Page 409 of Seasons of Love
I laughed. “Great, meet us out front.”
When I looked over at Mal, I saw he was on his phone, so instead of getting back to him, I went to Mason’s office to get the key to his car.
Mal looked lost by the time I got back to him. His eyes scanned the room as if he were looking at everything for the first time, and I could see panic settling over him.
“Hey,” I said, placing my hand on his elbow to get his attention.
“Did you find Mason? I spoke to the fire department chief, and he said they’d be able to fly us out at the break of dawn.”
“Okay, that gives us a few hours of waiting. We have Mason’s car, so we can wait here, or we can head over there. There’s a diner next to the fire department that’s always open.”
Mal nodded.
I ran my hand over my hair and scratched my day-old scruff.
“What’s up?” Mal asked.
Jeez, was he a mind reader?
Or maybe he could just read my mind because it seemed that, around Mal, I was totally see-through.
“Trey was keen on knowing more about our emergency procedures, so I invited him to come over to the island to help us out. I’m sorry. I know I should have asked first, but I just figured that before you get to the resort, you’ll want to make sure Griff is okay. And I want to check in on Uncle Frank and Gabe too. Trey could go to the resort and meet Hailey and—”
Mal stopped my ramble by placing his hand on the back of my neck. It was warm and settled me like nothing else could.
His dark-blue eyes met mine, and he smiled.
“Thank you, Jake. I know I should be in control and know what to do, but honestly, I feel like a hole has opened under my feet and is dragging me down. You’re so young, and here you are, thinking on your feet, preemptively knowing what we might find when we get to the island, and taking the initiative.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I did the only thing I could. I took a step forward and hugged him.
This wasn’t like the kiss. Mal didn’t let go of me straight away. If anything, I could swear his arms tightened around me.
Mal still smelled of the shower he’d had earlier. No aftershave. Just soap and Mal.
My dick would have gotten hard, but it didn’t because my heart was taking over.
Not that it would take much for that to happen with Mal pressing against me like this, but all of my blood was pumping around my heart, making it beat extra hard.
Could Mal feel it? If he could, he said nothing. He just held me, with one arm around my back and the other hand still on my neck, keeping me close.
I forced myself to step back, but I couldn’t look him in the eye for fear of what he might see.
“Let’s head out front. Trey is meeting us there.”
Mal took his bag from the floor and said, “Let’s go.”
As I’d hoped, there were no additional tremors. By all means, this had been quite a non-event as far as earthquakes in California go.
It still didn’t mean there was any less urgency to get to the island, and the longer we waited, the more anxious Mal became.
Not that you could tell. We’d sat in the diner across the fire station waiting for the sun to rise, and throughout all that time, Mal had been a chatterbox.
By the time we got the go-ahead to leave, Trey had been briefed on the layout of the resort, who was in charge, and where everything was.
Trey made notes as they discussed a plan based on the eventuality that we just needed to reassure people that everything was okay and get them back to normal, or in the case of any casualties or damages.
The calm, collected Mal was focused on doing the right thing for everyone. But I could see beyond the plans.
