Page 85 of On The Beach

She shook her head, marching off without another word, but I caught the smallest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

The Coral Cove regulars were delighted to see Belle again. She couldn't see it or even realize it, but since we'd landed,she'd started shedding the stress and the scientist away to just beherself. This was exactly what I wanted for her.

I took a picture of her laughing with Cato and Franco as she sat at the bar and sent it to her family with a note that simply said:Mission Accomplished!

They all texted back that Belle looked much better than she had in months.

Nothing seemed to have changed except geography for me. Emotionally, I was fine in Reef Harbor. And despite my concerns, I had been fine in Boston, probably because I was with Belle. I enjoyed working again, albeit not like I used to.

The role of consultant suited me.

Dr. Kher and the new leadership team in my old company agreed and asked me to come back in that capacity. I'd be able to choose the projects I worked on, how much I worked on them, and from where. I'd told Dr. Kher that I'd talk to Belle about it and get back to him. It would mean that Belle and I would have tocommutebetween the Caribbean and Cambridge.

That was the other thing she didn't realize or maybe she did but didn't accept—we were a couple, had been for months. She tried to kick me out of her life, but her attempts were half-hearted at best. We enjoyed each other—at work and out of it. I'd never thought I'd fall in love with someone who could discuss the intricacies of an AAV9 gene therapy construct over breakfast and still keep me captivated. But there she was—rattling off vectors, promoters, and transgene expressions like some people talked about the weather.

I was completely hooked on every part of her.

I loved that she could argue with me about the optimal vector genome length one minute and then have me laughing the next.

She was madly in love with me as well, and not justbecause I made her say it when we had sex, and she was desperate for an orgasm.

I had gone to London for a few days around Christmas to see my mother and told her about Belle. She was thrilled and determined to become a grandmother now that her only child had succumbed to matters of the heart.

However, my mother, ever the aristocrat, had her priorities set—and chief among them was what Belle and our future children would call her. "Nicholas, they'll simply have to come up with something dignified. Grandmother sounds so dreadfully elderly. I can't possibly stand for that," she stated, lifting her chin with that regal air.

I pulled Belle's bar stool in close, sliding onto the one behind her so I could wrap my arms around her. She didn't protest; she just leaned into me. Yeah, she was madly in love with me!

"Oh, hey, Belle." Franco grinned in a way that immediately made me wary. "Did we ever tell you how we kept you on the island the first time you were here?"

Cato raised his glass, smirking. "Ah, yes. The infamous Operation Ferry."

I groaned. "Now, wait?—"

Belle's eyes darted between them, intrigued. "What operation?"

RiRi leaned forward, laughing. "Mick didn't tell you? Well, these three idiots—Mick included, obviously—sabotaged Papa Lou's ferry to keep you from leaving."

Belle's mouth dropped open as she turned to look at me. She was both horrified and amused. "Yousabotagedthe ferry?"

I put my hands up defensively. "Now, hang on. It wasn'tactualsabotage. Just some creative maintenance delays."

Cato burst out laughing. "Yeah, sure,creative maintenance. It took poor Papa Lou a couple of days to figure outwhy his engine kept sputtering, and you had to special order parts for him."

"That's because Franco kept yanking shit he shouldn't have," I protested.

Franco leaned back, enjoying himself. "Mick said he couldn't let the most interesting woman he's ever met get away so soon."

"Ineversaid those words," I retorted confidently.

"You could've just asked me to stay." Belle kissed my cheek.

"That would be way too much of a commitment for Mick," RiRi cut in with a smirk. "Though, funnily enough, right after you left, he chased after you and spilled his heart and guts for everyone to see. Quite da spectacle, really."

"Never seen a man run after a woman so hard," Cato agreed.

I stroked a finger down Belle's cheek. "A good woman is hard to find; a crazy woman is harder to find, and since I'd found my brand of nuts, I wasn't going to let her get away."

Belle's gaze stayed fixed on me, a half-smile forming on her lips as she processed this new information. "Is that so?"

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