The Secret (Magnolia Grove #4) - SERIES COMPLETE

Epilogue - {Cammie}

FIVE MONTHS AGO, Holden made it clear he was going to prove he wasn't who I thought he was. How he was going to do that, I had no clue. For nine years, I'd convinced myself what he told me that day in the boys' bathroom was true—that I didn't know him at all. That should have been a comfort to me, security I'd made the right choice in choosing Oliver despite knowing in my heart it was so incredibly wrong.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise Holden would win my date. He knows my love of the sun, the water, the beach. I just didn't know what exactly he was looking to accomplish in a single day. But fate intervened, and it's turned out everything that needed to be said and done is in the past. We've only got our present, the hope of a future, which we've really never had.

I think as his plan evolved he thought the date would, instead, be a consummation of a relationship, a commitment of sorts. He refused to satisfy our cravings to fully connect, like he was going to wait until after this date. He all but said so. Of course, that changed after I showed up at his doorstep that night when I got out of the hospital.

The date kept getting pushed for various reasons by Holden. A project, being on call. But this morning, it all became clear this was just a ploy. I wouldn't put it past him to have scheduled projects to avoid the date and switched shifts to be on call.

After I got out of the hospital, I moved for the second time in a short period of time. This time, I decided I wasn't in the market to buy a house. I already had a home. It's with Holden wherever he is. And his place is incredible, on the ocean, and outside of the godforsaken country club neighborhood we grew up in. Instead of the air being stuffy, like I'm being suffocated, when I'm outside on our back porch, my nostrils fill with clean, crisp sea air. There's something so soothing about this place. But maybe it's just because I'm with Holden, and he's like a salve to my soul.

The back door opens. "Morning, beautiful," he says as he hands me a cup of my favorite tea from Rind 'N Grind. Thank goodness he doesn't bring me lemon pound cake every time he goes there. I've already gained back some of the weight I lost because of the ulcer.

"Thanks." I reach out and take it, blowing through the hole in the top to cool the piping hot liquid. The citrus mixing with the sea breeze makes my mouth salivate. The crashing waves, a serene soundtrack to a relaxing morning.

"I got you something else."

"Did you?" My lips curve up. If it's lemon pound cake, I'm going to eat it regardless of the consequences to my figure. I'll just have to take up Crossfit with Holden. That could be sexy and fun. If I didn't hate exercise.

He holds the top to my white string bikini, the one I wore ten years ago under that shear shirt. The one that didn't hide my puckered nipples. I swallow, then freeze as memories wash over me like a wave rushing the shore.

The very same strings I fantasized about him tugging off my body.

Instead of trying to snatch it like I did with a different bikini in my bedroom a year later, I arch a brow. "Where'd you find that?"

He shrugs. "I can't tell you all my good secrets," he says before winking.

My insides clench because I know exactly where it was. Hidden, or so I thought, tucked away in a box with his name on top along with all the other items that were associated with memories of him I hoped could be forgotten. I considered burning it, but could never bring myself to do that. "You've got my attention."

"Will you wear this today? Under this?" He holds up the sheer shirt and the shorts that I also wore that day.

"Well, it looks like you've already been to Rind 'N Grind, so I'm saved from looking like a stripper in public there again."