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Good thing she was driving. Otherwise, she would have thrown her arms around him and kissed him. “Thank you, Nash.”
“No, thank you. You’ve invited me into your world, your life. You’ve introduced me to people in your family. You’ve let me spend time with your son, the one person you care about most in the world. I tried to convince myself that I was just coming here to see about a van. Instead, I’ve had a great couple of days with you.” He squeezed her hand. “Really great.”
She didn’t know how everything had gotten so serious again, so real. Only that whenever she and Nash were together, they didn’t do small talk. Instead, they talked about things that really mattered.
Nash was right—being together was wonderfully easy. Even while the sexual tension between them thrummed higher and hotter every moment. And since Kevin would be sleeping at Sammy’s tonight, if she and Nash wanted to sleep together again, there would be no chance of Kevin walking in on them.
No. She needed to keep fighting temptation. Because even if she were somehow able to stop worrying about the possible repercussions of their relationship on Kevin’s life, Ashley knew better than to think there wouldn’t be massive repercussions on her own life.
No one would ever be as capable of breaking her heart the way Nash could. Simply by leaving, which he had just confirmed, yet again, was his plan.
And the last thing Ashley wanted was to be left behind with nothing but a broken heart to remember him by.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I’ve seen a lot of beautiful places,” Nash said as he and Ashley stood side by side at the vista point, looking out at the ocean and the small islands dotted throughout the bright blue-green water, their hands almost, but not quite, touching. “But this one just might top them all.”
“This is where I came right after I found out I was pregnant, while I was still trying to process it. Looking out at the water, at all the little islands and the expanse of blue beyond, always helps remind me that even when my problems seem really big, I’m still only a tiny part of a much bigger world.”
When they’d first gotten out of the car, he’d simply seen the stunning vista. But as he looked at it through the lens of Ashley’s perspective, he now saw so much more.
She was completely right, of course, that they were small players in a world that was so much bigger than any of them. Sure, he’d had his problems. Tough times as a kid and a teenager, continuing into his twenties when he’d done time for breaking the law—everything from trespassing to disorderly conduct and getting into fights while on probation—when he should have known better.
But now he suddenly wondered, did those dark days of his past truly matter in the grand scheme of life? And on the other end of the spectrum, did his wealth and his success matter either?
Or were the only things that truly mattered friendship and love?
“I remember leaving here that day,” she continued, “to give my parents the news.” She grimaced as she relived the memory of a day that must have been terrifying. “The worst part was how scared I was of seeing their disappointment. Of knowing I’d crushed their hopes and goals and dreams for me. I had great grades. I was aiming at top universities.” She let out a breath. “But they didn’t look at me like that. There was only love and support. It was when I looked in the mirror, when I looked in my own eyes, that I saw the disappointment. It turned out I wasn’t nearly as afraid of disappointing my parents and my family as I was of disappointing myself.”
Nash had told her repeatedly how much respect he had for her, but that didn’t mean anything if she didn’t respect herself. Hell, he was an expert at that, at compliments sliding off his back because he didn’t feel he deserved them.
“What do you see when you look in the mirror now?” he asked.
“Before Vienna, I saw a woman who was working like crazy to hold it all together and keep the pieces of her life moving in the ‘right’ direction.” She made air quotes around right. “But after Vienna?” She met his gaze. “Now I see a woman who is finally starting to come into her own. A woman taking baby steps in a new and exciting direction maybe, but important steps nonetheless.” She gave him a small smile. “I know it sounds like I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth, telling you in one breath that we can’t be together while you’re here and then saying in my next breath that I’ve discovered this new part of myself because of the time I’ve spent with you.”
