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Nick

4 years ago

I look up and my whole world changes.

Dark curls.

Bright smile.

Arms linked with my cousin Angela. She tosses her head back in laughter, carefree, joyous.

Captivating.

Garrett—Angela’s fiancé— stands beside me, showing off his new boat. For as interested as I was thirty seconds ago, all I see is her.

The stranger with my cousin.

My heart pounds.

My chest tightens.

My palms grow tacky as a smile starts in my chest and blooms across my face.

She’s small but moves with big energy. When her eyes hit mine it’s like a lightning strike. A missile launch. The crackle and thunder of fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Garrett frowns as the women come to a stop in front of us. “I thought you’d already heard enough about boats to last a lifetime,” he says to his soon-to-be-wife, before turning to me with a knowing grin. He’s a proud poppa and Angela only cares so much about fishing reels, knot-tying techniques, and docking maneuvers.

“Oh, I did.” Angela playfully rolls her eyes at the boat rocking in the water. “But your sister insisted we come down anyway so she could make fun of you. The rest of your family’s in the house. You know, smart enough to wait for you to come inside.”

Garrett’s sister, huh? She’s small and cheerful where he’s large and foreboding. She moves with vitality, like the world is filled with exciting things and she simply can’t wait to uncover them all. Where his eyes take stock, measure, size things up, hers…

A lifetime of possibility waits inside.

They’re dark, flecked with autumnal shades of amber and gold. When they meet mine, I want to rise to whatever occasion she sets before us.

She greets her brother before holding out a hand to me. “I’m Charlie, by the way. Garrett’s much cooler younger sister.”

The scent of saltwater and sunbaked wood fills the air, mingling with the faint trace of lavender and lemon wafting from Charlie as she steps closer. Her laugh, low and musical, sends a shiver through me, the kind I’d feel standing at the edge of a storm front.

“Nick.” Her hand is soft. My reaction to her touch is anything but. “Angel’s cousin,” I finish, lamely. The dock rocks gently beneath us, water lapping. My footing feels anything but steady.

Charlie blushes, her gaze darting to the ground, then right back up to mine again. “It’s a pleasure.”

Her voice is low and throaty.

She bites her lip then smiles into her shoulder.

Garrett watches her reaction, thoughts tick, tick, ticking away, his business savvy brain analyzing and evaluating. “Nick’s a Marine. Just in town for the wedding and is shipping back out soon.”

A blush pinks Charlie’s cheeks, her eyes tracing a burning path over my body. Something tells me she likes the thought of a man in uniform.

Could she be the one who actually makes me consider, one day, not wearing one anymore?

Hold on…

What the actual hell? What am I thinking?

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