She woke up to salt air and soft birdsong. The car had stopped sometime while she’d drifted in and out of dreams, lulled by the hum of tires on asphalt and Damien’s warm hand around hers. Now she stretched beneath a thick blanket in the backseat, sunlight washing her face in pale gold.
He was outside the car, talking to someone who must have been the caretaker of the house they’d rented. She caught glimpses of a low wooden fence, wild lavender spilling over it, and the glint of the ocean beyond.
She pushed the door open, stepping onto the driveway barefoot, her heels abandoned in the car. Damien turned at the sound, and his grin broke through the last haze of exhaustion.
“You’re supposed to stay asleep.”
“I’m too curious,” she said, scrubbing a hand through her sleep-tangled hair. “Sho
