Jacqueline swallowed. Suddenly, her eyes were swimming, and the only words she could find were a choked: “You’re sure?”
“I am. God, Jacqueline, I am. But you don’t have to be. I know it’s too sudden, you have your own things going on.” She saw Arlo grimace through the shimmer of tears. “I should have told you earlier. This is the wrong time, the wrong place, I—”
“Will you shut up for one second!” Jacqueline pulled her hands away from his and threw them around his shoulders. He was warm and solid and she buried her face in his chest, her lungs heaving. “These are happy tears.”
“Oh.” Arlo dropped his head to rest on hers and wrapped his arms around her.
Jacqueline smiled. “Is that a good oh?”
Arlo let out a sigh that seemed to shake his bones. “God, yes.”
“Good.” Jacqueline sniffled. “And don’t worry. I always cry when I’m too happy and this is… so much, all at once.”
“Too much?” Arlo stiffened. “I meant what I said. Anything you need, time, space, even if—” He took a sharp breath. “If you don’t feel the same way…”
If I don’t feel like what? Like I knew I’d met my soulmate the moment he pulled me out of the sea?
Jacqueline took a slow breath, her face still buried in Arlo’s
shirt. He smelled like salt and sweat, and she never wanted to breathe in anything else ever again.
“When I first saw you,” she said, “don’t laugh—I didn’t see you at all. I was out of my mind with fear. I thought I’d gone. I’d just seen kids turn into animals and I jumped in the water, almost got myself killed, trying to save something I was sure shouldn’t even exist.”
“Why would I laugh at that?”
“Because as soon as you grabbed me, I wasn’t scared anymore.” She hadn’t even thought about it at the time. But it was true. As soon as she’d felt Arlo’s touch, some deep part of her had known she was safe. “I wasn’t scared of drowning. I wasn’t scared I’d gone mad and started seeing things. I wasn’t even scared to harangue you until you let me go with you!”
“I didn’t need much haranguing,” Arlo pointed out.
“I didn’t think there could be any reason you’d let me come with you. And I desperately wanted to. I wanted it more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.” She swallowed. “That scared me. Wanting something that much.”
Wanting something, and knowing that wanting something with that much of my being is a surefire way to make sure the universe never gives it to me.
“And now?”
Jacqueline stood on her tiptoes until she could kiss him. “Now I know why I want to stick around so badly.”
We’re meant to be together. Soulmates.
He’s been here all this time. Waiting for me.
She blinked. Her eyelashes were still wet, and she tried to draw back enough to wipe her eyes, but Arlo held her close.
“If you’re staying, then I’m not letting go of you just yet.”
Jacqueline dropped down off her tiptoes and laughed into his shirt. “Fine. Have it your way.”
She let herself melt against him, every curve of her body contouring to his muscular form. Arlo groaned deep in his throat.
“What happens next?” Jacqueline asked. “I mean, I can feel what you want to happen next…”
Arlo swore under his breath and maneuvered his lower half away from her. Jacqueline laughed and pressed herself up close to him again.
“I don’t know,” Arlo said, sounding honestly baffled. “I didn’t think this would go so easy.”
“With a human?”
“With anyone.” Arlo’s voice was rueful. “My life’s been one wrong turn after another. Hideaway Cove was the first good decision I made, and part of me thought that was it, I’d used up my quota. But you… you’re more than I ever dreamed of.”