then went to college in Dallas for a couple of years before moving to DC with… anyway, I like how cool and wet it is here.”

Elias’s arms tighten a fraction around me.

“I like the rain. And being so close to the ocean. I didn’t really realize it until I moved here, but the longer I stay, the more it feels like the place I’m supposed to be.”

A tender press of lips against my temple. “I’m glad to hear you’ve found somewhere that feels like home.”

“Me, too.”

The rest of the ferry ride passes quickly, and from our place at the railing we talk, blissfully, about nothing important at all. Coffee shops, restaurants, our favorite Seattle haunts.

When the ferry docks, Elias drives us off and onto the island.

“I thought we’d head to one of my favorite parks on the island,” he says, navigating away from the terminal. “Get out and do some hiking.”

“That sounds great.”

And it does, it really, really does.

I have nothing I need to do today. Nothing to worry about, not right in this moment. I’m here, I’m safe, and I’m choosing to leave the rest behind for a little while.

The park we pull up at a half-hour later is beautiful. A nature preserve with plenty of walking trails and views of the Sound, quiet forest paths lined with towering trees and sprawling, vibrant ferns. Everything is lush and green after this morning’s rain, and when Elias takes my hand and walks beside me down the path, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

The winding trail takes us to a quiet beach where we stroll for a while along the shore. The views of the Sound are incredible, and in the middle of the day on a weekday, there’s only a few other people on the beach. The sun is still shining, and with the cool breeze off the water, the pebbles crunching and sliding beneath my feet, and the handsome man at my side, I don’t know the last time I’ve felt this peaceful or content.

Stopping to sit for a few minutes on the dry, sun-bleached trunk of a tree that’s washed ashore, we both bask in the sunshine and sea air.

“Did you choose to live in Seattle because it’s on the ocean?” I ask him, looking out at the islands in the distance.

Beside me, Elias nods. “Partly, yes. I don’t think I could live anywhere without easy access to an ocean. Well, at least not comfortably.”

“What made you pick here?”

“The business, mostly. There was a lot of opportunity in this part of the world back around the turn of the last century. Blair and I couldn’t pass it up.”

It’s still disconcerting, hearing him talk about a date more than a hundred years ago and knowing he was alive then, but I do my best not to show it.

“What was it like here, back then?”

Elias’s wry smile lets me know he sees right through my forced casualness. “We don’t have to talk about it now, if it bothers you. The age difference between us, I mean.”

Well, at least he was the one to bring it up.

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