Page 59 of Chase the Storm

I poured everything I had in me to give in to the kiss we shared, and I could feel Griffin doing the same. I loved that we were already doing this for one another, making sure the other had something to last until we’d see each other again. Only time would tell if our efforts were successful.

I could easily sense the struggle Griffin faced when he begrudgingly tore his mouth from mine.

“Just three days,” he said softly.

“Just three days,” I repeated.

Griffin kissed me once more, and when he pulled back a second time, he released his hold on me.

This was it.

“I’ll see you on Saturday,” he promised after we’d moved toward the door.

“I’ll look forward to it,” I assured him.

“Goodbye, sugar.”

“Goodbye, Griffin. Drive safely.”

He gave me a nod and a peck on the lips.

Then he was gone, and my heart immediately felt the loss.

* * *

Griffin

Adapt and overcome.

That was the only phrase that had been repeating over and over in my head from the moment I walked out of Indy’s new place.

I had grown so accustomed to being adventurous and going with the flow, and what I felt leaving her for the first time was foreign to me. For so long, I looked forward to leaving one location, so I could prepare to head to wherever my next destination was.

I didn’t feel that same excitement now.

In fact, it was taking every ounce of my willpower not to turn around, drive back up the access road, and make my way to Indy so I could take her with me.

I needed to adapt and overcome.

I couldn’t do what I wanted to do, because it would be the very opposite of what I knew she needed right now.

Of course, that didn’t mean I believed she didn’t want me around or that she didn’t want us to spend more time together. Deep down, I knew she wanted nothing more than for us to be with one another and spend as much time together as possible.

But that wouldn’t help us.

It wouldn’t help her when I needed to leave and head back to Hawaii.

It wouldn’t help me when I needed to hop on the plane and leave her behind.

There was more to it than just that, though.

Indy needed to know she could stand on her own two feet again. She needed to find strength in herself once more, to find the part of her she’d lost when her ex took her on a ride she hadn’t intended to wind up on.

And if giving her the time and the space to accomplish that meant I needed to forgo having what I wanted, that’s what was going to happen.

In such a short time, she’d had an unexplainable impact on me. For the first time in my life, my desire to find the next storm ceased to exist. I couldn’t ignore that.

Recalling how she’d been ready to walk away when we’d just taken things to the next level left an unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’d never forget the panic I felt when she reacted to learning what I did for a living, or more specifically, where I made that living.

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