Page 67 of A Soldier's Return

His mouth sagged. “Quit? Why the hell would you do that?”

She had to tell him, especially now that she’d started. The words caught in her throat, but she forced them out.

“I can’t work for you, Eli. I can’t. Not when I...” She faltered, losing her nerve.

He looked thunderstruck, as if she’d just thrown a handful of sand in his eyes. “When you what?”

She closed her eyes, mortified to her soul that she’d said anything at all. She should have just let the dust settle for a week or so and then quietly tendered her resignation.

“Are you really going to make me say it? Fine. I’ll say it, then. I can’t work for you when I have...have feelings for you.”

This was the most difficult conversation she’d ever had. She wanted to find a hole and let Fiona and Max bury her in it like a leftover soup bone.

“These last two weeks have been torture,” she finally admitted, “trying to keep things on a professional level when my heart wants so much more. I’m sorry. I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough. I’ll have to go somewhere else to work. I’m sure I can find another job somewhere else along the coast. I only hope your dad will be able to give me a good reference.”

He didn’t say anything for a full minute, his expression filled with shock and something else, something she couldn’t identify.

“Say something,” she finally couldn’t help but say.

When he continued to stare at her, she grabbed Fiona’s collar and turned to head to the house, wanting only to escape.

“Melissa. Stop. Please!”

Fiona plopped her hindquarters in the sand, refusing to move other step, while a warm, rose-scented breeze seemed to eddy around them.

She couldn’t face him. Humiliated and miserable, she stood there outside the beach gate, not knowing what to do.

She thought she knew what love was. She had been married for five years, for heaven’s sake. But everything she understood before seemed wholly insignificant compared to this vast ache of emotion coiling through her.

“Melissa.”

He tugged her around to face him, and she finally slowly lifted her gaze to his. The emotions blazing there made her catch her breath. Her pulse in her ears seemed louder than the surf.

“I want to stay in Cannon Beach for dozens of reasons,” he said, his voice low and intense. “And almost every single one of them is because of you.”

She gazed at his strong, lean features, everything inside her tuned to this moment.

“I came back to town broken,” he went on gruffly. “I didn’t want to admit it to myself or anyone else, but something inside my head and heart shattered when Miri and Justine died. I wouldn’t say it was post-traumatic stress disorder, but the whole world seemed empty, joyless. Wrong.”

He smiled a little and reached for her hand. His skin was warm against hers, and she shivered at the contrast, wanting to lean into him but afraid to move.

“And then I came back to town and met up with the girl I had the biggest crush on when I was eighteen and she was just fifteen, and I started to heal.”

“You did not have a crush on me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you remember that time we danced together at the prom? Your boyfriend tried to beat me up later, but I didn’t care. I would have done it all over again. It was all worth it, for the few moments I got to hold you in my arms.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Back then or now?”

“You were way out of my league back then. You still are. I know I’ll never be good enough for you, but that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. The only thing that matters is that I’m in love with you and want the chance to show you I can make you happy.”

Joy exploded through her, fierce and bright and perfect. “You love me.”

“I think I’ve loved you a little since we were in high school together. But when I came back to Cannon Beach and met you again—the strong, amazing, compassionate woman you’ve become—I fell in love all over again.”

Warmth flowed over her, healing and blissful. He loved her. She would never get tired of those words.

She reached up on tiptoe and kissed him, and this time when his mouth met hers there were no reservations between them, no uneasiness or worry or doubts.

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