We work as a team, Melia bouncing between us as we work to uncover furniture and get the air working. It’s not overly hot, but with the windows closed up the last two months, there’s a slight stagnant smell.

Wow. It’s been only two months since we kissed. Two months of feelings and love and fear of what all of it means.

I stand in the bedroom, my fingers just brushing against the comforter as I walk to the sliding glass door that looks out at the ocean. When I move the heavy curtains to the side, the light filters in, showing tiny flecks of dust in the air. All of it orbiting around me, small pieces, but once the dust settles, what then?

Will it get swept away and forgotten or become a piece of something greater?

I feel Grayson’s presence before I hear him. Then his hands settle on my shoulders.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m in love with you,” I say, not turning to him.

“And that’s a problem?” There’s a slight laughter in his voice.

Fragments of me are his. Parts that I will never get back, and I worry what it all means. “I don’t want to leave you, Grayson.”

He wraps his arms around my middle, holding me against his strong chest. “Then don’t,” he says. “Stay.”

I tilt my head back and sink into his embrace. “Okay.”

Because right now, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with him and Amelia.

“I want to tell her about us,” Grayson says while we’re cuddled up in my bed. Amelia went to sleep about three hours ago, and Grayson will soon leave to sleep alone in his twin-sized bunk bed.

“Tell who?”

“Amelia.”

I sit up straight. “Tell her what?”

“That we’re dating. It’ll make it a lot easier for us to be around each other.”

I chew on my lower lip, not sure how I feel about this. Not that I don’t want her to know, but after what she said earlier, she might assume certain things.

“It might not go as well as you hope.”

“She adores you, Jess.”

“Yes, as her daddy’s old friend. It’s different if she thinks I’m something more.”

He tugs my arm, pulling me so I’m lying on top of him. “We don’t have to do it now.”

“I just, I want us to be sure when we tell her. Amelia is sweet and special, I’d like for her to be happy when we break it to her.”

Grayson’s fingers slide through my hair, pushing it back behind my ears. “How about we give it a week or two? Let’s get through this trip and then back home so she can see us together.”

I give him a quick kiss. “I think that’s a good plan.”