Whatever move he pulled next, I got dragged through the water in one swift motion and ended up in front of him, his arm loosely wrapped around my torso. “Not anymore,” he said at my ear, his voice low.
My heart raced. This man . . .
“Look up, Sweetheart.”
I lifted my gaze to the ceiling of the tunnel we had ended up in. “Oh my . . .” Thousands of bluish glowing dots were sprinkled six feet above us, almost like the Milky Way. I couldn’t remember ever having seen something this beautiful. “Are those fireflies?”
“Glowworms. Breathtaking, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” I whispered, indeed sounding breathless. “I thought there weren’t any on this island.”
“Allegedly not. There are more.” He turned us around, taking me in a rescue tow. “Dip your head back and look up.”
As I did, he pulled me deeper into the tunnel. The little lights grew denser the farther we swam. I’d seen fireflies one time I went camping with my parents near Roan Mountain, but this was different. Absolutely magical.
The ceiling lifted and broadened into a cave. Kingsley stopped, and when I lowered my legs, I felt sand under my feet. He lifted me into an upright position, the water now only reaching up to my thighs. Clothes plastered to our bodies, we waded onto the small sandbank in the middle of the garage-sized cave.
“Care for a dance?” Kingsley twirled me twice, then pulled me against him, one hand resting on my lower back.
Placing a hand on his chest, I tilted my head back and smiled up at him. “I thought you’d never ask.”
We swayed to nothing but silence and the soft glow coming from the glowworms scattered above us like stars. The thought that this was our last moment together coiled like barbwire around my heart. And the pain I knew was about to come . . . It was like God’s punishment for our sins, except it wasn’t. We’d done this to ourselves.
I would leave him tonight, once he was asleep. Quietly, like the coward I was, because having to watch his heart shatter . . . My throat thickened. I didn’t want to give him a chance to beg me to stay. My resolve was too fragile for that.
Don’t think about it. Focus on the here and now.On Kingsley’s strong body pressed against mine, his beard scratching my temple, his love for me palpable in the way he held me.
Kingsley dipped me over his knee, then brought me back up, only inches separating our lips. “I wish this night would never end.” His voice was low. Guttural.
“So do I.”
Except it would. And tomorrow morning I would be gone.
Chapter 24
Kingsley
A heavy emptiness pressed down on me when I awoke in Harley’s guest bed. Soft light filtered in through the window—the moon. Given its angle it had to be roughly four a.m.
Hold on, where was Harley? She wasn’t in my arms. Not in the bed.
Holding my breath, I strained to hear something. Maybe she was in the bathroom.
Not a single sound.
I sat up. Looked around the small room. Empty. Harley’s stuff was gone, only my habit hanging over the back of the chair.
My heart raced. No, she didn’t . . .
I scrambled out of the bed and stumbled to the bathroom. The door stood open, no one inside.
No, no, no!
I sprinted back into the bedroom, threw on my still wet habit—not wasting time on the belt and sandals—and stormed out of the guesthouse. Why had she left? Had I done or said somethingwrong? Her ex was still on the loose, she couldn’t just stroll out of here.
The woods were dark, but I knew them inside out and cleared them sprinting full on, only peripherally feeling sticks cutting into my bare feet. Then the field to the back door. Something told me if Harley had taken an exit, it would be this one. But she’d probably climbed the wall as not to leave a door unlocked.
I unbolted the door and kept running. There! She was getting into her VW.
