From This Moment On: Heartwarming Contemporary Romance (Windswept Bay Book 1)

by Debra Clopton

  Tempted to duck and crawl away, she realized if he woke that would be even more weird so she shot to her feet.

  Leave now.

  But no. Instead, she reached across him, grasped the coverlet and pulled it across him. His hand moved and covered hers. Her gaze locked onto his, but he was still sleeping. She could barely breathe, much less think, as his fingers curled around her hand and drew up to his cheek as he rolled to his side, facing away from her. The move had her twisting over him awkwardly, with her hand trapped blissfully against his cheek.

  Groaning, she closed her eyes and as easily as she could, she tugged her fingers from his and ran.

  She didn’t turn around until she was on the elevator and pushing the down button.

  Grant rolled over and rubbed his eyes as sunlight assaulted them. His head pounded. Sitting up, he looked around and for a moment, forgot where he was. Cali.

  The painting.

  He rubbed a hand down his face as bits came back in a rush. Everyone probably thought he was crazy. He was starving.

  He glanced at the clock. It was three in the afternoon. But what afternoon?

  His phone buzzed in his pocket and he reached for it. He saw Cam’s ID and answered. “Hey,” he said, his voice still gruff with sleep.

  “Are you alive?”

  “Yeah, I am. Starting to come back now.”

  “Well, that’s a good thing since you have my sister worried sick.”

  “Sorry about that. This was a tough one. But, Cam, it’s good.” He felt light, and knew he’d done right by Cali and her resort. The mural was one of his best. In the waters of that waterfall, he’d given his all. Finding Cali crying on his balcony the day he’d shown her the drawings had been like an arrow to his heart. He’d wanted to kiss her, to hold her and wipe those blasted tears away for good. But all he’d known at that moment that he could really do for her was give her the paintings she wanted so badly. And that was what he was doing.

  When he’d escorted her to his door, he’d been distracted by all the emotions she caused in him when she was near. The tears had just upped the stakes.

  “Yeah, Cali told me it was unbelievable.” Cam cut into Grant’s thoughts. “She’s worried about you, though. You’ve been asleep for more than twenty-four hours. Is that normal?”

  “No, not exactly. But since I haven’t had a good night of sleep since the plane went down and I worked nonstop on the mural, I guess it is this time. I need a shower and food. I’m sorry I worried everyone. Cali?”

  “Yeah, man. Cali has called me twice, wanting me to call you. I finally decided maybe I better. Glad to have you back in the world of the living. Hopefully in more ways than one. Get a shower. I’ll call Cali.”

  “Thanks.” She was worried about him. That was a good thing.

  He hung up and headed toward the shower. He’d dreamed Cali had tucked him in and caressed his cheek. It felt real.

  It felt right.

  “Is he alive up there?”

  Cali nibbled on the inside of her cheek and stared at Shar. “Of course he is.”

  “It’s nearly three and no one, other than you, has seen him since he handed you his paintbrush yesterday at one.”

  “I called Cam again. I am not going back to his room. He needs sleep. He was wiped out. I think it had something to do with the stress of the plane crash and the stress of not being sure he had another painting inside him. He needs sleep. He looked worn-out, even when he was sleeping.”

  Shar frowned. “Okay, but I need to go to the hospital and help. Let me know when Sleeping Beauty wakes up.”

  “I will.”

  Jillian watched their sister leave and then turned back to Cali. “I bet you’re right. Maybe he’s been sleepless and depressed, at least to some degree, since the plane crash. Maybe this helped him.”

  Cali wasn’t sure she’d classify it as depression, but it could be. He was alive and his friends were dead and the tragedy had left a toll on him that not everyone could see.

  She hoped knowing he could still paint would help him.

  Sleep had evaded her last night. Thoughts of him had kept her awake and curled up with a blanket on her porch swing.

  There was a quick knock on the door and Grant looked around the corner. “Well, I’m alive.”

