Page 69 of Break

Her eyes follow the movement of my hand, then shoot up to the sky. “S-Sorry…” she stutters out.

“Mina,” I call to her and wait for her eyes to drop back to me.

Stumbling over her words, she rambles. “I know it happens and wasn’t anything about me. I mean, I know that men sometimes can’t help… you know,” she says, waving in the vicinity of my crotch. “I just don’t want you to thinkIthink it was because of me, or-”

I cut her off, unable to stop the little smirk from tilting my lips up. “Well, I wouldn’t say it wasn’tnotyou,” I confess, and she looks bewildered by that. Like she can’t believe that she elicited a physical response from me.

Blushing furiously, she looks away from me again, then mumbles, “I’m just going to go before I embarrass myself even more.”

As she steps away, I quickly hold my hands up to halt her. “Please, don’t be embarrassed. You’re a beautiful woman and I won’t insult you by saying I didn’t enjoy having you pressed against me.” She stiffens when I first start talking, but by the end, a small tremor runs through her slight body. I still keep some distance between us, but I move close enough that her scent fills my nose.

When she sucks in a gasping breath, I see a brief flash of fear before she shuts it down. Whispering to me like she’s admitting some dark secret, she says, “I’m not really familiar with…this.” She waves her hand between the two of us.

“What do you mean?”

Shaking her head, she gives me a self-deprecating laugh. “Any form of intimacy. I’ve never… Danny and I didn’t…” She’s struggling to find the right words to explain, and I wish I could understand, but I’m lost. A high-pitched noise escapes her throat in frustration.

Walter hears the noise she releases and yips at her from where he’s waiting by the food. “It’s alright, buddy,” I call to him, then focus back on Mina. “Just say what you’re trying to say. I’m not going to laugh at you, honey.” I promise, relaxing my body so she doesn’t feel cornered.

Rubbing at the spot between her eyes, her shoulders fall like she’s defeated. Then, looking up at me with the fear I saw earlier, she explains. “I was married to Danny for almost five years. We didn’tcuddle. We didn’t touch unless he wanted…thosethings. I don’t know what it means.”

Her confession surprises me, and I hear Vincent start coughing behind me, clearly having overheard what she said. Her face falls, thinking he’s laughing at her, so I grab her attention before she shuts down on me.

“Mina, no one is laughing at you.” She looks skeptical, but I continue. “I promise. Also, fuck Danny for treating you like less than you deserve.” Taking a deep breath, I try to put her at ease. “Don’t be embarrassed by what you have and haven’t experienced. Just… experience it and know you won’t get any pressure from me or them.” I nod in the direction of where Ethan and Vincent silently pretend that they aren’t listening to any of this. “Now, how about we eat breakfast, then we’ll show you how to catch some fish?”

Nobody brings up what just transpired between the two of us while we inhale our food in relative silence. Mina is lost in her own world, picking at the meal, and mainly pushing it around her plate.

As we load up into the truck once we’ve cleaned up, Vincent punches me in the shoulder when Mina isn’t looking. “You did decent back there, but you need to fix this shit. She’s shutting down right in front of us.”

“No, she’s not,” Ethan grumbles, shoving us apart so he can get to the driver’s door.

Looking at him incredulously, Vince huffs at him. “How the hell would you know?”

He checks to ensure she’s not watching us from where she sits inside the cab. “She’s just processing. Leave her be.”

There’s not much more I can say, but I agree with him. I think sheisprocessing, and I don’t think I need to fix anything. Well, not from this morning, at least. There are still things I need to make amends for from our past, though.

Hopping into the truck and double-checking that she’s buckled up, I remind myself there’s no changing the past. But I can definitely work on changing the future.Ourfuture.

Chapter 31

There She Is…

Vincent

Mina is sitting in the middle of the boat, knees tucked under her chin with strands of hair blowing over her face from the soft breeze. She ignores the way it brushes over her eyes, completely engrossed in watching the water lap against the side of the boat. There’s a soft smile on her face, and every time the boat rocks a little harder, that smile grows a bit more.

She looks… at peace.

We’ve been out here for close to two hours now. The first thirty minutes were spent showing her how to bait her hook, then practicing how to cast and reel. Her first few tries were frustrating for her because every time she failed, those adorable wrinkles deepened between her brows. She struggled with timing her release, so the line would justthunkinto the water only a few feet away. We tried to show her and have her mimic our movements, but it wasn’t clicking for her. Not until Ethan stood up behind her and wrapped his hands around hers to show her.

It was comical how nervous she was at first with his body so close, but once they were able to send the line out smoothly a few times in a row, her body relaxed as she gained confidence. There was a moment while watching them that I wanted to tease Ethan for getting to ‘hold the girl’, but I bit my tongue knowing that Mina may not understand it for the innocent ribbing it was.

Now, our easy conversation has slowed down as we each become distracted by watching her. Every sound has her twisting her head around to see if she can see what the source was. Every gust of wind has her breathing in deeply to scent the air. Each time the sun peeks out from behind the clouds, she tilts her head back and closes her eyes to feel it on her skin.

She’s absolutely breathtaking, and she’s the only one who’s actually fishing. We’re just slightly pathetic, drooling observers.

Suddenly, Mina sits straight up, dropping her feet to the bed of the boat and she tightens her hands on her pole that was balanced between her legs. Then I hear it - the soft zippering sound of the line being pulled out.

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