Page 51 of Brewing Up My Fresh Start (Twin Waves #2)

Her kiss tastes like victory and coffee and the dangerous kind of certainty that changes everything. I pull her closer, grateful for the solid reality of her in my arms after two days of thinking I’d lost her forever.

“I love you,” she whispers against my mouth, the words hitting harder than any business victory. “I love that you chose community over profit. I love that you chose us over everything else.”

“I love you too,” I manage, wondering how I ever thought professional success could matter more than this moment. “I love that you taught me what’s worth fighting for.”

Before I can say anything else, my phone rings with Scott’s distinctive ringtone.

“Should I answer it?” I ask, reluctant to break the connection between us.

Michelle grins with the expression of a woman who’s realized she can have everything she wants. “Answer it. Let’s find out how quickly news travels in the development world.”

I accept the call and put it on speaker. “Scott?”

“Grayson,” Scott’s voice carries disbelief and what might be admiration. “Please tell me you didn’t just tell Coastal Capital to go kick tires on a video conference call.”

“I told Coastal Capital that Twin Waves isn’t available for corporate exploitation,” I correct. “Slightly different message.”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”

Michelle leans into the phone with wicked satisfaction. “He’s just proven that Reed Development Corporation prioritizes sustainable community development over quarterly profit margins.”

“Michelle? You’re both there?” Scott’s voice shifts. “Good. Because I’ve been fielding calls for the last hour from investors who apparently monitor Coastal Capital’s business practices.”

“What kind of calls?” I ask.

“The kind from firms that specialize in sustainable development and community partnerships. Firms that have been looking for developers who prioritize long-term community benefit over short-term extraction.”

Michelle’s hand finds mine again, squeezing tight as possibility blooms between us.

“How many firms?” Michelle asks.

“Six so far. Including Hammond Sustainable Development, which handles more community preservation projects than any firm on the East Coast.” Scott’s voice carries growing excitement.

“Grayson, you didn’t just burn bridges with Coastal Capital—you signaled to the entire industry that Reed Development Corporation is committed to a different kind of development. ”

“The kind that works with communities instead of exploiting them,” I say, understanding finally dawning.

“Exactly. And apparently that’s exactly what several major investors have been looking for.”

Michelle’s smile is brilliant enough to power small cities. “So choosing community over corporate profits was actually a sound business decision?”

“It was the right decision,” I correct, pulling her closer. “Everything else is just bonus.”

T he next day, we’re sitting on Michelle’s back deck with the Atlantic Ocean stretching endlessly before us, salt air mixing with the scent of lime and tequila from the margaritas Michelle insisted we needed to celebrate properly.

The sunset paints the sky in shades of coral and gold, the kind of natural beauty that makes everything else seem manageable.

“I still can’t believe you told Coastal Capital off,” Michelle says, taking a sip of her drink and leaning back in her deck chair with satisfaction. “On video. While I sat there trying not to grin like an idiot.”

“You did grin like an idiot,” I point out, stretching my legs toward the deck railing. “Right around the time you started reading them David’s greatest hits.”

“That was my ‘I’m about to destroy your entire business model’ grin. Completely different from an idiot grin.”

The easy banter feels like coming home after years of wandering, like finally understanding what I’ve been searching for in every project, every partnership, every professional decision that never quite felt right.

“Michelle,” I say, setting down my margarita and turning to face her fully. “I need to tell you something.”

Her expression shifts, humor fading into the kind of careful attention that suggests she’s bracing for complications. “That sounds ominous.”

“Not ominous. Important.” I reach for her hand, grateful when she doesn’t pull away. “When I left without explaining anything, it wasn’t because I was choosing my career over you. It was because I was terrified of choosing you and having it destroy everything you’ve built.”

“What do you mean?”

“David contacted Scott. He threatened to create compliance problems with your grants if I didn’t end our partnership.

” The admission tastes bitter, but Michelle deserves the complete truth.

“He had copies of your grant applications, details about our collaboration, enough information to create questions about financial impropriety if he decided to make trouble.”

Michelle goes very still. “So you left to protect me.”

“I left because I was a coward. Because instead of trusting you to handle David together, I decided to sacrifice our relationship to keep you safe.” I squeeze her hand, needing the contact to ground me through what comes next.

“It was the stupidest decision I’ve ever made, and I’ve made some stupid decisions. ”

“Like what?”

“Like thinking I could walk away from you and still be functional. Like believing professional success could matter more than having someone who makes everything better just by existing.” I pause, studying her face in the golden light.

“Like waiting this long to tell you that you’re the most important thing that’s ever happened to me. ”

Michelle’s breath catches, and her carefully constructed emotional walls begin to crumble in real time.