  Jillian jumped up and hurried to him. “You scared us. Come in. How are you? You must be starved.”

  “I’m famished, actually, and alive. I thought I’d see if your sister would ride with me to eat somewhere.”

  Cali stood and smiled. “Hey,” she said, barely above a whisper. “You are alive.”

  “I am. Now, about that food?”

  “She’ll go.” Jillian hitched a brow at her.

  “Sure I will. Of course.” She glanced at her watch. “I only have an hour. I have a meeting with a wedding party.”

  Jillian frowned and glanced down at her jeans that were smudged with their usual dirt. “I’m not exactly dressed for a meeting like that or I’d take it over for you.”

  “I can eat a lot in an hour.”

  Cali laughed. “Okay then, so let’s go feed you, you painting machine. I just hope one of your fans don’t knock me over to get a selfie with you.”

  “It’ll be fine. I’m not that memorable when I’m not standing in front of one of my murals with a paintbrush in my hand.”

  “Yeah, tell that to coffee girl. She’d know you anywhere.”

  Turned out, Cali was right. They ended up at a beachside restaurant, eating between him taking photos with dozens of people who’d watched him paint the lobby mural.

  When they finally made it out of the patio porch she reluctantly headed back to her office. She’d enjoyed watching Grant interact with those who admired him. She admired him too, and knew that she’d be distracted for the rest of the afternoon with him on her mind.

  Grant watched her leave. He was in the deep end of the pool—he’d almost kissed her two days ago when she’d been crying on his balcony. He’d come fully awake in the shower earlier and everything had flooded back. He’d been undone by the strong emotions when he found her crying. It had broken his heart.

  She’d been crying silently, alone, and he was determined to find out why. How bad had her divorce been? Did she still care for the guy? That didn’t ring true from what little Cam had said and what she’d said so far. So why?

  Had he done something to her? The picture of her had triggered something…why?

  The desire to wipe the tears from her eyes and fill them with joy was overwhelming. He wanted to see that carefree woman who jumped into her Jeep that first day and tore out of the parking lot. The one who’d looked at him with a gleam of challenge in her eyes that he wasn’t even sure she’d known was there. And again, he wondered why. Was it something to do with the divorce?

  If so, he planned to find out.

  Chapter Ten

  He called her that night while he sat on the beach, watching the waves roll in. He felt edgy and alone and he just wanted to hear her voice.

  “Hey, it’s me,” he said, when she answered.

  “Hi. Is everything all right?”

  That was a loaded question he decided to sidestep. “I’m going to pick up supplies in the morning. Can you come with me? And mark some time off on your schedule?”

  She hesitated. “Of course,” she said at last. “I hope you had a good afternoon.”

  “I did. I’ll show you tomorrow. Sleep good.”

  “You too.”

  Short and sweet—that was all he trusted himself with at the moment. But he had a date.

  And hopefully by morning he’d have his head screwed on a little straighter.

  Boy, that was a joke, he thought the next morning. One look at her in her sundress and barely there flip-flops and any progress he’d made went out the window. But he had a lot to show her and he focused on that and not how pretty her legs looked in that soft yellow dress.

  He hadn’t told her last night how good an afternoon he�
�d had but it had been good.

  “Where are you going?” she asked when they reached the parking lot and she headed toward her Jeep and he went in the opposite direction.

  He grinned. “I have wheels today. I decided relying solely on the kindness of others while I was here wasn’t fitting me, so Horace took me to see his friend Charlie, who owns Charlie’s Used Cars and Rentals, and I bought a Jeep of my own.”

  “You did not.” She gasped.

  He laughed at her disbelief. “I did. And why do you look so shocked?”

  “Charlie’s is a rent-a-wreck place.”

  “Now, don’t go calling my Jeep names before you’ve seen her.”

