by Evie Jordan
Ugh. That’s how her parents would think. Maybe once she had a visit with them, she’d be able to sort her head out a bit more. Olivia was home packing to head south, was Katy insane for not following?
“You’re packing.” Trace’s voice made her jump.
“In my nice case.” She glanced at him briefly—enough to see his perfect hair disheveled from sleeping on a couch. From sleeping next to her on a couch. Her heart squeezed. She turned back to her clothes. “Mom gave it to me for…a birthday or graduation or…something.”
“Ah.” He took a step in the room but stopped.
She was falling too fast for this handsome man in her room. This handsome, kind, unexpected…nope. Nope. “I need to do something grown up, you know?”
“Highly overrated,” he attempted a tease, but after looking at her wanderings, was she really any better than her brother and his lazy friends?
She clipped the case closed. “I hate goodbyes, Trace.”
His smile fell. “Goodbyes?”
“I gotta get parts of my life sorted, and then…”
“And then?”
She licked her lips. What was she supposed to say? She hadn’t known him that long. She didn’t know how she’d feel about anything once she was sorted. “I have your number.”
He leaned against the wall. “And I have yours, but…”
“But I barely know you.”
He pressed his fingers to his forehead. “But—”
She placed her lips over his, and the same electricity sparked. “Just give me a bit of time, okay? I’ve avoided the job my dad’s offered. I’ve avoided opportunities my mom has begged me to take part in…I’ve been mostly missing for about three years. They weren’t terrible people, I just needed away.”
Pulling her into his arms, Katy allowed herself to really feel him. To feel the sincerity in his touch, to feel her heart matching the rhythm of his.
“I’m using so much maturity right now,” he whispered.
She laughed. “Thanks, Trace.”
“I’m gonna walk back to the hotel. I’ll need the time to clear my head before meeting up with Olivia.” He rubbed his forehead and stared at the floor.
“Okay.” So, this was goodbye. For now? Forever? For a few days? Why did he have to be so charming and sweet? Why did she have to meet him when her life was in a sort of upheaval?
He walked her to her car, helped her with her bag, and waved as she left. The taste of him was still on her lips as she started toward the ferry that would lead her home.
All the trimmings of going from Martha’s Vineyard to Cape Cod were automatic. On the ferry. Off the ferry. Through the traffic. Up the highway. A couple hours of driving, except that the traffic was terrible, so it was more like three hours. One quick stop at Jimmy Johns. Past the guard gate at her parents’ neighborhood. Up the driveway. To the door.
And that’s when she froze.
Was she really ready to be here? Was she childish for stepping away from them? Childish for coming back?
The door opened to reveal her father, suited in a tuxedo.
“Katy!” He smiled and pulled her into a hug, as if he hadn’t seen her for a few weeks, rather than a couple of years. Well, she’d met up with them once or twice.
“Surprise,” she said weakly.
“Oh, Katy.” Mother’s voice next. She turned her head from side to side in the hall mirror. “You’ve deemed us worthy of your presence.”
Right. Because an entire week had gone by, when her parents were also fully capable of driving to Martha’s Vineyard.
“Um…” Her brows pinched. “Can we talk?”
Her mother gave her a quick hug, her ivory beaded gown making a strange clacking-swish sound as she moved over the tiled entry. “We can talk tomorrow. We are needed tonight.”
“But I haven’t seen you and—”
“And you didn’t call to say you were headed this way, in which case I could have told you that we wouldn’t be home.”
Her father heaved a sigh rather than stepping between the two women.
“You’re a grown woman, Katy.” She turned in the doorway, a look of exasperation on her carefully make-upped face. “A woman who clearly has no interest in accepting the life your father and I have set up for you.”
No, Katy really didn’t have any interest in that life. “I thought it would be nice to spend some time—”
“How’s your brother?” her dad asked.
“Um…” She shrugged. “Good, I guess. They’ll be coming back in June I think. Just a couple months from now.”
“Hmm,” her mother mused.
Her dad pulled her in a sideways hug. “Strange to have you all grown up.”
Yeah. Grown up.
She was grown up. Her attention floated to the vast staircase. To the childhood she’d had in this home but being here didn’t feel like she’d expected. This place didn’t feel like coming home. It was just a building whose hallways and rooms were familiar.
Her eyes fell closed as she thought about the warm sand between her toes. At the small rooms that she was ready to clean for guests. At the new bungalows being built for more guests. There would be fantastic parties and celebrations and weddings on that island. And Trace.
“Are you okay?” her mother asked. “I’m happy to see you, but we really are needed tonight.”
“I…” She swallowed down the lump of nostalgia that had built up in her throat as she stood in her childhood home. “I just wanted to check in and say hello.”
“How long are you staying?” her dad asked.
“I have my things at the island house, not here,” she explained. She’d brought a bag that would last a few days, but now that she was here, she couldn’t imagine staying. The night had already turned dark, but she’d almost definitely head back to the island in the morning.
