Cody took her face in his hands. “Focus on me.”

Well, if you insist.

“Have you ever had a panic attack before?”

Louisa shook her head.

“Okay, you’re not dying. You’re fine. I’m going to get us back to the marina.”

He started to turn, but she clung to his arms, unable—or unwilling—to let him go.

He faced her again, kindness in his expression. “This was a bad idea. You should’ve said something.”

“I didn’t know.” Her eyes were wet with fearful tears, and she could only imagine what a disaster she seemed like to him. Her heart had kicked up again.

“Okay,” he said. “This is what we’re going to do. Tell me something you can touch.”

His T-shirt underneath her fingers was soft and worn. “Your shirt.”

“Great. Something else?”

She reached up and touched his chin. “Your skin.” It was smooth, like he’d just shaved that morning.

“Tell me something you hear.”

“Birds.” Her breath began to steady, her pulse to slow. “Seagulls.” She closed her eyes. “An airplane.” It was faint, but it was there.

“What can you smell?”

“Your aftershave.” She opened her eyes and scanned his face, which seemed neither embarrassed nor flattered that it was him she was latching on to in that moment.

“Good. Anything else?”

“Your shampoo.”

“And what do you taste?”

Her eyes fell to his lips, and she wondered if she could tell him what she wanted to taste. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

She shook her head. Her pulse and breathing had returned to normal. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he said.

“No.” She looked up. “I’m sorry, Cody.”

It might’ve been the panic of the moment that heightened every single emotion she was having. Every nerve ending in her body seemed on high alert, and there was a good chance Louisa might burst into a ball of flames simply from sitting this close to Cody. Or it might’ve been that she still, after all this time, could easily fall in love with the man who’d stolen her heart all those years ago.

He was different, of course. He was older, more jaded. He wasn’t friendly and seemed impossible to know. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to know him. She wanted to know him more than anything.

Her breath seemed short all over again, but this time for very different reasons. She glanced down and found his hands still wrapped around hers.

He shifted. Was he uncomfortable? Was this awkward?

The wind tugged strands of her hair from the elastic she’d used to tie it into a ponytail, and it caught at the corners of her mouth. He reached over and pushed it away, smoothing it back with such kindness it overwhelmed her.

Eric had never been this kind or attentive. He’d always been in a hurry.

“Are you having nightmares?” Cody asked.