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Ash whimpers against his lips.
Nathaniel pulls back. They’re both breathing hard.
“Tell me what you want in life,” he whispers, kissing her hair, her temple, her throat.
“I want cats. I want a place in the forest or on a boat near the water. I want to travel to witchy woods and tremulous oceans and take lazy naps in a cabin in one of those big blankets with the loops that are so ridiculous I can already see your eye roll. But I…I want all that. I want to be healthy and have good sex and maybe live in a lighthouse.”
Heat kindles in his eyes. “Your weirdo dreams are my absolute favorite. And you are my absolute favorite weirdo.”
“Really?” His words do something swoony to her insides. Like he could know everything about her life and never run from it.
“Really.” He cups her face. “I’m insane for you, Ash.”
He’s nodding, nodding, nodding, his lips moving around her name, and then he’s moving into her.
“Ash,” he breathes. Fingers shaking, he cradles her face. “Tell me a truth. Tell me your name.”
“No,” she laughs, too happy to ward him off, to scoff, to joke. “Not yet.”
Satisfaction flickers in those pale-blue eyes.
A ping on her phone. Quickly, Ash silences the text. It feels wrong to interrupt this moment. Whatever it is.
Nathaniel, immaculately backlit by the sunset, leans in. “What if I told you…I want to live in a lighthouse with you?”
“I’d say…” Emotions swell and bubble in her throat. “Maybe I’ll let you.”
It’s thatmaybethat does her in.
Her heart’s in this. Whether she likes it or not.
Whether she can admit it or not is a different story.
Is it stupid, silly to want? He’s conventional, a doctor with a game plan. She’s unconventional, a death doula with no direction. Complete opposites. Sure, they can commit, whisper sweet nothings. But they can’t escape real life. Or their differences. Reality’s creeping up on them.
Three days, and they’re all over.
“My turn,” she whispers. “Tell me a lie.”
Right now, the truth terrifies her the most.
“I don’t like you,” he says hoarsely, and her chest wrenches. “I don’t think I ever will.”
She takes him in through lust-addled eyes. Her heart feels heavy. Like a one-hundred-pound weight sinking in quicksand.
No one else on earth has ever seen her so completely. It’s terrifying.
She shivers as the wind kicks up. The sky’s turned dark and ominous.
“Cold hands.” Nathaniel gathers her hands in his and brings them to his chest protectively.
She steps into him, slipping her thigh between his. “Colder heart.”
“But I have warm lips. Very, very warm lips.” He drops a strong hand to her skirt, roughly pushes it aside. “Ash.” His voice is intense, velvet. His eyes drugged and dark.
She lets out a whimper. “I need you.” God, she hates begging, but she’s a flame.
Approval fills his eyes. “Fuck.”
