Ten
Highland
“Are you sure you got everything set for today? You got her gift, right?” That was Tunk who was here to watch the girls for me so I could go on my date with Olive. I swear since I told him I finally asked her out, he had been giving me a crash course on all things Olive. As much as I appreciated it, I felt like it took a little bit away from me getting to know her myself and I didn’t like it. So I told him to stop telling me things about her. How he knew Olive wouldn’t be how I knew her and I wanted to set that boundary.
“Yes, I told you the other day, I got Olive. I just need you to make sure the girls don’t destroy this playroom before I get back. I already told them they aren’t taking everything this year. So, one big toy and two dolls a piece, and I already told Neela, only three teddy bears.” Between Cece’s extensive doll collection and now Neela’s need to have a bed full of teddy bears, these girls wanted my trunk to be full of toys and not the necessary clothes and stuff we needed to finally move into the house down on the island.
My plan was to wait until the end of camp, but after mentioning the house to Olive the day of the field trip, I made itmy personal mission to make sure it was ready to go this week. The girls and I had spent the day down there yesterday while the company I hired to clean the pool did their final round.
“Damn it’s strict over here, but I got you. Now get out and we’ll see you later.” Tunk waved me off as he got up and pushed me toward the front door.
I tilted my head to the side and made a mental note to check the girls’ toy totes when I got back because I didn’t trust him. I couldn’t focus on him though, my mind was on Olive and the day I feared I fucked up.
The beach day with the camp was a lot. Between the massive amount of loud ass kids and the parents on our team steadily stealing all of Olive’s attention, it seemed as if I couldn’t even take the proper time she deserved for me to gawk over her in her bathing suit.
And my god she was fine as fuck too. Or enjoy the warmth that greeted me when I spread her thick ass thighs and wrapped them around me in the water. Even though Olive kept it kid appropriate for the field trip with shorts to cover all that ass, my imagination ran wild with nasty ass fantasies of how she looked without them.
Clean up your thoughts, fool. You told her it wasn’t about sex.
Which was true. I was just a man who admired all things Olive and her body was a fucking work of art.
But the biggest fuck up, which was my own fault, was the dunk incident.
After the incident the other day, I wasn’t sure if Olive still wanted to go out anymore, since it felt as if she had avoided me the rest of the beach day. Even opting to head straight back to the mainland, not even taking the other parents up on their offer to get a drink at The Hut. The next day, when we took the kids to Splash Mountain, she even made sure we were neveralone without them. I mean, it was a playdate for the kids, but damn. And, yes, it had been a full week of us seeing each other after camp hours, but I told myself she was only doing it for the playdates.
And I got it. I’d gone too far when I took us underwater during the sandcastle competition. And I would say I was apologetic about my actions, but the feel of her legs wrapped around me and the way the whole beach seemed to suddenly disappear and it was just us, I had no regrets.
I double checked the backseat to see the gift the girls and I secured into the gift bag. Once I saw it was good, I hopped in so I could drive the short distance to Olive’s house. We lived not even ten minutes away from each other, which further surprised me at how we hadn’t run into each other until a couple of weeks ago.
I pulled into Olive’s driveway to pick her up and pulled out my phone to make sure I hadn’t gotten a cancellation text on the way over. Seeing that I was in the clear, I stalled for a minute, still anxious about the date. This was my first day that I was moving with pure intentions of taking this seriously. And it had been a long time since I had to be on this side of things. I wanted everything to be perfect.
“Highland, get out of the car,” I told myself as I stared at the time on my phone screen, clocking the time, noticing I had three minutes until Olive would think I was late.
I released a nervous breath as I placed my hand over my mouth, doing a double check to make sure I was still good. Then I reached in the back to get her gift.
I got out of the car and made my way to the door, ringing the bell and waiting for what felt like forever until Olive appeared on the other side, standing in front of me dressed in a pretty pink and white dress and a pair of sandals to match, showing off the French pedicure on her toes.
“Gotdamn.” That was all I could get out as I took my time dragging my eyes down her body, paying attention to every single dip and curve God blessed her with.
Her cheeks grew red, making me smile in return. I loved seeing this innocent side to Olive. I could sense that this was a change up for her.
“I’m going to take that as you like my outfit. I wasn’t sure what the date would call for since somebody failed to let me know the plans.”
“Baby, if I could, I would personally call or write a letter to the designer and thank them because clearly, they had you in mind when they made it. And I promise, whatever you put on would fit any occasion.” I grabbed her hand, bringing it to my mouth, kissing the back, then putting the gift in her hand.
“What’s this?”
“A real man never shows up emptyhanded when courting a woman. Now, before you say something like I shouldn’t have—it’s not much. The girls wanted to make something that would last longer than flowers.”
Watching Olive’s whole face light up as her smile spread even wider and she tore into the bag had me chuckling. She was cute as hell right now.
“Courting is a strange word to use, High—oh my gosh, this is so—wait what is this?” I snorted as I took the bag from her hand, so she could examine the bottle filled with seashell notes.
“Well this is our version of a message in a bottle, but instead of paper that the words would’ve faded on, the girls and I picked out the seashells. I know it’s not a lot, but my plan is to add to the bottle as we grow.”
There was a pregnant pause with me waiting to see her reaction to my words.
I heard a sniffle which shocked me and made me think I fucked up.
