The Perfect Storm by Elana Johnson

Author:Elana Johnson [Johnson, Elana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works

Chapter 9

Eden was just starting to fall asleep when Holden asked, “What are you doing?”

She’d have to be deaf not to hear the growly undertone in his voice. “Sleeping.”

“I’m confused. I told you I still had feelings for you, and you shut me down. Fast,” he said, his breath wafting over her shoulder. “And now you’re all cuddled into me.”

Eden straightened, but she was immediately cold. The higher elevations in Hawaii could be chilly, and they were at the highest one on the island of Getaway Bay.

“I just thought….” Her voice trailed off, and she searched his face in the gathering darkness. He had a tremendous ability to hide how he felt until it exploded out of him, and right now, he wore a stoic mask.

“What did you think, Eden?” He remained very still, and Eden wasn’t entirely sure what she was thinking.

I still feel intensely about you, Eden.

The words in his husky voice hadn’t left her mind since he’d said them.

“Look, it’s just cold up here, and I was hoping we could share the heat source.” She looked pointedly at him. “That’s you, by the way. You never get cold.”

A lazy smile crossed his face, and Eden really liked it. Felt one stretching her lips too.

No, she commanded herself. Just because she was attracted to him didn’t mean they could have a relationship. She’d been kicking herself for kissing his cheek that morning for the entire day.

“Tell me why you think my feelings for you would change just because we get back to town.”

Eden blinked at him. “You haven’t been interested for five years, Holden. Five years. And I’m supposed to believe that just because we get stuck together for a few days, you’re magically interested in me again?”

Holden gazed evenly back at her. “Yes.”

Eden opened her mouth to argue and found she had none. “I—”

“Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps I’m embarrassed about how things ended between us last time?”

Eden didn’t know surprise could layer on top of itself the way it was. “Things ended fine, Holden,” she said. “I don’t hold any grudges against you.”

“That’s obviously not true.”

A gust of wind blasted right into their makeshift shelter, and Eden shivered. Holden lifted his arm, and she hesitated for only a moment before slipping back into his embrace. He really was a human heater, and she sighed as her body absorbed the warmth from his.

“I really don’t feel badly about how we ended.” It was much easier to talk to him when she didn’t have to look into those dark as night eyes. And she didn’t harbor ill feelings toward him for how they’d ended, only that they’d ended at all.

“Well, I do,” he said. “And I’d really like to take you to dinner when we get back to town. No fruit. Nothing with mango or banana, I promise.”

She laughed quietly, and Holden did too, a delicious secret between them now.

“What do you think?” he asked.

Eden thought she’d get her heart filleted again. “I think dinner would be nice.

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