His Paradise

When he reaches the porch he slides me down his body and puts me on my feet. I wrap my arms around his neck, not wanting him to let me go. Maybe I should be looking at this differently. One door is closing and another is opening. In fact, I keep thinking I’ll lose everything from my family if this place is taken from me, but maybe I’ll be starting another one with Liam.

I know it sounds crazy. We’ve only known each other a short time, but this feels right and I know he’s feeling it, too. With time we’ll get to know each other better, but I know he’s it for me and I’m not letting him go.

“Did you really mean that you wanted me to move in with you?”

“I want you with me at all times.” He leans down and kisses me. I love how he can’t keep his lips off mine.

It’s slow and lazy, like we don’t have to decide anything right away. It’s like we have all the time in the world. I actually feel pressure rising off of me and making me feel lighter. He swooped in and took away all my worries.

“I just want to make sure you weren’t asking because you overheard Sammy and me today,” I admit.

I don’t want him to feel guilty and I don’t want a handout. I want him to ask because he can’t stand the thought of being without me. Because that’s what I’m starting to feel, too. He has a life somewhere else, so how could I ask him to stay? The Mermaid isn’t going to be here for much longer. It will break my heart to lose it, but I think Liam will have no problem putting me back together.

“I asked you because this can’t end. I think we both feel what’s happening. What we have is nothing like I’ve ever felt, and I don’t want to let you go.” I smile up at him. Hearing that is going to make selling this place so much easier.

“Okay. I’ll come with you. I mean, I have things to settle here and I need to make sure Peter will be okay, but I’ll come with you. If you promise we’ll visit here as much as we can.”

He stares at me for a moment and his face is unreadable.

“Hey, Nikki, you got a call.” I glance in through the front doors and see Peter sitting behind the front desk holding the phone up for me. I let my hands drop from around Liam and smile up at him.

“Give me a second,” I tell Liam and walk into the lobby.

Liam follows me and watches as I take the phone from Peter.

“Thought you might want to take it. It’s the mayor,” Peter tells me.

I glance over at Liam, whose eyes widen in surprise, reminding me he was talking to the mayor today.

“Hey, Mark,” I say, putting the phone to my ear.

“Nikki, I meant to stop by your tent today, but I got held up. I wanted to see about meeting up tomorrow to talk about the Mermaid. I’ve been made aware of a few things and I want to get this all straightened out.” I hear a shuffling of papers before he continues. “We know the place is going under and I’m sorry about that, I really am, but, well, you know what the Luxury Resort does for this island. No need to smack the hand the feeds us all around here. In time it will come to happen anyway.”

“Yeah,” I agree, because what else is there to say? I don’t really want to get into it with the mayor right now. Plus, I’ve already decided to sell. “Come by tomorrow around noon if you like and we’ll talk.”

“See you then.” With that, we both hang up.

Peter and Liam are watching me, and they look worried. I reach out and grab Peter’s hand. “I don’t want you to worry about anything, I’m going to sell the Mermaid. I promise that you’ll always have a place to stay and we’re getting you into college.”

“It’s okay, Nikki,” he says and pulls me into a hug. “I don’t want you to worry about me. I’ll figure it out. I’ve kinda known this was coming. I mean, I run the desk. I check some of the emails, too.”

Liam cuts in before I can. “We’re all going to figure this out. Look—”

“Mr. Armstrong! You’ve had us all so worried,” a woman cries from the entryway.

We all turn to look see a woman in a suit that’s way too hot for this weather. Her black hair is pinned up in a tight bun and there’s not a hair out of place. She looks like she belongs in a boardroom and not standing in the lobby of the Mermaid. That’s when I look behind her and see Sheriff Cyrus coming up the steps, too.