Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
I twisted the handle, and the door opened freely.
“Hello?” I called out, stepping inside and peering around the entryway.
The house was quiet. My voice echoed off the tall ceiling and most of the lights were off. As I leaned to the side, I caught sight of a warm glow flickering in the room behind the stairway.
“Jamie?”
I moved down the hallway and stepped inside the large living room/kitchen space.
The fireplace was on. That was the light I was seeing. Orange and yellow flames danced behind a panel of glass.
He was home. Somewhere …
He wouldn’t leave the fire going.
After checking the upstairs and every room on the first floor, I pushed the slider open and stepped out onto the deck. I moved to the railing and curled my fingers around the wood, looking out at the ocean.
Jamie.
My fingers tensed on the rail. My stomach clenched. And my heart, Lord, my heart was going crazy. Jumping up and down and pointing with frantic fingers, yelling, There he is! Go get him! Go!
Jamie was on his board, riding a wave just under where it curled.
I knew it was him even though he had to be at least two hundred feet away, partially obstructed by the wave he was riding, and harder to see thanks to the setting sun.
But I knew it was him.
He looked like he was controlling the water. Every drop of it. Something so powerful moving with his will. He made it look effortless.
Only my Jamie could do that.
I crossed the deck and descended the stairs, keeping my eyes on the water and on Jamie as he paddled out again. When I hit sand, I kicked my flip-flops off so they wouldn’t slow me down and took off running down the pathway that led to the beach.
Jamie was riding another wave when the sand beneath my feet became damp. I stopped and stood there, watching, so close to him now if I closed my eyes, it wouldn’t be the ocean I was smelling, but him.
He whipped his board left and rode in toward the shore, and when his head came up and our eyes locked, I lifted my hand to my stomach and waved.
I waved …
Honestly, I didn’t know what else to do. I mean, I was pretty certain my heart had decorated signs at this point and was holding them up for Jamie to read as if it was standing front row at his rock concert.
Come hold us, boy! We love the sound your heart makes!
With all that happening, I felt good about a wave.
When Jamie stuck his board under his arm and started walking in, I moved closer, staring at him and studying his expression. Eyes serious and those thick brows shadowing them. Jaw tight. No smile. Not even a hint of one as he shook the water out of his hair.
He didn’t look angry. He looked tortured and frustrated and uncertain of my motives. He was gauging me as he moved, as I moved.
And I swore if his heart could speak like mine, it would be telling me to run to him.
Water squished beneath my feet and crashed against my ankles as the breeze off the ocean blew underneath my top. I tucked my hair behind my ear and stopped walking when I was an arm’s length away.
Jamie kept moving and cut that distance in half.
He always put us closer.
“You here for somethin’?” he asked, voice even and brows lifting in question.
Head tipped back due to how close we were standing now, I blinked up at him. I had so much to say. Ready to say. The words danced on my tongue, but Jamie was acting like he wouldn’t care if I was here for something or not. Or that he knew I wasn’t because he knew me. He knew which girl I was.
I didn’t have a tattoo on my body, and Jamie knew that.
So instead of asking the questions I needed to ask or telling him the words I only told him after I knew he was asleep, I became that other girl.
My body leapt across that tiny distance separating us, my hands wrapped around his neck, gaining purchase, and as I rolled up onto my tiptoes, I yanked Jamie down at the same time, claiming his mouth right there in the middle of a public beach.
One that just so happened to be dead at the moment, but the point I was trying to make was coming across loud and clear. I was certain of this.
Because when my lips hit Jamie’s, his board hit the sand. Then immediately after that his hands snaked around my waist and started roaming and gripping as he bent farther, mouth opening and tongue touching my lip. Feeling that, I opened mine, and that was when we went from kissing to eating each other alive.