Page 104 of Bound to You

I chuckle as I wrap my arms around Isla’s shoulders, replacing May’s embrace with my own. I can’t resist touching her at any given moment.

I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that she’s staying here. It’s like if I don’t hold on to her, she’ll slip away, and I’ll realize this was all just a fever dream.

“Oh, don’t you worry. I get plenty of rest,” Isla says.

“Okay, okay, get out,” May walks over pushing me from behind shoving us out the door.

“I’ll come visit soon, okay?” Isla yells out once we are out the door.

“Can’t wait to hear about how wellrestedyou are,” May yells back.

I chuckle as I interlace my fingers with Isla’s in between us as we walk back to my car.

She sighs as she lays her head on my shoulder.

“What’s up, sweetheart?”

“Everything just feels so…right,” she smiles.

After surprising her with the gallery last week, Isla spent some time going through the offers on her artworks that I’d hung in the gallery. She’s got some cash coming in from some of the sales she’s made, but a few of the pieces she chose to keep for us to hang around the hotel. The pieces were some of her favorites that she couldn’t let go of but didn’t want to just leave sitting around the studio forever.

She’s been going through what she likes to call Nora’s archives and pulling out pieces every once and a while to display in the gallery alongside both of their new pieces. Isla doesn’t think they deserve to be collecting dust, and neither do the citizens of Ruby Cove, as a few of them have already found new homes.

Something else that’s found a new home is a gigantic cat bed that now permanently sits on my living room floor, just in case Marvin decides he wants a comfy cushion to lay his head on.

Isla’s words. Not mine.

I place a kiss atop her head in response as a motorbike rumbles to a stop in front of us.

“Is she already done in there?” Marina asks as she ruffles her hair before resting her helmet on her lap.

“Pretty much,” I say.

“I’m sure she would appreciate help with getting all of her five hundred books on her shelves though.” Isla smiles at my cousin, giving her a hug before making her way over to my car.

I smile at the sight of them. Isla has so easily become a part of my life, a part that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I’m still adjusting to the light feeling in my chest, devoid of the heavy doubt that used to sit there while I constantly wondered about our future.

She’s here.

She’s staying.

I still feel the need to pinch myself when I wake up with her in my arms every morning.

I’ve come to find a real balance in my new normal, splitting my time between work, the foundation, Isla, and our friends.

I’ve realized that I don’t need to be there for everything anymore. This hotel has been successfully running for years, and with Stefan around, I can relent some of my control. Allow others to help me and allow myself to enjoy my work again instead of it feeling like a weight I have to carry all by myself just to prove that I can.

“Where did you go?” Isla asks as we sit in my car, but I haven’t moved to turn it on.

“Just thinking about how everything feels so right.” I smile, and she treats me to my favorite view as she smiles back.

She twines her fingers with mine. “Come on then, let’s go do something else that feels so right.”

epilogue

CAIO

“Come on,he hates them. Just look at him.”

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