Chapter Seven
254 Words
The town festival transformed Grayhaven overnight.
String lights stretched across the harbor.
Music drifted through crowded streets.
Piper forced Elena into a dark green dress that definitely qualified as unfair.
“You need romance,” Piper declared.
“I need financial stability.”
“You can have both.”
Elena remained unconvinced.
Until Rowan saw her.
He stopped walking entirely.
The expression on his face sent heat spiraling through her.
“Well,” Piper whispered smugly, “that answered itself.”
Rowan approached slowly.
“You look…”
“Terrible?” Elena offered.
“Dangerous.”
Her breath caught.
The festival blurred around them.
Music.
Laughter.
Lights.
None of it mattered.
Only Rowan.
He held out his hand.
“Dance with me.”
Elena hesitated exactly half a second.
Then she let him pull her into the crowd.
His hand settled against her waist.
Warm.
Steady.
Intimate.
They moved slowly beneath the lights while ocean waves crashed softly nearby.
“I used to think about this,” Rowan admitted quietly.
Elena looked up.
“What?”
“You. Coming home.”
Her chest tightened.
“Rowan…”
“I tried not to.”
The honesty in his voice nearly undid her.
And when he leaned down and kissed her beneath the festival lights, Elena kissed him back without hesitation.
Without fear.
Without pretending she didn’t want this.
The crowd disappeared.
The years disappeared.
There was only Rowan.
Only the impossible feeling of finally finding her way back to something she thought she’d lost forever.
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