Which meant he needed to know just how scarred she was from her broken engagement because after two days with her, everything he’d loved about her was amplified. He was right back to wanting her, but struggling with giving her the time she needed to heal. It was just that the way she looked at him sometimes, like she wanted to jump him, he knew he couldn’t hold out for very long. Not when he’d been missing her touch for years. Had cursed his parents for depriving him of the life full of laughter he could have been having with Molly all these years.
He and the deck crew member anchored the boat in open water just off the port back in Miami, and he pushed his parents to the back of his mind, reminding himself that he was on the water and life was fantastic again. When his work was done, he found Molly in the sky lounge, faint smudges of black oil on her fingers, just like he remembered from their early yacht days. She was at the bow’s railing with a beer in her hand watching the sun set over Miami, the hazy pinks and yellows peeking out behind the tall buildings and waving palm trees.
“I missed this,” she said when he approached.
He nodded. “We’ll have countless nights watching the sunset now.”
She smiled at him, the last rays of daylight painting her pale skin golden. “The sunset is lovely, but I mostly meant doing nothing. I’ve done more nothing in the past two days than in the past year. I didn’t realize just how hard I was working, I guess.”
“Um,” Oliver said, picking up her hand to expose the grease and the blister she’d gotten fixing a rogue stove-top burner, “you’ve been working pretty damn hard on this boat.”
“Not compared to real life, though.”
This seemed like a good opportunity to gently ferret out what had happened with her breakup, but he had to play it just right so she didn’t clam up. Molly wasn’t exactly an “open up and share her feelings” sort of person. “You were working a lot?”
She nodded. “We were up against a deadline for the government, so it happens. You get busy.”
“I’ve been there for sure, except you actually like your job so it’s a little different.”
“I’m glad you’re doing this now,” she said, her gaze meeting his. “Sometimes your texts seemed sad.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, well, I probably was sad.” He thought back to all the times he’d had to go to an opening of something no one cared about, to support his family’s investments, to constantly push and wheedle and stay on top. He was so glad it was over.
“So yachts will make you happy?” Molly turned and met his eyes, her expression so engaged that it caught him in the chest. Had anyone ever been interested in what he had to say? He couldn’t remember a single person in his life who’d ever asked him what would make him happy.
He shook his head, trying to keep things light. “No, building something of my own will. Being my own boss, not living off my name. All of that.”
She smiled and then her hand landed on his shoulder, his spine stiffening as his body flared to life under her soft touch. “I’m excited for you. I always knew you’d do something great.”
The regret in her voice, he heard, because it was the way he’d felt, too. He hadn’t wanted to break up after that last summer, had yachted far longer than his parents wanted him to, but there hadn’t been another choice. She hadn’t been able to pass up an amazing opportunity and his life hadn’t been his own, something he was currently trying to rectify. But it gave him hope that she regretted their breakup just as much as he did.
“You, too,” he told her. “And I’m not too proud to admit that I should have followed you to Colorado, Molly. I regret it more than anything.” He left out that even now she was in danger of his parents finding out about her. Even if he was ready now to fight in a way he hadn’t been able to when he was younger. If they wanted to be together now, nothing would stand in their way.
Molly’s shoulders raised. “I didn’t blame you for going back to New York. We never made promises to each other. I’d only planned on doing a summer of yachting and then finding a real job, but then you came along and...” She shrugged her shoulders again. “Things happened.”
“So you’re saying I didn’t break your heart?” Oliver teased. His own had been in shreds, leaving him cursing his parents, his life, his name, the job he’d been forced to take, everything. And maybe out of spite he’d had shitty times with all the women they tried to set him up with. Until he’d announced that he was leaving the firm, him not being married was the biggest point of contention with his parents. The people who, under no circumstances, should still be married since they absolutely could not stand each other and hadn’t uttered a kind word to each other since Oliver was born.
Nonetheless, the number of gorgeous and successful women they’d thrown in his path had been legion. But they’d all wanted the life his parents had and he could think of nothing worse. Not when he’d experienced how good life could be with someone he truly cared for.
“Maybe cracked it,” Molly said, grinning, and he loved that he could make her smile. “But I’m an engineer. I just spackled the old girl up and she’s been as good as new.”
Oliver regarded her. “Is that what you’re doing now? Spackling?” he asked. “Or have you suffered terminal damage?”
Molly’s grin only faded a little and he was proud of her for being tough, but honest as
