Page 47

I know what to expect today due to working the bus that day with MacGyver when the cold storage had gotten unplugged, but we lack the pressure of that mishap. I enjoy teasing the sisters as we cook our way through the afternoon.

I take some flack from Kace and Gabe when they appear to grab lunch, but it's all good-natured, and I know they're happy I'm finally making headway with Violet.

Once the lunch rush is over, Jasmine practically shoves us out of the bus to go take a walk on the sand. It's a gorgeous day. A perfect day. A blue-sky, seventy-eight-degree afternoon that has everyone outside enjoying the sun. "Come on," I murmur, taking Violet's hand in mine.

I lace our fingers together, and we amble along the boardwalk for a while before crossing a bridge over the dunes and onto the sand. At the bottom of the rough and weathered walkway, Violet pauses to toe off her shoes and socks. I do the same, and we carry them with us as we walk hand in hand toward the water. "What are you thinking? Right now."

"That you would be wise to run away," Violet says softly.

I release her hand to wrap my arm around her shoulders, tugging her to my side. She fits against me perfectly, and I drop a kiss atop her head. "Mmm, not happening. Want to know what I'm thinking?"

"Probably not."

I chuckle at her wry tone and lean down once more, brushing my lips over hers and reveling in her surprised gasp when I use my arm around her shoulders to take the kiss deeper.

Against her lips, I murmur, "I'm thinking I can't wait a second longer to kiss you." I take her mouth again, not stopping until a child's shrieking scream startles us both as she races by us.

"Sorry," the girl's parent says as she ambles by, loaded down with a stuffed beach bag, toys and a chair. "Nothing like that to put a damper on things."

I chuckle while Violet blinks up at me, looking hazy eyed and flushed with color that has nothing to do with the sun. I drop a kiss to her nose next, and we pick up our pace again, ambling along the edge out of the water's reach.

"I don't know what you want from me, Sully."

The words are softly spoken, and I barely catch them over the sound of the wind and crashing waves. We've just moved beneath the shadows cast by the pier, and after a few more steps, I pause and turn her so that her back is to a piling. She's staring up at me with wary eyes, and I let my fingers drift over her cheek to her mouth. Then I lift them higher, to the scar at her temple and eyebrow, and gently graze my thumb over the length. "Yeah, you do."

She closes her eyes as though the words pain her.

"Why? There are so many other women who would⁠—"

I leave the scar and press my fingers to her lips, stopping her with a scowl. "No more. I want you. Only you. Just…you. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can both put our pasts behind us."

A frown pinches over her nose, and I press my lips there next, lingering over the act until her hands find my waist, and I feel her take a shaky breath.

"I don't even know… I don't know if I can…"

It doesn't surprise me that she hasn't been with anyone else, given what she's been through. But it saddens me that she's so afraid. I get it. I do. But I also want to strangle the poor excuse for a man who made her this way.

I find her lips once more, the shadows beneath the pier giving us a sense of privacy as I kiss her until she clings to me, and the last thing I want to do is stop. Even though I do. "We are in no rush," I murmur against her lush mouth. "We have all the time in the world. But that? Baby, that proves you can."

Her gaze flicks up and holds, and I see my grumpy sunshine slide back in full force. So much so, I laugh softly and earn a pinch to both sides of my ribs.

"Don't hate me because you want me just as much as I want you," I say.

"Your ego is ridiculous."

"It's true, though."

"I've never said that."

She peeks at me from beneath her lashes, and I tug her forward, tucking her under my arm once more to resume our walk. "You don't have to say it," I murmur into her hair, grinning. "But you do."

She walks beside me, our feet leaving a trail in the sand. I pause again, and she looks at me with a quizzical expression as I release her and study our footprints.

"What is it?"

"It's missing something," I murmur.

"What is?"