Page 40 of Flirting With Forever
His hands grasped the stool where she sat and tugged her closer, until she sat between his spread legs as the kiss continued and blended into more. She leaned into him, reveling once again in the strength and feel of him, in how easy it was to give herself over to the moment and the man. To rest against him and not feel like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders but was able to share it. At least for a moment.
When they came up for air, Gage leaned his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes.
“That was some kiss, Merida.”
That nickname. This man. “It was,” she said, hearing the huskiness in her voice and all it revealed. “But we still can’t.”
He nuzzled her nose with his. “I disagree. It makes me think there’s more between us that needs to be figured out, and we can’t do that if you leave town in a few days.”
She winced and tried to pull away, but he quickly shifted his palms from her hips to her face. He held her gently, thumbs stroking her cheekbones.
“Talk to me, Sloane. Tell me what’s going on with your family and let me help you.”
“You can’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
When she shook her head in protest again, he leaned low and stole another kiss, teasing her until she released a soft sound of frustration.
“You’re feeling this, too.”
She grasped his wrists in her hands and held, wanting to push him away but holding onto him instead. “But it doesn’t change anything. I can’t stay here.”
“You can’t shut yourself off from everything. Everyone,” he said with a pointed look. “How long are you going to run? The longer you do, the longer they stay in control of your life.”
Those words hit home like a slug to her stomach, because she knew he was right. But knowing it and doing something about it?
She wasn’t brave. She wasn’t. She couldn’t take them on. Not when she knew the truth and just how far things might go. That in doing so, she might lose the battle anyway.
Gage’s phone buzzed with a text message, and Alec’s name flashed on the screen. “You should answer him.”
“He can wait,” Gage said.
“You said once the worst stopped, we’d get to work. We have a lot to do today. We should get started on cleanup.”
“You’re injured.”
“I’ll leave the hard stuff to you guys. I’d like to see the island, too. See if it’s okay.”
“You like it here. It’s another reason you have to stay.”
She pulled back once more and felt his reluctance to let her go. “Some things aren’t meant to be.”
Even as the words emerged, she felt the wrongness of them. It wasn’t the storm she was afraid of now. No, it was this feeling of regret and fear that settled into her bones, dug itself deep, and made it abundantly clear she was making a mistake. Giving up on what could be something so good because she was too scared to literally fight for her life.
She and Gage had a connection—one so tangible and strong, he looked as wrecked by her rejection as she felt giving it.
Chapter Twelve
Cleaning up after a hurricane meant never knowing what to expect. Downed electrical lines, flooding, snakes or other critters displaced and in odd places.
Once the worst of the rain bands passed through, they performed the same routine as they had prepping. They started with the rental homes they owned on the island to check on the tenants who hadn’t evacuated as well as repair any damage.
Roof leaks were common and slowed down progress, but thankfully they were able to handle those on their own. Growing up with so many mouths to house and feed, their father had been a self-taught handyman who’d taught the older brothers how to repair things. And Gage’s brothers had taught him. He knew his father would be proud of that.
The onslaught of wind and rain had taken away some of the humidity, leaving a chill in the air once the sun began to go down over the Cape Fear River. Flooding was at a minimum on this part of the island, but they worked nonstop, cleaning up debris and sawing downed trees while repairing or tarping roofs to fix come morning, before moving on to the next stop and doing another assessment there.
As he had all afternoon, Gage turned to check on Sloane. He found her mucking water, sand, and mud away from the door of their current project, one of the easiest tasks they’d reluctantly given her at her insistence.
