Page 81 of Tender Heart
Fuck, I fell asleep here.
“Morning, sleepyhead.” She offers the mug, her sweet smile the backdrop to her gesture. “Emmett’s outside.”
I sit up with a groan. This is no place for a worn-out old man to rest. I rub my neck with one hand, taking the coffee from her with the other. “He been here long?” I sip the scalding coffee, and when I manage a swallow I say, “Thanks.”
“About twenty minutes, but he was at the boat for a bit.”
“Probably fixed the damn thing already.”
“Probably. You need a moment to”—she waves a hand, gesturing to my general head and neck area—“make it look like you didn’t spend all night?—”
I grab her neck and drag her mouth to mine. With a chaste kiss, I put space between us. “Nope.”
“Okay then. I have words to write. Twelve weeks left until deadline. You be here for lunch later?”
Twelve weeks until she is gone from my life.
“Sure,” I mutter. “Em can eat with us.”
“Sounds great.”
I watch the sway of her hips with a whole new appreciation this morning. And the crashing weight of a man with an expiry date lands hard.
What does anyone with limited time do? They make the most of it.
As those long legs disappear up the spiral metal stairs, I make a promise to myself to make each day count. From this one on.
Wrapping the blanket around my waist, I follow her upstairs a moment later. I make a beeline for the bathroom and pull on fresh clothes. Cleaning up, I run a hand through my hair and brush my teeth before making it out of the bathroom.
Evie’s fingers fly over the keyboard, something upbeat floating from her headphones, words pouring out onto the white screen like string confetti. I wander up behind her and dot a kiss to the crown of her head. Her hands briefly curl around my wrist as I cup her head with my hands. But she returns to her focus a second later.
My cue to leave.
I find Em in the kitchen when I peel off the last stair. Making himself at home, he stirs his coffee. Probably his fourth for the morning, knowing him. “Finally. Need some extra rest this morning, sleeping beauty?” Em winks at me.
Asshole.
He absolutely figured out why I’m in the house this morning and not in the hut.
“Lucky you’ll never need to worry about being kept up all night, bud.”
His face flattens under a lingering stare.
Fuck. Now I’m the asshole.
“I did?—”
He holds up a hand. “Forget it. Please. My nonexistent love life is not what I came all the way out here for.”
“Sure. How’s the boat?”
“Fixed. Good as new.”
I scoff out a laugh. “The fuck it is.”
“See for yourself. You haven’t been off this rock for weeks. Not that I could blame you.” He glances at the stairs, absolutely implying Evie is the reason I haven’t seen the mainland in almost a month.
I rip the fridge open like it’s personally offended me and hunt for something that tastes half-decent cold. I settle on cold chicken and roast veggies from before we left.On second thought, maybe only the veggies.Dumping the tinfoil-wrapped parcel onto the counter, I pry a cold root veggie from the mix. It tastes like it sounds. Soggy and cold.