  “Her, huh? Let me find her.” She scanned the lot and immediately stopped on the twenty-year-old, faded, light-blue Jeep with one white front fender and an unpainted patch on the rear fender. If that wasn’t enough to set it apart, it also had jacked up off-road tires that were made for exploring. A bubble of laughter spontaneously escaped Cali and she pointed. “An educated guess.”

  “Don’t laugh. She may look less than gorgeous but boy can she crawl over rock crevices. Come on, hop in.”

  “Hop being the literal term here,” Cali drawled, staring at the seat that was about chest high.

  “Do you need me to give you a lift?” He moved to stand beside her and shot her a grin. To his joy, she gave him a cute look of scorn and then grabbed the roll bar. Just before she climbed into the seat, she frowned. “Maybe you need to look the other way. I was not intending to climb Pikes Peak today in this sundress.”

  He glanced at the dress that hit her about mid-thigh. “Yup, I see what you mean. I can put you up there—”

  “I can do it. Turn, please.”

  He sighed and looked away.

  “Okay, you can hop in.”

  She sat in the passenger seat, her skirt flirting dangerously high on her thighs.

  “That was quick.” He jogged around and climbed behind the wheel. He grinned at her, feeling more uplifted than he’d been in months. And it felt good.

  As they drove along the beach road and into town, Cali felt that same sense of exhilaration sitting beside Grant that she’d felt from almost the first moment of meeting him. She loved that he’d bought such a road-worn Jeep to travel around on the island. He had the means to have bought a brand-new Jeep and then resell it for a loss if he’d been inclined to. But no, he’d bought one of Charlie’s cheap rent-a-wrecks. And the result was that he looked perfectly at home on the island now. He fit in as if he’d been here forever. He wore an old straw cowboy hat that shaded his eyes and reminded her of a country music video of Kenny Chesney riding around on an island in a topless Jeep. Like Kenny, fitting in with island life when he liked to relax, Grant seemed to do the same.

  “You seem really relaxed and happy this morning,” she said as the salty breeze kissed her skin and streamed through her hair as they rode down the narrow road.

  “I am. This island is beautiful. I’m glad I came. I did a little exploring yesterday. Getting the first painting done was a good thing.

  “How are you? We haven’t talked much really since the day you were on my balcony.”

  She didn’t want to go there right now. “I’m fine. Let’s not go there right now.”

  “You were crying.”

  And you nearly kissed me. “You captured something that touched me. That’s it. I’m a girl. Girls cry.”

  “We’re going to talk about it.” He pulled into the parking lot of the kayak rental business located beside a lagoon. It was a popular place for tourists.

  “Really, Grant. I don’t want to. And especially not here in this busy parking lot.”

  “Oh, no, we’ll talk later, but we will talk. This is what I want to show you.”

  He climbed out of the Jeep and though she was confused as to why they were here, she followed him.

  “What are we doing here?” She went to stand beside him on the boardwalk leading along the side of the building around to the back where the entrance and lagoon access was.

  “We’re going for a ride.”

  It had been a long time but she’d been down the lagoon many times growing up. It wove through the Windswept Bay interior and to the ocean. “But I thought you had found something to paint?”

  “I have, but I’m still looking for what will be the best. Earlier today, I was talking to Jax, the owner of Lagoon Adventures, and he piqued my interest. He told me of some cool places the lagoon runs past.”

  She’d been having fun but now she looked down at her dress and then back at him. “I’m not exactly dressed for kayaking. You could have asked me if I wanted to do this.”

  He looked shamefaced. “I was afraid you’d say no.”

  “I can still say no,” she pointed out, feeling her irritation evaporating when he grinned at her. The man was too appealing.

  “Yes you can, but I’m hoping you won’t. I promise.”

  He held out his hand to her. She told herself that he would be leaving and that for now she could just enjoy being around him while he was here. That he would leave and she’d have used him as a trial for moving into a new segment of her life. Shar and Jillian were right; she did need to move forward. And Grant was an amazing man, with an amazing career, and knowing he would leave was like a…a safety net of sorts.

