“Did I say something wrong?”
I turned back to him quickly, taking in the concern he didn’t even try to hide. “No…No. Nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Tell me if I do. I’m not exactly an expert at all… this. Being carefree with what I say around someone.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I chose to stay quiet instead of saying anything wrong, honouring him with the same silence he often gifted me with.
He turned to look at the ocean, too. “You know, it’s rare I feel moments like these. Moments where I’m really present, not always thinking about the past or the future, what I don’t have, what I could lose. I didn’t realise all that until just now, here with you,” he admitted, turning back to meet my gaze.
His admission felt like a gift from a man who rarely handed out gifts.
He smiled that soft smile of his that had my heart stuttering in my chest, hoping no one else ever got to see it but me.
We were playing with fire more and more by the minute. Or maybe that was just me.
“Your shoulders are going pink,” he said, trailing his eyes over the top half of my body. “Time we cooled down a bit.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.
Without saying another word, Henry gestured to the waiter for the bill. When it arrived, I opened my bag to retrieve some euros to pay my half. He didn’t even look at me when he held his hand up to stop me as I tried to place the notes down on the little tray that held the receipt and two mints.
“My treat.”
“That’s not necessary. I can?—”
“I said my treat, Phoebe. I didn’t ask if it was necessary.”
Despite the urge to argue, I’d already learnt which battles to fight when it came to this man, so I slid the notes back into my bag and closed the zip—just like he’d warned me to that day when he rescued my purse. “Thank you. I’ll get the next one.”
While passing the money and the tray back to the waiter, Henry side-eyed me with a look that said “never gonna happen”, telling me what he thought ofthatwithout having to say a word. He tossed one of the mints my way before he threw the other into his mouth. I caught mine and slipped it between my lips slowly, unable to miss the way Henry tracked my movements until my cheeks hollowed out and I sucked the mint in my mouth.
That single look he gave me would make me end up like Lillie. So suggestive. Filled with so much promise.
I just had no idea how much his promises really meant yet.
When he stood, he came to my side and held his hand out for me to take again, as though this was our natural response to each other now. Him waiting to pick me up and guide me. Me willing to fall into his embrace and let him take me wherever the hell he decided we needed to go.
I should have been scared how easily we were falling in to these roles.
Roles we’d have to walk away from sooner rather than later.
Still, I slid my fingers through his anyway and let him pull me to my feet, making sure to thank the waiter over my shoulder aswe stepped out of the tavern, back into the warm breeze of the island.
Henry and I strode hand in hand down the little pebbled street, taking in the bright blue sky, the white-washed buildings capped with colourful domes, and the sound of the waves not far away from us. After a few minutes of silence, he eyed my shoulder before reaching over to run a single finger over the pink skin there. “About that cooling down I mentioned…”
My skin prickled at that simplest of touches. “I’m listening.”
“Follow me.”
Henry squeezed my hand and smirked that smirk of his before facing forward and picking up the pace. Less than ten minutes later, we passed a small sign that pointed to a beach we hadn’t been on yet. He guided me down the pathways between more white-washed, single-level buildings, with their bright blue roofs, until we were on the sand again. When we made it down to the shoreline, I immediately took off my sandals and slipped my feet into the cool water, enjoying the caress of the waves against my skin.
“I’ll never get tired of this feeling.” I sighed to myself.
“Give me this.” Henry slid my bag off my shoulder and glanced down at my denim shorts. “You might want to take those off, too. Denim and water mix about as well as you and I did five days ago.”
