The first thing Lo noticed when she opened the door to her villa, was that it was a lot more crowded than when she left.
Julia and Nadia sat on the canvas covered sofa in the main living space. Scotch was in the kitchen, paused in mid-gulp of orange juice. Steve was pacing the length of the hallway between bedrooms two and three. And Brady was on his phone with one hand braced on his hip.
The second thing she noticed was every eye in the villa was on her.
“And where the hell have you been?” Steve asked, charging towards her. He stopped short when he saw her bloody foot. “Why are you bleeding?”
“She's back. Call off the dogs.” Brady ended his call.
Scotch finished his orange juice. Nadia left the sofa and crouched down in front of Lo.
“I went swimming...” Lo tried to explain, her eyes bouncing from set to set.
Soft hands grasped her calf and lifted her foot off the floor.
“Personal bubble kind of being invaded.” Lo chuckled.
“This looks like a coral abrasion.” Nadia's tawny gaze swept up to Lo. “I have a kit. I'll get it and clean you up.” She let go of Lo and darted outside.
Brady's hands grasped her waist and lifted her into the air and plopped her ingloriously on the kitchen counter. Her hands braced on his shoulders and she pushed him to get his attention.
“Don't really feel like being put on display, Samson.”
Brady's lips twitched and the anxious cloud in his eyes cleared further. “I woke up and you were gone.”
Lo wanted to point out how ridiculous it was for him to worry, but stopped herself. Maybe it wasn't ridiculous. Had she been as clear with him about her own intentions as he had been with her?
She curled her hands around his neck and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I didn't mean to make you worry.”
He held her eyes and his crinkled on the sides in the way she loved. The way she was becoming accustomed to and could confidently identify as gratitude.
“That's really bleeding,” Julia spoke up, having joined the gawking in the kitchen. “You should shower before Nadia gets back with her kit.”
Lo wanted to reply with something snarky and out of character. She didn't know what it was about the beautiful photographer's presence that fueled every insecurity she'd ever acquired. It probably had nothing to do with Julia at all and everything to do with having watched her father jump from woman to woman, each one more beautiful than the last. A habit Miller shared with him. The flirting, the ego, the charm.
Lo's jealousy wasn't Julia's fault. Or Brady's. It was something she was going to have to consciously restrain, because the temptation to indulge the ugly emotion was alarmingly high.
Thankfully, Scotch filled what would have otherwise been an uncomfortable pause while Lo wrestled her internal diva demon back into submission.
“That's a good idea. Nadia has cleaned a good many of my reef tattoos. She's a pro. But she'll get pissed as hell if you shower after she gets the bandages in place.”
Brady's gaze traveled over Lo's face, reading her, knowing her. He smiled right before he pressed a short kiss on her lips and lifted her back to the floor.
“I guess I'm gonna shower.” Lo rolled her eyes. Brady swatted at her butt as she trudged away.
It was unfortunate so many people had been present when she'd arrived. It was also a small blessing because she didn't have a first aid kit to properly clean her scrape and she would've had to go find the resort medic.
She'd find time to talk to Brady later. Without an audience.
Brady
“I told you you were overreacting.”
Brady lifted his eyes. Scotch arched an eyebrow and shrugged.
It was true. Scotch had told him he was overreacting. But Scotch thought everyone was overreacting all the time. The guy was a Marine. His baseline existed in a realm of What The Hell that Brady had never experienced. The rest of the world must be incredibly dull to him most days.
When Brady had woken up without Lo, he'd started calling around to find her. Julia, Nadia and Scotch all came over. Brady had been on the phone with the beach patrol when she'd walked through the door. Steve had been two seconds away from pounding down Miller's door.
Because that was where the real threat existed in Brady's mind. Miller had made it clear he wasn't going to stop. The fact left a sour taste in Brady's mouth.
But Lo was back, injured slightly, but otherwise fine. He could live with that.
“A woman like that,” Scotch continued. “The way she looks at you... You don't have anything to be worried about.”
Brady sat back a little stunned. The only worry he'd vocalized was Miller being a jackhole, he hadn't talked about his deeper fear. The one that sounded like panic and looked like rejection.
And anyway, when did Scotch suddenly become all knowing in the ways of how a woman looks at a man? He sure was missing Nadia's moon eyes.
Or was he?
“I don't get you,” Brady declared, deciding that an answer to Scotch didn't need to be found at the moment.
Scotch tipped his head back and laughed.
A female sighed at the front door as it closed.
Nadia had returned with the first aid kit.
Lo emerged from the bathroom in a long sleeved white shirt that hung off one shoulder and short jean shorts. The same thing she'd worn on their first night in Nicaragua.
It felt like ages ago instead of a few weeks.
