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I lean my head back against the cushion behind us and tilt my face toward his. This man…

I'm not sure where the line between friendship and love began to blur, but I know it has. I'm in way over my head. And that scares me more than anything. "Fine."

"Yeah?"

I quirk my lips and inhale. "Yeah," I drawl, earning that grin. "But don't think for a second you're in control of my life."

"Ah, sunshine. I wouldn't dream of it."

Chapter 35

Violet

* * *

Unable to sleep, I'm up when Sully emerges from his bedroom dressed in his Carolina Cove uniform. The navy color enhances his handsome, clean-shaven looks to the nth degree, and I find myself leaning against the kitchen island as he moves toward me with a heart-stopping grin.

"Good morning. You're looking delectable," he says as he lowers his head to take my lips in a heady kiss.

I'm standing there, dazed from the magic that is Sully, when he plucks the coffee mug out of my hands and takes a long sip, draining most of it. "Hey."

"Price you pay for making me late for work."

"You're not late."

"I will be," he says, sliding an arm around my waist and hips and lifting me onto the island. "Once you give me a goodbye kiss that'll last me two whole days."

My heart races as I slide my arms around his neck and pull him in for a kiss that melts us both. The kind that makes me think about not allowing Sully to leave so that we can stay here in a bubble of safety where nothing can touch us.

He groans softly when he finally pulls away, the sound so mournful it sends a shiver through me.

"I have to go. Stop looking so beautiful."

He kisses me again, and I smile, laughing softly at his words. Beautiful? I have bed head, haven't showered, no makeup on, and I'm pretty sure I spilled coffee down my shirt on my first sip. "You must be fevered and seeing things."

I get a swat at my behind and a nip of my lower lip as punishment.

"Don’t. You're gorgeous, and don't you forget it."

Sully stares into my eyes as he says the words, and I shove down the traumatized voice inside that screams he's lying, he's love bombing, he's softening me up to get his way.

Instead, I allow the words to simply coat my skin like a warm blanket of fact. When he looks at me the way he is right now?

I feel beautiful. I feel gorgeous. And I own the feelings as a woman who is slowly learning to become secure in her own self, regardless of what a man might say about her.

I may not be the world's version of beautiful, but that's okay. I'm me. And Sully seems to thoroughly appreciate it. "So are you."

I whisper the words, feeling a bit shy, but the wolfish grin that crosses his features as a result ends my hesitation. "I can only imagine the offers you get wearing that uniform," I add with a shake of my head.

He slides his hand up my back to my nape and tangles his fingers in my long hair, holding me so that I have to look at him.

"The only woman I want is in my arms right now after I secretly crushed on her forever."

"Me? A secret crush?"

His thumb rubs that soft, tender spot on my neck that turns me to pure liquid. This man is learning all my secrets, and he loves it.

"Everyone saw it but you. The guys have been ribbing me about it practically from the day you moved back to town. Sometimes I stopped mid-sentence when I got a look at you."