It was my turn to scowl at the somewhat hurt expression on his face. “You know I didn’t mean it that way.”
“No? How did you mean it?”
She fucking matters.
If only I’d known that before Andy blew everything apart. Before I’d said all the wrong things to try make Henry’s life right again.
Glancing behind me, I saw Andy and Jace sitting on the netting, their backs to us while Andy no doubt tried to paint Henry and me as the bad guys in this whole, sorry situation. Bailey and Rhea were huddled together in the seating area, their soft laughter and easy conversation reminding me that they held no hatred towards me after finding out what I’d done.
That’s when I knew it wasn’t an ‘us’ issue. This had nothing to do with Henry and me.
This all came down to Henry and Andy, and I refused to let Andy deny me of what mattered in the here and now inmyworld.
Turning back, I reached up to press my palms against Henry’s cheeks, watching as his lips parted and he sucked in a tiny breath, unable to stop himself from glancing over my shoulder to make sure Andy couldn’t see.
“Look at me,” I urged him.
He did, slowly, and all the memories of our time together on this island flitted through my mind, reminding me of the way those eyes could make me feel with nothing but a moment of their attention. With everything inside me, I wanted this man. Needed him at this point. That connection we’d built together in private made me want to hold him and care for him and protect him and adore him and worship him in public. I wanted to do all of it, everything I shouldn’t, and I didn’t care who saw anymore or who even cared. This thing between us had come alive when we’d both been dead, and I wasn’t about to apologise for feeling reborn.
We were two broken people enjoying putting each other back together, and I didn’t want that to end right here.
“I had one rule on this holiday, Henry. One. No men. Remember? Then along you came, flipping everything on its head.”
He blinked once, and his nostrils flared as he inhaled a deep breath only to release it slowly.
“I’m not the girl who goes after what she wants. Never really have been. But I think I wanted you the first time I laid eyes on you. Even when trying to fight it, knowing I could never get over you if I ever got under you, I still had to have this. I had to experienceus.” I ran my thumbs over his cheeks, rising up on my toes. “When I say I’m temporary in your life, it's because I’m honouring the deal we made. Not because it’s what I want.”
“What do you want?” he asked carefully.
“Right now? Only you. You’ve changed everything. And if we end right here, right now, I’ll have to find a way to be okay with that, because at least I got to have you. At least I got to be yours for a while.”
His gaze drifted over my shoulder once more to take in those who opposed us, and I waited for him to draw back. To pull away and remove himself from what we’d become to return to who he used to be.
But when he stared back down at me, I saw the change in his expression and the way his shoulders relaxed, before he placed his hands on my hips and squeezed. “We’ve still got time.”
“Time?”
He lowered his forehead to mine, closed his eyes and breathed me in. “I don’t care what anyone says anymore. It only has to make sense to us.”
“Us…” Two simple letters sounded like an intricate promise.
“Let him see. Let them all see how much I want you. If I’m going to be crucified for it anyway, I may as well go out in style.”
Then Henry kissed me in front of everyone.
He kissed me, not caring who saw, who commented, or who didn’t want this moment of happiness for us. He kissed me as though we were the only two people at sea, as though I was the last person on Earth who could give him everything he’d ever dreamed of, and I allowed myself to sink into him, letting myself go, letting myself fall.
Even though the truth was…
I’d already fallen as hard and fast as I ever could.
Henry Cohen had somehow gotten into my veins and flowed through me now, a part of my being I couldn’t bear to think about removing, even if the day of our goodbye still laid ahead, drawing closer with every beat of my heart.
Time.
I’d taken it for granted with him, and now we were running out.
I couldn’t afford to waste another second.
