Page 72 of Hot Saltwater Kisses

Her expression changed slowly, shifting into something much more open. Still looking at me, she sat down on the edge of the bed. A beat of silence passed.

Then: “Talk.”

14

Humid afternoon pressed in through the cracks of my room. A suitcase sat open on my bed, dusty after years of neglect. I hadn’t bothered wiping it down, could barely even muster the energy to pack. Half an hour, and a few crumpled T-shirts and socks were all I had to show for my time.

When Nia walked in, I was jolted out of staring blankly at my wardrobe. She didn’t say a word, just wrapped her arms around me, everything about her warm and real, a familiar whiff of summer skin and floral sunscreen. I folded into her.

Fuck.

“Oh,honey.” Her voice was soft, threatening to make the heavy anger in my chest spill over into something worse.

“Stop it,” I muttered. “Or I’ll cry, and I really don’t want to.”

“Okay.” She didn’t stop rubbing circles into my back, though—like I was a child that needed soothing. “I canceled the afternoon dive, by the way.”

“Thanks.” I inhaled and disentangled myself. Clothes. I had clothes to pack, stuff to do. Ways to keep busy so I wouldn’t break down. Logan didn’t fucking deserve my tears.

“Hey. Look at me?” She huffed out a breath. “Also, stop packing.”

I kept my gaze on my hands, folding a pair of shorts that didn’t need it. “I’ve been fired.”

“You’ve been unfired,” she said as if that made a difference.

“Whatever.”

Thick silence stretched, broken by the squawk of a parrot and distant noises from the seaside bar. Paradise carried on, even if my own fantasies had burned out.Prescott Resorts—the escape you deserve!

Fuck everything.

“I can’t stay,” I told Nia. “You know I can’t.”

She sighed and reached for me again, grasping my shoulder. “Babe. Milo,stop.”

When I met her eyes and inhaled, the air scraped through my shriveled lungs. “Tom lied to you too. How can you...?”

I didn’t know how to finish, but then, I didn’t have to. This wasNia.

“Oh, I yelled at him. Quite a bit, in fact.” Her half-smile lingered. “But he was keeping a friend’s secret. That’s one reason for lying that I can accept. He knew that if he told me, I’d tell you—and then Logan wouldn’t get to do it himself.”

My stomach twisted sharply, acid burning on my tongue. “Like he cares.”

“Actually, he does.” Nia’s voice was steady. “Honey, I know he fucked up. But that boy is crazy about you.”

I turned away from her, ducked my head, and picked up my camera. Stripped of its underwater housing, it looked oddly exposed, and I realized that Logan... Oh, right. He already owned my heart. Why not my pictures, too?

“If he cared...” The treacherous words caught in my throat. “He wouldn’t have waited until five minutes to midnight.”

She was quiet for a beat, reaching into my suitcase for a T-shirt that she turned over in her hands. “He never tried?” she asked then, with a quick, searching glance at me. “Never tested the water?”

Instinctive denial reared its head. I shoved it back down because...fuck. This, now—this was the time for honesty. If I fled the scene, I didn’t want to look back later and wonder whether I’d missed something.

I dropped the camera and sat down on my bed, its lumpy mattress sagging under my weight. Small moments flickered at the edges of my mind, roundabout discussions about hierarchy and equal footing. Comments I’d dropped here and there, innocent at the time while hindsight packed a punch.‘Look, it’s bad enough you’re a guest.’And—oh.

Both of us in this very room, our conversation drifting aimlessly from my dreams of photography travels to management styles. Maybe not so aimless after all—his question about whether I’d want to run this place, both of us agreeing that Nia would be a great fit. Me joking about how I’d work for Logan, but not if we had a thing going on. Doubling down when he’d prodded for more.

‘Sleeping with the boss? Not my style.’

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