Page 71 of The Kiss Keeper
He nodded, then chucked the phone into the ocean.
Natalie gasped. “You know, you could have blocked your work calls.”
He shook his head. “No, it needs to be a clean break. You and those sexy as hell shoes led me here and reminded me of the person I want to be in this world.”
Shock and confusion marred her features. “You’ve known me for a day and a half, and I know it sounds crazy when I say this, but I’m cursed when it comes to love.”
This damn Kiss Keeper Curse! He had to figure out a way around it.
“Natalie, you know I’m right about us. You know there’s something more between us than two people pretending to be a couple.”
“I know, but I’ve been wrong so many times,” she said, focusing on the space between them.
“Six times isn’t so many times,” he pressed.
Pain flashed in her eyes. “Six broken hearts and all of them from Jakes. I’m starting to think that I’m not meant to have anyone. Maybe I’m supposed to be Jake-less.”
No, she couldn’t be right. There was a reason he’d ended up back here with her. They were meant to be together. But how the hell was he supposed to convince her when he couldn’t reveal that he was her kiss keeper?
He glanced over at the shore and saw the outline of the old abandoned lighthouse. The abandoned lighthouse that wasn’t far off from the Kiss Keeper’s well. An idea sparked, and he grabbed the oars and started rowing.
Natalie gripped the sides of the boat. “Where are you going?”
“To break a curse,” he answered, slicing the oars through the dark water.
She stared down at her feet. “I don’t think it can be broken, Jake.”
He had to try.
He rowed into a shallow, sleepy cove, and the boat grazed the ocean floor. Without waiting to hit dry land, he jumped out and pulled the boat onto the pebbly sand.
“That structure over there. It’s the abandoned lighthouse, right?” he asked, playing stupid. He knew damn well where they were.
“Yes, this is the old Wiscasset lighthouse. How do you know about it?” she asked as he helped her out of the boat.
“Finn mentioned it when we were fishing today,” he lied. “It’s close to that well, right? The Kiss Keeper’s well?”
“It’s not too far,” she answered, watching him closely.
“Tell me more about this curse,” he said, taking her hand and leading her toward the lighthouse’s crumbling outbuildings.
“The whole Kiss Keeper tale started with a young man who lived here and the kiss he never got to have with the young woman he loved.”
They passed the lighthouse tower, and he ran his hand over a battered railing.
“Does anyone know what really happened to them?”
She released a heavy sigh. “I don’t think so. Nobody knows what’s fact or fiction anymore. All I ever heard was that the Wiscasset family used to mind this lighthouse. Otis Wiscasset was a young man who was supposed to take over the lighthouse after his father, but he’d fallen in love with a girl named Muriel Boothe. But Muriel’s family was quite well-to-do, and they didn’t want their daughter to marry a lowly lighthouse keeper. To make matters worse, her parents decided to send her back to England, that’s where they were from, to try to stop the budding romance. But it was too late. She and Otis Wiscasset were already in love. The legend has it that the night before she was supposed to be shipped off, they’d agreed to meet at this well to have their first kiss. But it’s said that Muriel never showed up, and Otis disappeared, never to be seen again.”
That’s how he remembered it, too.
“Curses have to have a way to be broken. I think it’s a rule or something,” he said, imagining Otis Wiscasset’s pain when he realized the woman he loved was gone. Christ! What would he do if this didn’t work?
“Which way to the well?” he asked, anticipation building in his chest.
Yes, he knew the answer, but needed to maintain the ruse.
“That trail will lead us there,” she answered as they headed into the woods.
