Page 41 of The Seascape Between Us

I sighed and leaned back against the side of the car, tension knotting my insides. I knew I was being asmidgeoverbearing, but my plan to show Daniel that we belonged together would work out easier if we were under the same roof. “Look, we’re going to start renovating the second-floor rooms, and we’re both going to need to find a place to stay. This place is empty now. We might as well stay here unless… you have somewhere else to go?”

Daniel hesitated before saying anything, his face completely unreadable. My heart rate sped up, my chest tightening as I held my breath.

“Okay,” he said, folding his good arm over his considerable chest and clasping his other arm. “I’ll stay until the hotel is finished.”

Relief left my limbs weak, and I let out the breath I’d been holding. He was staying, and while I knew better than to say so, I would do everything I could to see he stayed forever.

Chapter Sixteen

Daniel

Acool breeze blew in off the ocean, chilling my sweat-soaked skin as I ran alongside Brody on the boardwalk. So early in the morning, the beach was empty and quiet, just seagulls squawking and sweeping down over the roiling surf, washing gently onto the wet sand. Our footfalls thudded against the rough wood boards.

Grey had managed to keep me at the house for another day after we’d formally settled into his father’s house, but despite his suggestion that one more day of rest wouldn’t hurt, I was all rested out.

When Brody texted, asking if I wanted to go for a run, I jumped at it. Being outside with the gentle, salty breeze sweeping my hair back felt refreshing after days of doing nothing—and a little space from Grey and Oliver Mackenzie’s house gave me time to think.

Despite feeling restless with nothing to do, when Grey and I were together, we fell into a strange sort of domestic routine,and despite knowing better, I enjoyed it. We hadn’t had sex again since that first day, as if finding the letter from Grey’s father had left us uncertain about where we stood with each other now.

I had told him I was okay with abusiness-partners-with-benefitsthing, telling myself that, after all this time, I could be satisfied with a purely physical relationship with Grey.

In the back of my mind, though, where I was much more honest with myself, I knew I was playing with fire. Anytime Grey was near me, my skin prickled, and I desperately wanted him to touch me again, to feel his body pressed against mine, to taste him. But it was more than just physical need. Every time I looked up and caught him looking at me with that soft sort of thoughtful look, my heart swelled in my chest, and I had to look away.

He said he wanted to pick up where we left off, but how could we? He’d made a real success of himself, and he had more money than I’d ever seen in my lifetime. We didn’t exist in the same world. Eventually, he’d finish renovating the hotel and return to Portland, and I would stay here to run it. Just like I always have.

It’s not as though I didn’t like working at the hotel, it was what I’d always planned on doing, and I loved living in The Square. But it wasn’t the glamorous life that Grey was used to. He’d be trying to gnaw his arm off like an animal caught in a trap within six months if he tried to stay.

If I let myself feel anything for him again, like when we were kids, I don’t think I could survive when he went back to his old life.

“So,” Brody said, breaking the silence for the first time since we’d hit the boardwalk. “Are you going to tell me how you ended up in Oliver Mackenzie’s house with Grey Mackenzie? Are you guystogethernow?”

“Not really,” I said.

He looked over at me and frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It’s like a friends-with-benefits situation, and we both needed somewhere to stay while the hotel was being redone.” I shrugged. “Nothing serious.”

“You know you’re a terrible liar,” Brody said.

“I’m not lying. That’s exactly what we’re doing.” I could feel Brody’s gaze on me again, but I didn’t look over.

“But?” he prompted.

“What makes you think there’s a but?”

“Because your face has been stuck in a permanent scowl since we started running.”

“I’m not scowling,” I said, but I could feel my frown deepening. “I’m just… thinking.”

“About?”

Brody was never going to back off until I gave him an answer that satisfied him. I sighed and told him everything—how Grey thought Ryan and I had been messing around and how Oliver McKenzie had been so desperate to keep me away from his son that he’d lied to him about it.

Brody chuckled. “I can’t believe heactuallythought you and Ryan could be together.”

“I’m not sure if I should be offended by that or not,” I told him, casting a sidelong look at him.

Brody smirked. “Since you two had about as much chemistry as brothers.”

---