Page 46 of On The Beach

Her smile softened, her eyes held mine, and I felt a pull of something deeper, something novel I'd never experienced before. I'd been dating women like Poppy, ones who never saw past my surface. But Belle? She saw me, and that was intoxicating.

CHAPTER 14

from the bottom of my heart

BELLE

Iwatched Mick leave forwork. Apparently, he had to entertain some tourists on his boat. It felt domestic to have him kiss me and tell me he'd see me later.

It had been another amazing night with Mick. He'd helped me cross one off my bucket list. (Other items that I didn't even know were on the list but got on all the same, including skinny dipping, having sex on a beach, and bathing under a waterfall.)

We had climbed up the old, rickety steps of Crane's Point Lighthouse, the wood creaking under each cautious step, threatening to give way at any moment.

The air inside was heavy with the tang of salt and the sharp scent of old paint, while the beams overhead threw ominous shadows in the faint glow of our flashlight. The higher we climbed, the more my heart pounded—not just from the unsteady staircase but from the thrill of being up in a lighthouse, hidden from the world,withMick. At the top, we leaned out over the turrets, and watched the moonlight spill over the waves, feeling the vast, open sea stretch out before us. It felt like a place out of time, a secret held just for us,balancing somewhere between exhilaration and danger. I'd never felt so alive.

I leaned against the wall of Mick's hut, the only place I'd managed to find a decent signal at his place. It was late afternoon, and the salty breeze drifted through the open windows, ruffling the curtains as I dialed Anna's number. The past few days with Mick had swept me away—laughing, dancing, and zipping around on his Vespa like we didn't have a care in the world. I'd been so caught up that the only time I reached out to anyone was to send a quick note to my family and work, letting them know I'd changed my arrival date.

Anna picked up on the third ring. "Finally! When the hell are you coming back?"

I sank onto Mick's bed, which he'd gotten for me. "In two days, but…," I hesitated, already hearing the skepticism in her silence, "I don't want to."

"Ye gods!" she muttered. "Have you gone and fallen in love with someone there?"

"I think so." My cheeks warmed at the thought because I didn'tthinkso; Iknewso. I'd gone ahead and fallen head over heels in love with a beach bum.

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"And?"

"He's…not a scientist."

"Good."

"He's…Anna, he's a…he's a tour guide who lives in a hut and sleeps in a hammock. I made him get a bed."

What the hell was I doing? How could I be in love with someone so different from me?

"A tour guide? Expound," Anna demanded.

"He takes people around on a boat. The rest of the time, he's at a bar called the Coral Cove."

"You sure this isn't just an islandfling, babe?"

I sighed. "I…I mean, it's going to end up being that because I can't stay here, not really, and he's not equipped to live anywhere else," I looked around his hut and realized how true my words were.

"What's his name?"

"Mick Bottom."

Anna burst out laughing. "No!"

"Yep."

"Mick Bottom?" Anna laughed some more. "You fell in love with a tour guide called Mick?—"

"Cut it out," I grumbled.

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