Page 28 of Bound to You

“No, I’m not going to take your money, Isla.”

“You can’t just let us live here rent free forever.” She pins me with her serious face and slides the envelope over the bench again. I open my mouth to protest, but she cuts me off before I can get any words out.

“You won’t.” She frees one hand to point a demanding finger at me, the other is still twirling in her hair, it must be cutting off the circulation in her finger at this point.

“I don’t want your money.” I come around the side of the bench.

She stands up and comes to meet me where I stand. “I don’t care.”

She looks up at me with those unyielding eyes. Her independence is notable. Most women I’ve been with have made it more than obvious that they’d appreciate my ‘generosity.’ So her defiance is sexy as hell, but something about it just makes me want to look after her even more.

I grab the belt loop on her little denim shorts and spin her around before picking up the envelope off the bench and shoving it in her back pocket. As I spin her back around to face me, her hands land on my chest to steady herself. It takes her less than a second to compose herself and look up at me with disapproving eyes once again. I raise an eyebrow in challenge.

I’m definitely enjoying this more than I should be, but she’s adorable when she’s stubborn.

She sighs in what I think is resignation before taking her seat back on the stool.

Good. I won’t take her money, and besides, her coming to the convention her first night here was payment enough. More than enough. Having her under my roof is just an added bonus to this whole situation.

Isla brought a sense of relief to me on Saturday night. Normally at events I am hosting I would be here, there, and everywhere, constantly checking on every aspect that could possibly go wrong. But Isla’s presence distracted me from any other concern. All of my attention was funneled into making sure the woman next to me felt comfortable. After all, she was practically forced into going to an event with a complete stranger.

Every time her smile made an appearance, I took it as a win. I didn’t check on one employee all night, unless you count Rafael. My headache starts up again just at the thought. She completely distracted the work part of my mind, and while I didn’t forget that it was my own event, I just felt at ease about it all. Which is completely out of character for me, but I don’t linger on the thought any longer.

“Okay, well, I should probably get going.” Her words drag me from my thoughts as she gets up and walks towards the door. “I’ll see you around at some point.” Her smile is almost timid this time. She’s crawled back into her shell, reserved once again, and I can’t have that.

“Oh, Isla?”

“Yeah?” She turns to look at me in the lift.

“Next time you can just buzz once.” I can’t help the quirk at the corner of my mouth.

She’s shaking her head and smiling at the floor as the elevator doors shut. God, she’s beautiful.

I turn to walk back to the kitchen, but my eye catches on something on the side table that wasn’t there before—the envelope.

chapter eleven

ISLA

It’s beena week since the fair. May and I have spent the last week really finding our routine and settling in. Between our different shifts at Marina’s, we still haven’t dedicated any time together to explore Ruby Cove, so that’s today's agenda.

Hotel Dolce has old-fashioned bikes for hire, so we paid up and are currently cycling down the hill in the general direction of town. There’s a light breeze catching in my hair behind me as I effortlessly pedal. There hasn’t been a cloudy day since we’ve been here, I can’t imagine this place in the colder months, I feel like it belongs purely to summer.

The sound of quiet bustle increases as we cruise along the edge of the road before parking up our bikes in the stands in front of Marina’s. We are one street back from Main, which is currently quiet as none of the restaurants lining the street are open this early. It’s a completely different vibe back here, with darker bricked buildings and fairy lights hanging between the rooflines that creates a magical feeling when night falls, but right now it almost feels abandoned. The echoes of laughter drift towards us from Main Street, signaling at the liveliness around the corner.

We get about two steps down the street before my phone buzzes in the back pocket of my jean shorts.

“Is it you know who?” May asks as I hit decline.

“Yup.”

“If nothing else, he’s persistent. I’ve gotta give him that,” she says.

“He’ll give up once he realizes I’m never going to pick up.” I hope.

My spirits lift as soon as we turn onto Main Street. Caio was right that first day when he said that this is the heart of the town, people litter the streets, waltzing across the road in no hurry as cars wait for them to pass. It’s like everyone here is in permanent vacation mode, and the easygoing feeling is contagious. The sun sits high in the sky watching over the summer day. It’s so bright, I have squint to try and read the sign that’s swinging in the breeze a few shops ahead of us as we amble down the cobbled path. I can only catch the word ‘gallery’ as the sun glints off the rest of the sign. As in Nora’s gallery?

“Can we stop here?” I ask May as we approach the building. She nods and I push one of the stained-glass doors open to enter the clean gallery.

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