Page 29 of Island Whispers

“No one from the island grapevine has cornered me to tell me all about it.”

She rolled her eyes. “And miracles abound.” But it left her wondering how many people he’d met during his security walks around the shop. Lila wouldn’t tell any secrets from their high school days, though her grandmother still teased them occasionally about a certain crush.

“You could tell me about it first.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Then I could set the record straight if there’s any embellishment.”

“Well…” She was thinking about that crush back in high school. And her current infatuation with the one-night-stand who was now her protector. There were a few secrets she’d never shared. “Want to see where I had my first real kiss?”

His eyes lit up and her cheeks heated. “Lead the way.”

She used her key to show him around the nursery, past the offices and work tables to the greenhouse areas out back. He paused, his head tilting. “I can hear the ocean.”

“Yes.” She gave him a long look. “You’re on an island.”

He ducked his head, looking sheepish. “I know. It just seems louder here.”

The sounds were so familiar to her she didn’t notice the differences any longer. “Part of it is the building, but it’s also the location. Our nursery is the last privately owned property on this side of the island.” She pointed. “Beyond that strip of marine forest is the Atlantic Ocean.”

“Huh. And the kiss?” He looked around. “Let me guess?”

“Sure.” What was the harm? He didn’t know what a silly girl she’d been as a kid. He barely knew a sliver beyond the surface of the woman she’d become.

And yet, he walked around the space, through the rows of fruit trees and shrubs, and she had no idea how he wound up at the exact location. The nursery had been rearranged many times since that one night she’d snuck out to meet Grady Mills for a midnight walk.

“Here?” He looked so confident, standing there close to the back door, she wished she could lie.

“Yes.” She folded her arms. “How could you possibly know?” Who could’ve told him?

He shrugged. “It’s a guy thing. Male intuition.”

“Give me more than that. Please,” she softened the demand as she stalked over.

He waved at the door. “Back door, easy to escape in case your dad walked in.”

“Wouldn’t have happened,” she defended herself automatically.

“Ah.” His grin threatened to stop her heart. “So you were out late and making sure Nash wouldn’t catch you.”

“Nash had his own secret places,” she said. “You made a lucky guess.”

“No.” He caught her hand, drawing her closer. “Educated. I was a teenage boy once.”

Hard to believe when he was standing here, bigger than life, beautiful and strong. A man full grown in every possible way.

“If you’d snuck out to meet me, if you’d given me permission to kiss you, I’d want to do it right here.” He turned her before she realized what he was doing. She was tucked back against the wall, in the shadow of a citrus tree. “Right here,” his breath feathered over her cheek. “I’d shelter you from anyone who might catch us.” His hands were light at her waist. “Can I kiss you, Nina?”

“Yes.”

Breathless. Needy. The last time he’d asked, he hadn’t known her name. She hadn’t realized what she’d been missing. They’d been dancing and his touch had been more confident on her body. But the power here, of knowing each other, thrummed through her body. If he didn’t kiss her soon, she felt as if she’d be forever caught in an undertow of longing.

He moved then, claiming her mouth as if he understood exactly how to ease the desperation, how to feed her desires.

Because of course he did.

Nothing like her first-ever kiss in this very spot. His scent wound around her, blending with the citrus trees. She breathed him in. His skin, kissed by the sunshine, so enticing. She clung, eager to be closer, her hands crushing the linen of his shirt as she sought out the stability of his strong frame.

“Nina.” He murmured her name over and over as his mouth kissed a path along her jaw, over the shell of her ear, down her throat.

This man. A stranger once. A bodyguard now. And so much more. “Boone.” She gave herself up to every delightful sensation. Lost in him, in them. To be here with him, to have a second chance was a miracle.

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