I cupped his cheeks and pressed another kiss to his lips. “Tell me.”
He shook his head, then jerked his chin toward the stove. “I have to finish this.”
With another kiss, I lowered my forehead to his. “You cook. I’ll clean. Then you can tell me all about it.”
He swatted my butt, and a squeal ripped from my chest as the sharp slap burned my skin. “Get up, love. Or I’m going to end up having you as a meal instead.”
While I swept up the spilled rice from the floor, Trenton finished making our meal: draining the rice, scooping it into bowls, and topping it off with the fruits and vegetables he’d cut up. He made me take my seat at the table again, and when he turned to me with two bowls in hand, the bright smile had returned to his face.
“Ahi poke bowls,” he said as he set them on the table and took a seat at my side. “There’s mango, avocado, edamame, cucumbers, and carrots, topped off with marinated ahi tuna.”
“It looks delicious.” I pulled the bowl closer, grabbed a set of chopsticks from the table, and dug in. “Oh, my. Where’d you learn to make this?”
He swallowed down a bite before he spoke. “I met a guy in Bali years ago.” He paused to take a drink, then shifted his food around in his bowl with his chopsticks. “I helped him learn to surf and he taught me how to cook a few things.”
“Do you cook often?”
“Not really. I don’t really have a home base. Haven’t since I left home as a teen.” The words came out almost like a warning, and goosebumps rose along my arms and the back of my neck. He tore his gaze from mine, turning his attention to his food once more.
Something in me wanted to reach out to him. To hold him, soothe him, take away all his worries and pain. I’d lived in my own torment long enough to recognize suffering when I saw it.
I lifted my hand from my lap and let it settle upon his arm. He stilled, his muscles stiff beneath my palm. But I let him stew in silence. I didn’t know enough about his situation to do anything but give him my quiet support.
After a moment, he continued his meal, lifting his chopsticks to his lips. I removed my hand, but settled it on his thigh before continuing to eat.
“What brought you to Seaside?” he asked after a couple more bites.
For a moment, I froze up. That torment I’d lived with was never far from my mind, and the truth of my situation was something I wasn’t sure I should share. The abuse I’d suffered at the hands of my family and ex-boyfriends. Being saved by Kosta, physically and mentally, and living with a family more dangerous than any I’d ever known.
I lifted my shoulders as if I could shrug off my past.
“A friend of mine died,” I started, though my throat threatened to close up. I reached for my glass of water, sucking down a fortifying drink before I continued. “It was an odd situation, and I was forced to relocate.”
I shifted my gaze toward him. He was watching me cautiously, the way I’d watched him when he’d spoken of Bali.
“One of the girls I was friends with moved out here to Seattle, so I decided to follow.”
Trenton’s brow rose, and he turned slightly in his chair. “You’re a ways from Seattle.”
Nodding, I swallowed the bite of food in my mouth. “She moved in with an old friend, and when I got here, I never felt like I belonged. It was more like, something was calling me to hop in my car and drive down the coast.”
A chuckle filled the air. “And you stopped in Seaside? There’s a whole lot more coast to see.”
“Well…” I jabbed at a grain of rice in my bowl. “I only stopped to get gas. But then my tire went flat and my car wouldn’t start.” Amusement danced in Trenton’s eyes, and I rushed on, trying to explain, “The man who runs the service station I stopped at is the owner of this house. He and his wife took me in for the night, and they offered me the cottage if I wanted to stay. I hadn’t planned on it, but then I stopped in at Whitman’s the next morning to grab a quick breakfast. They had a help wanted sign on the door and they were absolutely swamped. I guess I felt bad?”
Trenton dropped his chopsticks, and his hand settled on my thigh. “You felt bad that they were busy, so you decided to stay put?”
I shrugged again as I searched for the words to explain what I’d felt.
“I couldn’t leave them.” It came out not much more than a whisper. “I felt this pull to the place. I felt like not staying would mean leaving a piece of me behind.”
His lips twitched, and his eyes sparkled. “That’s exactly how I felt, love. Exactly what drew me there yesterday morning.” He scooped up my hands in his, and turned his whole body until we were facing. “Then I saw you.”
My heart fluttered in my chest, and thoughts of our meal drifted away as Trenton kissed me until I was gasping for breath.
“Let’s clean this mess up, shall we?”
Nodding, I grabbed my bowl and chopsticks. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
Once the kitchen was spotless, I tossed blankets and pillows onto the floor in front of the fireplace while Trenton started a fire. We lay next to each other, talking occasionally between our long, drawn-out kisses. Our hands roved over each other’s bodies, our mouths nipped and licked at each other’s skin. And I found contentment wrapped up in his arms.
“I have to go soon, love,” Trenton whispered against my forehead, his arms wound tight around me, our legs intertwined. The bare skin on his back was almost cool in comparison to my fire-heated flesh. “I don’t want to, but I have obligations I can’t ignore.”
I lifted my chin and caught sight of his sparkling eyes. “Where will you go?”
“Hawaii.” He grimaced when he said it, then pulled me tighter in his arms. “A surfing competition. And there’s a few other things I have to do. But I won’t be gone long, I promise. I’ll be back here in your arms as soon as I can. If you’ll have me.”
The smile that crossed my lips was both hopeful and sad. “I’d like that.” I dropped a kiss to his lips. “Very, very much.”
As the night sky darkened and the moon shone through the windows and lit our skin, I got lost to this man whose presence in my life felt so right. Already, I could feel something in me changing. A settling of my bones, a contentment in my heart. A single moment away from him would make me bleed like an open wound, but knowing he’d come back was the hope that would heal me.