He cleared his throat, sliding his sunglasses down over his eyes. “It’s complicated.”
“Is it because of your brothers?” They were the only personal detail he mentioned until today. He spoke about them almost reverently.
“Yes, they’re part of it.” He exhaled. “I know this place isn’t perfect but…it’s home. I’ve bled into these waters, and they’ve bled into me. You don’t walk away from that. Sometimes I wantto turn my back on it all, go where no one knows me. But this place—it always pulls me back.”
Like the tide. Dragging him back.
Time stretched. I let it.
“If only you could be as romantic about a girl as you can be about this dumpy town.”
Isaac shrugged, his air of nonchalance returning. “Wouldn’t want to give her the wrong impression.”
“So, do you take all of your one-night-stands fishing?”
“Only the clingy ones. Ask a girl to touch bait and suddenly she’s running the other way.”
“Right, this is how you get rid of me. It’s like a reverse psychology thing.”
I wedged the fishing pole between the rocks, sitting cross-legged beside it. The rock was a cool contrast to the sun on the water. It didn’t ease my growing restlessness.
I cleared my throat. “So, I’ve been thinking about getting my real estate license.”
“What do you know about real estate?”
“I like looking at nice houses.”
“That’s…something.” He snorted. “You planning on doing that here?”
I shifted. “I haven’t thought that far.”
“There’s real estate work in town.” He cast his line further than before. “If you were looking.”
My stomach dipped.
“Is that a pitch?”
“No,” he answered too fast. “Just an observation.”
My smile felt thin. “Good.”
“You city slickers don’t last out here.”
I stood, ripping my sunglasses off. “Is that a challenge?”
It always was with him. Pushing to see how far I would go. To see how much I would allow.
Isaac took his glasses off too. His features didn’t soften in the sun. They sharpened. Shadows cut deeper around his eyes.
This time, something in his face waswrong.The sun was behind him, but his eyes were golden—as if the light was coming from within them.
My breath caught. The air shifted. Heavy. Charged. Like a storm rolling in.
My heart stuttered. His rasping voice drew me back to the present. “What if it is?”
“What do I win if I prove you wrong?”
His mouth opened—then snapped shut.