  Life was full of risks. She could do this.

  She slipped her hand in his. “Let’s have another adventure.”

  “That’s my girl.” He winked at her.

  Suddenly she wasn’t sure whether she’d just made a mistake. Being his girl sounded far too perfect.

  They headed to the outside window, where a young man waited. “You came back,” he said to Grant.

  “I told you you’d given me a great idea yesterday. I just needed to bring my friend. Do you know each other?”

  The young man was sandy-haired and had the look of a surfer. He looked slightly familiar to her but Cali didn’t know him. “I don’t think we’ve met but you do look familiar. I’m Cali Sinclair.”

  His green eyes lit up. “You own the resort. My girl works there. I’m Jax, by the way.” He held out his hand and she shook it.

  “Who is your girlfriend?”

  “Blair Baines. She works with your sister in the gardens. She loves it.”

  This was a part of being back that Cali loved. Knowing they were supplying jobs for the islanders and that they were enjoying those jobs made her feel good. Knowing that they could make it even better pushed her to work harder. “If she’s working with Jillian, then Blair is learning from the best.”

  “She says the same thing. So, you two ready to take a ride on the lagoon?”

  “We’re ready,” Grant said. “I want to show Cali something around the building. We’ll be right back.”

  “Sure thing.”

  The look in Grant’s eyes caused anticipation to fill her. The man was always causing something like that to happen. He took her hand and led her toward the end of the building. “This place is cool. It not only has lagoon access but also on the backside it has beach access.” He turned the corner and she saw the beach down the sloping hill.

  When they rounded the corner, Cali gasped when she saw the gorgeous mural on the wall. It was of a large wave; a surfer was in the tunnel and several others were watching it from the water. But it was the various blue hues of the water that was spectacular. Not Grant Ellington spectacular but it was wonderful.

  “It’s wonderful.” She repeated what she’d thought. Walking over, she touched it. “This reminds me of your work.”

  “I thought so too. I was jogging down the beach yesterday evening when I spotted it. The kid painted it.”

  “Oh wow. Did you ask him about it?”

  “No, I wanted you to see it first. You brought me here to paint something amazing and it looks to me like you’ve got the talent right on the island.”

  She looked at him sharply. “Are you wanting out?”

  His eyes cri
nkled at the edges. “No, but I would like to ask you if you’d mind if I asked Jax to help with the painting. I hate to see his talent not be recognized.”

  His proposal stunned her. “You’d do that?”

  “I need some help on the big project, if I can get it, and I like to encourage people to use their talent.”

  She loved the idea. “Sure, ask him. I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this. But I’ve been away for several years.”

  They walked back around the building and waited on Jax to get another couple into their kayak. After they had paddles in hand and were moving down the lagoon, he turned back to them, running a hand through his shoulder-length hair.

  “Ready?”

  Grant nodded. “First I’d like to talk about the stunning mural on this building that you painted.”

  “Sure.” He shrugged. “And thanks, I just tried it. But it’s not the best. It’s not an Ellington.”

  Grant laughed. “Well, it’s close. Maybe a little crude in a few areas and maybe not the right technique to preserve it for years, but for the wood you painted it on, it’s great.”

  Questions filled Jax’s eyes. “Man, you sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

  Cali smiled. “He does.”

  Grant still didn’t say his name and Cali realized that with his cap and shades, even someone who knew what he looked like might not recognize him. “You have talent, Jax. Did you take lessons?”

  He shrugged. “Nah, no money for that. I just saw a great picture of a building online and it got me in the gut and I decided to try it.”

  Grant laughed, a big, robust laugh that made her chuckle and goose bumps to shiver across her skin. It was obvious Grant was having a great time with this.

  “You are amazing, Jax. Do you know how much talent it takes to pick up a brush and paint something like that? Your scale is great. Your eye is good. You should pursue it.”