Page 30 of What I Like About You

Chapter Eleven

The words“I am not that kind of girl” rang out over and over in Dalton’s head as he and Kyle cleared the beach of tiki torches and yoga mats. It was perfectly clear to him that he had fucked up somehow this morning, but it was the how that perplexed him. For the life of him, he couldn’t imagine that she would have wanted him to run up and kiss her first thing like he had wanted. Or that she was looking for him to act possessive in any way. So just what was he supposed to do?

And then there was the nickname thing. He’d used terms like “darlin’” for as long as he could remember. He was sure at some point he’d called her that. There was no way he hadn’t. But he’d also meant what he said—they were fillers. He wanted her to know that he loved and respected her, so he’d always made it a point to use her name. But now that he thought about it, she was the only one he did that with, and he’d never told her why. So maybe it was easy enough to misinterpret.

Once everything was picked up and they’d replaced the beach chairs that normally resided in those spots, they headed into the kitchen via the back alley. Walking into the kitchen, the smell of Miller’s infamous magic muffins assaulted their senses, and Dalton’s stomach let out an audible grumble. He wasn’t sure if it’d been the manual labor they’d done on top of the yoga or all the overthinking he was doing, but whatever it was, he’d worked up an appetite.

“Morning, guys!” Miller called. “You just missed everyone.”

“What? Drea said she was gonna wait,” Kyle commented.

“CC something or other needed…something. I’m not really sure, but Drea and Leona both left out of here grumbling about how they’ve never seen anyone so needy. And I figure that has to be saying something since you know what Cullen put Leona through all those years,” Miller answered.

Kyle and Dalton looked at each other with wide eyes, their minds wild with what on earth the model could be asking for that would elicit such a response. Cullen had been visiting the Indigo Royal for ten years before he and Leona had gotten together, and in that time he’d strived to drive her insane with special requests. From custom sheets to special order bubble bath, Leona had been annoyed every step of the way. If she thought CC was worse than Cullen, then her demands must be outrageous.

“Okay, then I better go hunt her down,” Kyle said, grabbing a magic muffin from the cooling rack.

“Better take two,” Dalton winked.

“You, sit,” Miller said, pointing to the large family table in the corner of the kitchen as Kyle grabbed a second muffin and headed toward the dining room. “I want to hear how it went last night. But first, eggs?”

“That’d be great,” Dalton responded. He headed over to the family table and grabbed a chair. Swinging it around and straddling it, he sat facing Miller. “And there’s not much to tell.”

After Kyle had so graciously thrown his own advice back at him yesterday, he’d also suggested Dalton talk to Miller, the resort’s resident romantic. While Dalton had never shared exactly what he had said on prom night to hurt Zara, Miller had played priest to Dalton’s confessions quite often over the years. He’d heard a lot about Zara going into this, saving Dalton some backstory in his request. It also meant Miller hadn’t hesitated when approached last evening for his advice, and was ready and waiting with the idea of surprising her with her favorite meal. He’d even been prepared with a few backup plans in case she’d told Dalton to go fly a kite when he approached her table.

“Well, Mikey didn’t come scurrying back in here with two full plates, so there has to be something,” Miller pointed out.

“She was willing to hear me out. It wasn’t easy to tell her all that, and it was even harder to hear her actually tell me how much I hurt her, but it all needed saying.”

“True intimacy is when both people feel safe enough to be vulnerable. Sounds to me like you two have that.”

Miller’s words hit Dalton hard. He’d never thought about his relationship with Zara as intimate. Maybe because in his mind that word had always just been code for sex, or maybe because one just didn’t think of friendship as intimate. But thinking about it now, Dalton realized that was exactly what they had between them. Intimacy. They had always been the only person the other could be their true selves around—the only person they were willing to be vulnerable with. Neither of them had used those words last night either, but they had no problem slipping right back into that space and telling each other how hurt they were over the events from ten years prior. That had to mean something.

“I never thought of it that way, but yeah, I guess we do. “

“So, dinner was a hit. Did you ask to walk her back to her room?” Miller asked, flipping the eggs in the frying pan with one hand and seasoning them with the other.

“I did. And she agreed. But then I think I did something stupid,” he admitted.

“Explain.”

“I kissed her.”

Miller slid the eggs out of the pan and onto a plate, letting Dalton’s words hang in the air. A kitchen assistant dodged past Dalton as he flipped his chair around to eat, and Miller brought the plate over, joining him at the table. Still not uttering a word, he nodded at Dalton to continue.

“And fuck, Miller…it was a good fucking kiss. She felt perfect in my arms, and for a moment she even kissed me back.”

“Well, that’s a step in the right direction,” Miller offered, seemingly trying to encourage him.

“Yeah, until she got pissed at me this morning after yoga.”

“What'd you do?” Miller asked calmly.

“What makes you assume I did something?” Dalton knew he sounded defensive, but he couldn’t help it. Miller gave him a knowing glare, pressing his lips together. It was amazing to him that Miller could read them all so well, and not for the first time, Dalton wanted to ask him how he did it. Instead, he sat back and recounted the morning. “Everything was fine when I got to the beach. A little awkward, but good. It wasn’t until after, when she saw me teasing Leona.”

“About?”

Dalton squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. He was pretty sure Miller knew about the tryst. After all, he’d been teasing Leona about it for years. But admitting it to the man who was like another parent to her was still a little weird. “The night we hooked up.”