Knowing Lo had become second nature to him. Thinking about life before her felt like a foggy description given by a stranger. This was his real life. Now. Finally.
He never wanted to go back to the foggy unknown.
She hopped up on the counter and Nadia went to work cleaning the scrape of any debris. Brady didn't pay any mind to what Nadia was doing, he couldn't take his eyes off Lo. Because she couldn't take her eyes off him.
Something was different.
A subtle shift had taken place when he wasn't looking.
Her lips curved up on the corners ever so slightly. A vulnerable peace passed between them. A gift from her he would need explained, but was more than eager to accept.
“All done.” Nadia patted Lo's leg and stood back up. “I have some waterproof plaster spray I can apply tomorrow if you plan on riding.”
Lo had been inspecting her bandages and her head jerked up. “I never considered this would cause me to miss it.”
Nadia grinned. “I didn't think so. I'll come early in the morning and prep you for the big day.”
“Tomorrow, huh?” Lo asked. She hopped off the counter, mindful of her foot.
“It's looking like a huge lineup,” Scotch said, scrolling through his phone. “People started to arrive in droves last night and it's supposed to continue all day today.”
“We should get out there today and take a few runs at it,” Steve said. “I know I'd like to see how the wave breaks on the reef. How the low the tide gets. Things like that.”
Lo nodded, agreeing with him. Which shouldn't have surprised Brady as much as it did. Steve and Lo had been traveling together for a little while now and it was only natural for them to have formed a team of their own. Actually, now that he thought about it, it was nice to know he didn't have to win Steve over for his girlfriend. Steve could be a hard sell.
“We have a boat lined up,” Julia said, having been a lot more quiet than her usual outspoken self. “A couple of wave runners ready to go. I wanted to get some shots today. Scope out the best angles...” Her voice trailed off and she rolled her lips inward.
Weird.
“Let's hit it.” Steve clapped his hands together.
The group moved to gather their equipment, change clothes, finish their coffee. Brady moved to Lo. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to his front. She grinned and he couldn't resist kissing it off her.
“Looks like I'll be confined to the boat,” she said with a sad sigh.
“You could have Nadia spray it now,” he suggested.
A look of hesitation swam through her eyes. “Nah. I haven't really had time to tell you what else happened this morning.” She tilted her head to the side and dropped her voice. “A lot of people here.”
He turned their bodies so his back blocked the rest of the room and he could focus on her. “What happened?”
She swallowed and bit into the side of her bottom lip. “I went swimming, had some thoughts.”
“Thoughts?” He arched an eyebrow.
She smiled slyly. “I'll tell you all about that part later. But I cut my foot on the coral when I spotted a tiger shark. He was... close.” Her eyes widened on the last word. “We had full-on eye contact. I could have reached out and touched him.”
Brady's grip on her waist tightened and he found himself folding her into his arms, pressing her against his chest. Needing to feel her heat, her softness, verify she was here and safe and whole.
“It's okay,” Lo said gently, patting his shoulders. “I'm okay. He swam away without incident.”
He took a deep breath, the unexpected shock of her news leaving at a slower pace than it had gripped him. She was right. She was fine.
“So I think I'm okay with being in the boat today.” She grinned at him, attempting to calm his nerves by acting like it was all cool. “As long as I don't have to talk to Miller again today,” she added.
His arms flexed around her. “Again?”
She rolled her eyes. “He stopped me on my way back here. I don't even know what to say about that guy anymore.” She shook her head, disappointment showing up in tight lines around her mouth. “He's not horrible... but then sometimes he blows right past horrible and sets up camp in the worst.”
“What did he say to you?” Brady tried to keep the fury out of his voice but his limbs vibrated with the desire to punch Miller in the face again. And again and again and again.
“Nothing of significance. The ridiculous assertion that he and I could get back together spiraled quickly into accusing me of being a sycophant of sorts with zero skill.” She shrugged. “I'm paraphrasing, not quoting.”
“Do you want me to hit him? Because I can totally hit him.”
Lo's smile was blinding. “No. I don't think that's a good idea. Eventually he'll go away.”
“And if he doesn't?”
Her face sobered and her eyes lost focus on the center of his chest. “He will.”
Brady didn't like Miller's fixation on Lo. Maybe it was normal for exes. Shane had an issue with one of his exes going stalker on him. But Harmony was a true whack job and ended up going to jail for corporate espionage or some shit. Would Miller try something in the same vein of crazy?
“Do me a favor?” he asked.
“Anything.”
Her response and the corresponding trusting smile she gave him told him everything he needed to know. He held onto the moment. This was one of those fixed points of time that settled into your bones and marked a significant turning point.
