Page 72 of Crushed By Love

He left for the day to go check on Camilla, insisting that I stay back and rest my injury. I wanted to tag along but figured my hobbling around might slow everything down. There’s not a lot I can do if I need to stay off my feet for most of the day. So I do my own thing, reading and watching movies. It’s not like all the other days I spent alone in this house. It was so much worse knowing that I could be spending time with him, could be touching him . . .

Selfish, I know.

Finally, I hear the car coming up the drive just as I’m finishing making our dinner.

He spends the meal telling me about what he got up to with Camilla, mainly helping her and her husband clear their yard and driveway. He seems satisfied with the work he accomplished.

I can’t say the same for myself. I’m needy for something more to happen between us. Five days left is about to turn into four. “I’m going to clean up and then go outside to watch the sunset. Please come?” I ask, setting my plan into motion.

“Whatever you want.”

His eyes linger on me as we put away the dishes and head out to the gazebo. The sunsets are to the west and the backyard here faces east, so while we can watch the sunrise over the water here, we have to watch it set over the house and the island. But that doesn’t mean that the water isn’t a beautiful mirror to the brilliant sky. In fact, sometimes I think the clouds are prettier over here, that looking directly into the sunset can make you ignore the other beauty to be found.

“It’s hard to believe that just days ago this was all in the middle of a hurricane,” I sigh. “Storms have a way of surprising you, I guess.”

“So do people.” His tone is a confession and my stomach swoops.

His hands are on the edge of the gazebo’s wooden railing, gripping on tight, and I’m not sure if he means that as a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe both. I study his side-profile for a long minute, taking in his mussed dark hair and the sharp cuts of his face, the warmth of his tanned skin and the fan of his eyelashes. What’s going on inside that head? Sometimes the man feels like an impenetrable fortress.

“Tell me about Sybil,” I blurt out. His ex-girlfriend is probably the worst thing I could ask about but I’m dying to know their history. It’s not my business, but I’m also suspecting it’s the reason why Ethan hasn’t kissed me yet. If I can help him get past whatever lingers there, the two of us can move on together.

He freezes and then turns to me. “There’s not much to tell. She’s my ex. We were together and then we broke up.”

Cooper said they grew up together, dated for years, and got engaged. She sounds like more than an ordinary ex to me. “Are you over her?”

He studies my face, his gaze unreadable. “I’ve thought about her a lot this summer.”

That stings and I look away. He’s just using me. That’s why his father hired me in the first place.

He steps close, taking my chin and turning it up to face him. “You didn’t let me finish.”

“So finish.”

“I’ve been thinking about her in the past tense. And now I’m thinking about someone else. Someone I haven’t been able to get out of my thoughts.”

That depressing pang in my chest transforms into bright hope. Maybe stupid, foolish, immature, idiotic hope. But hope all the same.

“Me?” I question.

He smirks. “Yes, you.”

Our gazes are locked, but when his eyes flicker to my mouth, I have to ask. “Then why haven’t you kissed me yet? And don’t you dare mention the pecks in the pantry while I was sleeping because those don’t count.”

He swallows hard. “I don’t kiss until it means something.”

“So this means nothing?”

“No, it means a lot. It’s why I’m being so cautious.”

I shake my head. “I don’t want your caution.”

His smile quirks and he’s so beautiful in this moment that I want to learn how to paint just so I can paint him exactly as he is right now. I’m seeing him stripped away from everything else, seeing who he is and who he could be to me.

“Arden, do you want me to kiss you?”

I nod.

Can’t he tell that I’ve wanted to kiss him since the moment I met him? Even despite his asshole-behavior, despite his cruel words, despite his ex-girlfriend, despite the flirtation with his brother, with his friend . . . despite all of that, he’s the one that my heart wants.

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