I closed my eyes and tipped my head toward the sun, breathing in the smell of salt water and listening to the sounds of the marina.
Laughter floated toward me, and I opened my eyes to see a large yacht entering the marina. It came to rest at the dock a few rows down. I watched as three men disembarked, tied it off, and strode toward the parking lot.
Still, no sign of Adrik.
How long had I been here now? A half hour? More?
I still had more docks to search, but I wasn’t sure if my legs were up to it today.
Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea.
What if Adrik had taken his boat out on the water? What if he wasn’t here?
A sudden movement near the parking lot caught my eye.
A tall, well-built man with dark hair was striding down the docks, heading toward the third row. Dressed in jeans and a plain gray T-shirt, he halted suddenly, as if he’d sensed me watching him. He slowly turned his head.
My heart thudded.
Adrik.
It was him!
He looked…different, yet the same.
Our gazes clashed.
And suddenly, he changed direction, turning toward me, and broke into a sprint.
My heart slammed into my ribs.It’s him! It’s him!
I pushed to my feet. I’d vowed I would walk into his arms, and I was determined to do so. Begging my leg to cooperate and not give out on me at this important moment, I took a step toward him.
He halted, his eyes widening, and waited for me to come to him. Somehow, he justknewI needed to do this.
Another step. And another. And one more.
And then I reached him.
He stared down at me, pride in his beautiful obsidian eyes. “You’re walking.”
I smiled, staring up at him, my gaze roaming over his features. “Barely. I vowed the next time I saw you I would walk into your arms.” I paused. “You had the surgery.” His bulging eye had been fixed so that it was now in perfect alignment with his other eye. His deformed nose had been repaired and shaped so that it was now straight and fit well with the rest of his features. The long scar down the side of his face had been smoothed out so it was now barely visible. The bald patches on his scalp were gone and he now boasted a full head of thick dark hair, but he’d had his hair cut shorter so now his face was easily visible and not hidden behind his hair. And his forked upper lip had been sewn together with only a faint scar marking the joining of flesh.
Adrik looked like himself, but a better, prettier, smoothed-out version without the scars and deformities.
He was so handsome my breath caught.
Lifting a hand, I cupped his jaw. “You’re beautiful, Adrik.”
He snorted, shaking his head. “I don’t know about that, but I vowed the next time I saw you, I would kiss you the way I’d always dreamed about, so Ihadto get the surgery.”
We smiled, staring at each other.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked breathlessly.
“For you to walk into my arms.”
I laughed. That was right. I was standing before him, but I hadn’t walked into his arms yet.