Page 65 of Hot Saltwater Kisses

“Eventually. And it was a process. I didn’t…” My voice shook, not quite enough air to finish the thought. I sucked in a breath. “I thought I loved him. I didn’t, though—it was more like an addiction, a bad habit you’re trying to kick. I kept falling back into him. Coming here was a way to break the cycle. That picture you saw at Katie’s? That was the day I’d received the offer to work here.”

“You know, maybe you don’t give yourself enough credit?” A tentative smile ghosted across Logan’s face. “You held on to some things, didn’t you? Like Katie. Or diving.”

I’d never thought of it like that. “Maybe? I guess. Katie, diving, photography... Yeah. But I also made some money as a dive instructor, ran underwater photography courses for her. Our apartment—the one Michael and I rented—it was too expensive, so we really needed that money. It’s rough, you know? When you’re doing a grocery run and you have to decide whether cheese is a luxury or a necessity.”

“Necessity,” Logan said. “Obviously.”

“How very Marie Antoinette of you.”

“Let them eat cake.” He nodded, mouth quirked up at the corners, before his expression faded into something softer. “Why didn’t you move into a cheaper place?”

“Not so easy to find one. Plus...” I looked away, trying to spot the dark silhouette of the frigatebird again. It must have sailed away. “Every time I suggested we try, Michael felt like it was a slight against his talent. Like I didn’t believe that he and his guitar would make it big one day, and then we’d be able to afford any damn apartment we wanted.”

Logan let out a sharp breath. “He sounds like a real douche. No offense.”

“None taken—he was.”

Logan released his hold on my wrist, but only to cup my cheek and fold me into a warm, light kiss, no more than the faintest brush of our mouths. It feathered off until we simply rested together, foreheads touching.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

“What for?”

“Trusting me with this.”

I let my mouth curve up. “Thank you for earning my trust. It’s not… I don’t trust easily.”

He drew back slightly, eyes finding mine, and rolled his lower lipinto his mouth. Hesitation swept across his features as he studied me for a beat. “Do you think...?”

When he trailed off, I raised a brow. “In general? I’d hope so, yes.”

The tightness around his mouth lifted for a small grin that lasted only a second. “Do you think you’re still running?”

“Ask the easy questions, why don’t you?” I sighed and reached for my beer, the bottle cool when I rolled it between my palms. Logan waited, quiet, until I continued. “I don’t know. Maybe a little, but it’s nothing like when I arrived. I was… God, Logan—I was a mess. You wouldn’t have given me a second glance.”

”I sincerely doubt that.” His tone was wry, the words followed by a nudge of his foot against mine in the water.

“I’m serious. I was… You know that feeling when you watch a movie for the second time, but the other time is so long ago that you only remember bits and pieces? That was me.” I tipped my head back for a sip of beer. The sky arched high above us, the gentle sway of the waves deeply familiar by now. “I had to relearn who I was, just about. Train myself—stupid things, like not always being the one who makes way on a sidewalk. Kind of hard when I work in a resort where we’re meant to treat every guest like royalty.”

”Even when they’re jerks?” Logan followed it up with a little smile that I returned.

“Especiallywhen they’re jerks.”

”Well.” His tone turned philosophical. “There’s ways to stand your ground, though. Like handing out oversized wetsuits.”

”There is that,” I agreed.

“Good for you.” He considered me for a moment and then shook his head, voice rougher than usual. “Okay, so. One—you’reamazing, Milo. It takes strength and guts to rebuild yourself like that. And secondly, I get it now. Why you reacted like you did, I mean. Like at the beach bar, when that drunk dude hit on you and you didn’t like me stepping in. Or... anything that feels manipulative, I guess.”

It took a couple of false starts before I managed to locate my ability to form words. “I... Yeah.That.”

Logan’s smile was slow and sweet, almost wistful. Brilliant silencesank for a minute, sunlight shattering into a million glittering fragments where it danced on the water. If this was my exile, it was a nice one.

I still didn’t know how Logan could possibly fit into it.

“You ever thought about contacting your parents?” he asked into my thoughts.

“Yeah. But I was a self-righteous little shit back then.” I stamped down on the immediate swell of nausea and took a sip of beer to wash down the sour taste. “Told them I didn’t need them, that their marriage was boring and lackluster, that they and their money could fuck right off. It’d be only fair if they wanted nothing to do with me.”

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