“This has all been very strange,” her mother said as she stepped onto the porch.
Her dad wrapped his arm around her in a sideways hug. “I’m grateful you have the ability to choose your path, Katy.”
“Because of you,” she answered. Most people didn’t have the luxury of choosing whether or not they’d like to work, or where they’d like to work. How many MBA students would kill for the opportunities she’d grown up with?
Katy followed them onto the driveway—the sight of them in formal wear, climbing into her father’s car while she stood on the porch—was as much a part of her childhood as anything else.
Her mother waved. Her father blew her a kiss. They thought she’d probably be there the next day, even though she hadn’t really answered. Most importantly, her mother hadn’t yelled, and her father hadn’t been angry, and…And she was an adult and needed them in a different way now.
Once their car pulled away, she let the door fall closed. She’d been looking for a finale. An end game. A point when her life fell into place, and the path of her life would lay itself in front of her. But what if…what if no one had that path? What if what she wanted, and what was best for her, were the same thing?
Katy pulled out her phone and sent Olivia a quick text.
I need a favor.
Chapter Seventeen
Trace slowly moved up the steps of the plane, Olivia behind him. She paused, cupped her hands over her sunglasses and stared back at the small private airport. They were already leaving an hour later than he’d planned.
“What are you looking for?” he asked. “Having second thoughts about Paradise Island?” She wouldn’t be the only one. But he and Colby had to get to work, and they did so much better in the same room.
What was he supposed to feel right now? Did he know that he felt too much for how short a time he’d known Katy? Yes. Did he care? Nope. But he really hoped that all of this wasn’t about to lead to his heart being broken.
“Hey!” a voice called from near the airport. “Wait up!”
Olivia grinned, waved, and stepped around Trace as he stood, mouth agape, staring at the woman runnin
g toward them.
“Surprise!” Katy called as she jogged their way. “I begged Olivia to try and delay you!”
Ah…Olivia’s weird messages about packing, and the three stops she’d made on the way, suddenly made a lot more sense.
He took the few steps to the bottom of the stairway, just as Katy crashed into his arms. “I was being an idiot. A complete moron.” Her words came out in a rush of breath.
“You’re coming?”
“They only let you through if you’re flying,” she answered. “I felt so much for you, and I came home and…I panicked.”
“You’re coming.”
She rested her palms on his cheeks. “Yes.”
He grabbed her in a hug.
Her arms tightened. “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but the thought of you there, and me not sharing it with you…”
“Me too.”
She felt the same crazy thing he did. The same wonder at how deeply he felt after such a short time.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” he said. “I would have waited, but this is better.”
“This.” She pulled away just enough that he could make out the features of her face. “You…You are exactly what I need right now. I kept waiting for a lightbulb moment of Katy, go here or Katy, do this, and it never came. And then I realized that I’m a work in progress, and I probably always will be, so the best thing I can do is to follow my heart, wherever it leads me.”
From the first time he saw her, he’d known she had the ability to someone to him, but this…knowing she’d given up the time she thought she needed for him. Knowing that she’d worked some kind of miracle to get down here so fast. Feeling how she held him…
“And you.” He brushed his lips against hers. “Are exactly what I need right now.”
Her kiss was as strong and fierce as she was, and Trace wondered if he’d never get over how crazy lucky he was that he’d decided to come visit his friend early. That she’d decided to stop at Paradise Island. And that when given the choice of anywhere in the world, they chose each other.
“So that app of yours…” she trailed off. “I’m thinking we should start some serious traveling.”
“For research.” He smiled.
She kissed his cheek. “Exactly.”
“Katy?” he asked.
She pulled back, keeping her hands on his arms. “Yeah?”
“I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together.”
In one quick move, Katy pushed up on her tip toes and planted her lips on his. “We definitely are.”
The host stuck his head out the doorway of the airplane. “We have a flight plan that we need to stick to, you two!”
Her hand in his, Trace led her up the stairway.
One random joke of sending a listing for this island to Colby, followed by Colby buying the island, followed by Trace coming to visit early, and Katy needing a break from sailing…So many small things led to them meeting. So many things led to this point. Trace had no idea what came next for them, but if could keep Katy by his side, he was ready for anything.
“Hey Trace?” she whispered as they stepped inside.
He peered over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for being patient.”
He spun and took her in his arms. “Thanks for being you.”
Olivia squeaked and clapped, the host begged them to take their seats, and they started the first of what Trace knew would be many adventures.
Thank You!
Dear reader,
Again, I can’t thank you enough for sharing Katy and Trace’s story with me!
I cannot beg you enough to please leave a review! Reviews help other readers know what books might suit their tastes as well as helping authors gain visibility.
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I’ll be posting (probably a million) fun pictures from the Caribbean on Facebook, if you’d like to find me there.
Happy reading!
Evie Jo
Also by Evie Jordan
Paradise Island Series:
Destination Wedding Date
Island Fling
Love at Sunset
A Crazy Thing Called Love (and several more…coming soon!)