The rebellion and wild in her eyes still shone forth, but she wasn't pushing away from him. She was taking him with her.
“Stick close to one of us until we get home?”
Her face gentled, a new softness in her smile held him captive. “Of course.” She rolled up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. Also soft, also captivating.
Brady didn't know how big waves were named. It seemed to have a lot to do with the location and who found it first. If that were the case, then he knew without a doubt he had discovered the wildest and most untamed wave ever. Her name was Halo. She broke over a reef of mystery. Exploring her meant losing his balance on a regular basis. But he'd found no greater rush than the drop in on her unbroken beauty.
Julia
Julia had always prided herself on being a woman with very few insecurities. She knew who she was and she'd come to terms with her flaws in her youth, putting her ahead of her peers in emotional growth and development by years.
But there was something about the nature of Halo Fredericks that caught her off guard. She'd witnessed the young woman from a distance do incredible feats on waves most people wouldn't even get near. She had figured Lo was an adrenaline chaser. Not irregular for the people Julia took photos of to pay her rent.
But she'd been wrong.
Julia didn't exclusively photograph athletes or extreme sport enthusiasts. She liked to think of herself as a photo taker of all things beautiful. Backpacking though unmapped forests and mountain ranges to catch a glimpse of mysterious big cats or shy timber wolves was also in her wheelhouse. Those animals, the ones who suspected they were being watched, had a particular look in their eyes.
Curiosity and suspicion. Untamed hearts, unrepentant in their freedom.
She saw it briefly the night before when they'd been introduced in the middle of the night due to Miller's drunken tantrum. A glimpse at the woman beneath the shell. Wild and warm and alive.
When she'd returned that morning and found her place full of people, her response was not unlike a she-wolf coming back to her den and finding the scent of unwelcome guests.
It was the first time in Julia's recent memory she could remember feeling shame.
She'd been wrong about her summations. She had worried Lo might not be worthy of Brady. But seeing her up close, watching how she moved. The distrust so evident in her eyes as she held Julia's stare. And the choice to observe and absorb rather than attack.
It unnerved Julia in the best way.
The rest of the day had been filled with Brady and Steve catching big barrels while Nadia and Scotch pulled them out and back around to try again. Julia took several photos of the pristine waves and the athletic performances of both men. But her camera roll was more than half filled with pictures of Lo.
Julia couldn't help it. Her instinct for excellent subject matter had been the driving force of her career and had never let her down. She learned to trust her gut and it never failed. Not when it came to pictures.
Over and over again, Lo ended up in the viewfinder. Her dark hair blowing in the South Pacific wind, creating the darkest and most exotic halo with unusually pale eyes glowing in the center. Eyes that saw more, understood more, loved more, than other eyes of the same age.
Julia found herself behaving the same as she would in the mountains. Cautious, unobtrusive, observational.
To win the trust of a wild thing was a dream she'd long kept secret.
She was rewarded for her efforts.
By day's end, she was confident she could call Lo a friend.
Lo
That night, after all the equipment had been cleaned up and prepped for the morning; after dinner and the shared glories of the day and of the past; after the laughter and the new friendships being forged; Brady and Lo returned to their room where she took careful time to hold him. Trying to show him what he meant to her with her heart and her closeness.
They lay in the dark, Brady traced a pattern on her shoulder as she rested her ear to his chest.
“I love you,” he said, voice sleepy and content.
She smiled and closed her eyes, feeling more home than she ever had before.
“I think I could be at home with you anywhere,” she said.
“Will you go on more adventures with me?” he asked, a tense hopeful quality in his voice.
“Forever.” Her answer was as confident as her heart's cry.
What more could a heart ask for than to journey through this world with a lover? Not simply a person with whom to make love, but a soul that loved your soul. A lover whose only hesitations lie in when to catch their breath.
“I want you to know I won't let you down.”
And here was one more remarkable thing about Brady Samson. He took responsibility for even the smallest of things, like her heart. He wanted it? He had it. He had her.
His breathing evened out as he fell into a deep sleep.
But Lo had more on her mind before she could rest. She slipped from his hold, found the laptop case against the closet door. She sat on the floor in the corner of the room where she could see Brady sleeping in the South Pacific moonlight.
Turning the screen brightness down, she logged onto the internet and wrote her thoughts. For the first time, she was unafraid to share her heart with the world. It poured out of her, a dam of hesitation broken and releasing every hope she'd tried to keep stored away.
Because Brady was worth every risk.
She scheduled it to post at the end of the next day. Closing the laptop, she smiled, a new lightness in her chest. She climbed back into the covers with Brady and he immediately wrapped his arms around her. Soon after, she found sleep.
The peaceful, hopeful, safe at home kind of rest.