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“Well…I think it’s a great start,” she said encouragingly. It was funny—he was used to the sassy Natalie, but this side of her was new to him. And he liked it. “Maybe instead of stating facts, trying speaking from the heart a bit more.”
He gave her a knowing look. “You’ve met me, right? What the hell am I supposed to say about this shit?”
She laughed. “I do know you. And I think you’re a softy, remember?”
He waved his hand again, showing her his calloused palm but she just psshed at him.
“Tap into something you can relate to,” she suggested. “You don’t have to be sappy and talk about things you don’t want to, or about the act of marriage or anything. But try to pair what you can to the situation. How you feel and how it ties to the occasion.”
He nodded. That was good advice. It was enough to stop his pacing. He stared at her fresh face and kind eyes and said the first thing that came to mind.
“I’m a search and rescue medic, so I know all about risk. No one makes the active choice to risk anything. Why would you want to give up something you enjoy? But when the right something—someone—comes along, enjoyable isn’t worth the risk of losing the amazing. So I don’t think love is about risk. It’s choosing to trade in basic for incredible. It’s about upgrading. Even if it means losing what you once thought was worth it. That is, if you’re not too scared to take the leap.”
East had no idea if what he’d just said was gibberish, or even made sense, but he watched Natalie’s delicate throat as she swallowed hard. She took a deep breath, then another.
“That’s great,” she said, and had to clear her throat. “Of course, then mention Matt and Bridget.”
“Right,” East agreed and glanced at the floor. “Mention them, then salute.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I think you’ve got it.”
Her sweet smile was interrupted by the ding of her cell phone. She reached for it and read something on the screen, then she looked up at East.
“I, uh, I have to get going.”
He glanced at the clock and realized she had plans still. “Yeah, your date is soon.”
She glanced at her phone. “Yeah.”
“Well.” He clapped his hands together and smiled, but it felt like his chest just had a metric ton of gravel dumped on it. “Thanks for your help.”
She got off his bed, and the moment her feet hit the floor, he knew, he was losing something—someone—he couldn’t hang on to.
“Anytime,” she said.
Chapter Twelve
Family dinner was nothing new. Ever since they’d all moved out, Natalie’s mother still insisted that once a month all the kids have dinner at the St. Clair home. Matt had been in Connecticut the last several months, but she and Easton always made it. It felt like old times with her and East and her mom around the family table.
Well, like old times except that when she took her seat across from East, she was now looking at someone she’d seen naked.
Yeah…that was different.
Not bad. Not good. Well, it was good in some ways. Seeing East naked was better than good. But it was not good t
hat she kept thinking of that, causing her heart to race and her palms to sweat while he was sitting right there and her family was around.
She adjusted in her seat and chanced a glance at him.
He simply passed along the mashed potatoes, and winked at her. She felt heat flush her cheeks. It was more than just having seen him naked. She’d really seen him, at least in flashes, the real East he kept hidden from everyone else. Last night when he’d had her in his bed, she’d felt something shift. But worse, when she went to leave, and he’d told her he needed help—everything in her body stopped and responded to him.
She couldn’t remember feeling like this with anyone else before. It was as though her body and her emotions were conspiring against her with the simplest equation: East needs help equals Natalie gives it. That speech he’d delivered, the way it had seemed so heartfelt, it had hit her like gravity had doubled.
She took a bite of food and looked at East again, wondering how he seemed so calm all the time. Wondering what that flash of pain behind his eyes was—
“So, have you found a date yet?” her mother said, snapping her back to reality.
“Jesus, Mom, I just sat down,” Natalie said quickly.
