to snap in half. “Of course I like you, Danae. If you haven’t noticed, I can’t seem to stay away from you.”
“You’ve tried, though?”
He huffed a laugh. “I did. I just had some trouble with the follow-through.”
“Me, too,” she said, the barest of smiles touching her lips.
Pressure built beneath his sternum. In another life, he might dive headfirst and kiss her without thinking things through. But the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, and a tiny voice whispered that they still didn’t want the same things. That they might be too different to pull off a full-blown relationship.
“Look, I’m glad we have the boat christening to look forward to, but…” Josh slowly lowered his hand, everything inside him protesting at letting go instead of leaning closer. “I’m asking that when it comes to this thing between us, you don’t insist on planning it all out. Let’s catch up at the ceremony and just see where it goes from there.”
“I… But what if…?” Her nose wrinkled, and reluctance drenched her words. “I can try. I think. Yeah. Maybe.”
It wasn’t the answer he’d hoped for, but better than the one he’d feared, where she insisted on more, and he had to admit he couldn’t give it to her. He lowered his forehead to hers and closed his eyes, soaking in the moment in case she wasn’t willing to take a risk with him. “Let me know when you have a firm answer.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Josh hadn’t been wrong when he’d taken her hand and said, “Guess we’d better hike back to the kayak before you get anxious about how long we’ve been gone.”
It had been on her mind as they’d been hiking, sure, and she’d glanced at the time once after taking in the gorgeous view.
As for their intimate chat and the moment when she’d been sure he was going to finally kiss her…? Well, in that instant, she hadn’t been thinking or worrying about anything.
She’d just been a girl who really wanted to kiss a boy.
Of course I like you, Danae. The words, along with the gentle way he’d cupped her chin, had robbed her of breath and short-circuited her brain. Residual butterflies rose as she glanced at Josh now, kneeling in the sand on the other side of Franco. Both guys were pitching in to help Paige pack up her umbrella and beach mat.
If only there hadn’t been that added but. The one he’d sensed was going to come from her but somehow ended up in her lap.
Let’s catch up at the ceremony and just see where it goes from there.
Like most real-life plot twists, she wasn’t a fan of being taken off-guard. Vague had never been her thing, either.
“So, we were talking,” Vanessa said, and Danae jerked her attention off the guy and the situation she couldn’t stop obsessing about.
Danae finished cramming her towel in her beach bag and scanned the faces of her team, who were all staring at the two of them. Why did she suddenly have the feeling that Vanessa had drawn the short straw? “You’re freaking me out. What’s going on?”
Her coworkers shared glances, and a pit formed in her stomach. What had happened? They’d come so far and grown so close. Why did it feel like there was about to be a coup d’état? She was hardly a dictator, so that seemed wildly unfair.
Danae stood and crossed her arms, afraid she’d need the protection.
“We don’t care about the Forbes mansion,” Vanessa said.
Paige advanced a step. “Yeah, we can see it when we sail by it tomorrow.”
Danae moved to adjust her glasses before remembering she wasn’t wearing them today. “But it’s on the schedule for today. That’s why we’re gathering our stuff to head back to the boat.”
“Right,” Paige said. “We were all talking, and it’s been such a busy trip, and relaxing on the beach has been so nice…”
“And Josh says there’s this hidden gem of a restaurant here where we can have a nice relaxing dinner,” Vanessa finished.
Danae’s gaze shot to Josh.
Josh held up his hands, as if he were facing down a mugger in an alley. “Don’t bring me into this, guys. I told you about the place as a fun fact, not so you could pull me into this battle. I’m fighting one of my own.”
One of his own? As in whether or not she was open to a willy-nilly type of relationship that could very well lead to a dead end?
Both frustrations stacked on each other, causing them to