Page 76 of One More Chance

Harper

“Harper,”he says, his voice floating into my still half-asleep mind. “Harper, wake up.”

I peer through one barely open eye and it’s still dark out. “Why are you waking me up before the sun?” I groan.

“Have you ever seen a sunrise over the ocean?” he whispers, and both of my eyes pop halfway open.

“No,” I say. “I’ve never seen any sunrise if I can help it. Because I like sleeping.”

“Come on,” he says. “It’ll be worth it.”

The weight of him disappears from the bed and I roll over, still naked from when we went to bed. At some point in the middle of the night, we woke up long enough to untangle ourselves and get under the blankets. I sit up, rubbing my eye sockets with the balls of my palms. I don’t even want to check what time it actually is.

Jensen walks back into the room with a mug of coffee. “Here, thought you might need this.”

“Oh, bless it.” I sigh, my body melting into relief. At least he had the good sense to brew coffee. On my third sip, I realize it’s perfectly creamed and sugared. He knows how I take my coffee. Strange. Of course, I know he likes his black with a little sugar. Exactly one and a half spoonfuls to be precise. So maybe it isn’t so strange.

“Get dressed,” he says, opening the sliding glass doors. Cool air rolling off the water fills the room and sends a shiver down my spine. I tug at the covers, but he tugs from the bottom and I surrender. I roll on sweatpants and throw a tank top over my head. Even dressed, I’m still chilly.

“Here,” Jensen says, stepping toward me with one of his large sweatshirts.

He places my coffee down and slides the garment over me. It’s warm and smells like him. I find myself inhaling against the collar several times.

“Okay,” he says. “Now you’re ready.”

With one hand wrapped around my warm coffee cup and the other held tightly in his, we step out onto the back deck and sit at the edge of the stairs. Jensen digs his bare feet into the sand, but I keep my socked feet up. There’s nothing worse than a sock full of sand. He wraps his long arm around me, tucking me into him, against his chest. I inhale a deep breath of fresh ocean air and release it with a sigh.

“Just a little while now,” he says, rubbing his hand over my thigh.

“Then can we go back to sleep?”

Jensen laughs. “You’re welcome to nap while I take a run. I like running on the beach. I can wake you later for a shower.”

“Sounds amazing,” I say, fighting back a yawn.

“We should get to the pier early, before the crowds make it impossible,” he says.

“Okay, that’s good too,” I say, lazily nodding.

“I promise it will all be worth it.” He laughs again.

We sit talking for a few more short minutes when I realize the sky is beginning to lighten just a little. The horizon is glowing now, subtle streams of golden orange light highlighted with pink begin to show over the water’s edge.

“This is it,” he whispers.

Mesmerized, I don’t take my eyes off the horizon. Slivers of the sun’s bright globe melt over the water, making it sparkle. Each wave holds beams of light before disappearing and being replaced with the next wave. When the sun is halfway up, it sits there, almost suspended in time, before completely rising. It’s as if the sun has risen straight out of the water.

Jensen closes my jaw with two fingers under my chin and until now, I hadn’t realized I was sitting here with my mouth hanging open.

“It’s so beautiful,” I say, the sleepiness suddenly gone.

“I told you,” he teases, a warm smile stretched wide across his face.

We sit there for a little while longer in the silence, taking in every bit of the sunrise.

“Okay, time for that run,” he says, standing and stretching his legs. I only now notice that he’s already dressed for it.

“I feel so awake now, I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back to sleep.”