“Grayson—”

“I’m not finished.” I shift closer, close enough that I can see the exact shade of brown in her eyes, close enough that the space between us feels electric with possibility.

“I love the way you fight for this community. I love the way you turn preservation into art. I love that you made me understand the difference between building things and building things that matter.”

“I love you too,” she whispers, and the words hit me like lighting.

“I love that you see possibilities where other people see problems. You trust me with your dreams even after David tried to steal them, and you chose to fight beside me instead of letting me protect you from a distance.”

“I was terrified,” she admits. “When you left, I thought it was happening again. I thought I’d trusted the wrong person and was about to lose everything.”

“You won’t face anything else alone. Never again will I make decisions about us without talking to you first,” I promise, meaning it with every cell in my body.

“What are you saying?”

The question hangs between us like a bridge I’m finally ready to cross. Michelle sits in golden sunlight with her hair catching the ocean breeze, looking like everything I never knew I wanted and everything I’m terrified of losing.

“I’m saying that I want to build things together that serve this community and serve us, because you’ve taught me they’re the same thing when you do them right.

” I pause, gathering courage for the most important words I’ll ever speak.

“I’m saying that I want to choose you every single day for the rest of my life. ”

Michelle sets down her margarita with trembling hands, and my heart beats against my ribs like it’s trying to escape and handle this conversation better than I am.

“I want to wake up every morning in your apartment above the coffee shop and fall asleep every night listening to ocean waves with you beside me. I want to preserve historic buildings and develop sustainable communities and argue about architectural details until we’re ninety.”

“Grayson,” she breathes.

“I want to build a life together that’s worthy of the federal grants and the community trust and everything we’ve accomplished.

” I lean closer, close enough to see tears gathering in her eyes.

“I want to love you through every challenge and every success and every ordinary Tuesday that makes up a life worth living.”

“Yes,” she whispers, and the word hits me like electrical current.

“Yes?”

“Yes to all of it. Yes to building things together, yes to choosing each other every day, yes to loving you through every ordinary Tuesday and extraordinary challenge.” She reaches for me with hands that shake slightly. “Yes to everything we can create together.”

Her kiss tastes like tequila and salt air and the dangerous kind of certainty that changes everything. I pull her closer, grateful for the solid reality of her in my arms and the promise of years ahead to build everything we’ve dreamed.

“I love you,” I whisper against her mouth.

“I love you too,” she replies, and the words feel like coming home.

We sit in comfortable silence, watching the sun disappear into the Atlantic while salt air carries the scent of possibilities that stretch as endless as the ocean horizon.

“So,” Michelle says eventually, “what happens now?”

“Now we call the new investors and explain why community preservation makes better business sense than corporate extraction. Now we plan the most beautiful sustainable development project the Eastern seaboard has ever seen.” I pause, studying her face in the fading light.

“Now we build something together that will last longer than both of us.”

“Sounds perfect,” she says, settling against my side with contentment.

“Michelle?”

“Mmm?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For teaching me the difference between developing communities and serving them. For showing me what’s worth fighting for. For choosing to trust me even after David tried to destroy everything.”

“Thank you for coming back,” she replies, and the simple statement carries weight that makes my chest tight. “Thank you for choosing us over everything else.”

Before I can respond, my phone buzzes with an incoming call. Scott’s name appears on the screen, and Michelle grins with mischievous satisfaction.

“Answer it,” she says. “Let’s find out what our new future looks like.”

I accept the call and put it on speaker. “Scott?”

“Grayson, I hope you’re sitting down. Combining with Michelle’s business was the smartest move we’ve ever made. Hammond Sustainable Development wants to schedule a meeting tomorrow to discuss long-term partnership opportunities. “

Michelle’s hand finds mine, squeezing tight as possibility blooms between us.

“What kind of opportunities?” I ask.

“The kind that involves community preservation projects across the entire southeastern coast. The kind that could make Reed Development Corporation the premier sustainable development firm in the region.”

“And the kind,” Michelle adds with growing excitement, “that prioritizes community benefit over corporate profits?”

“Exactly,” Scott confirms. “Grayson, you didn’t just make a statement today—you positioned Reed Development Corporation as the leader in ethical development practices.”

I look at Michelle, radiant in the last light of sunset, and understand finally that choosing love over fear doesn’t require sacrifice—it creates possibilities that fear could never imagine.

“Schedule the meeting,” I tell Scott. “Michelle and I have some communities to serve.”

The call ends, leaving us alone with the sound of waves and the promise of everything we’re about to build together.

“Ready to change the world?” Michelle asks.

“Ready to love you while we do it,” I reply, and her laugh carries on the ocean breeze like a promise of forever.

The sun disappears completely into the Atlantic, but the sky remains bright with stars and possibilities that stretch as endless as our love and twice as beautiful.