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She followed his gaze. The orange ball of fire had almost hit the horizon, and it was licking long flickering flames into the darkening ocean. Everything looked still out there, as though the rest of nature had stepped back into the wings while dusk took center stage.
When she glanced back, he was looking straight at her. There was that darkness in his eyes again. They made her shiver.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“Where?”
“To the beach.”
“I can’t use my crutches on the beach,” she told him. “They’ll sink.”
“We’ll do it the old fashioned way. Just you and me.”
He held his hand out and she took it. The next moment he was sliding his arm around her waist, pulling her to standing. Then they were walking – well he was, she was hopping, really – over to the glass doors which he pulled open, letting in the evening air.
It smelled of salt and ozone. She closed her eyes and breathed it in. He helped her onto the deck, and down the steps. His hold gentle and yet so reassuring.
It didn’t take long for them to walk through his yard, past the lilacs and the sagebrush to the iron gate that separated the house from the beach. Nate released it with his free hand, pushing it open with his hip as he held her waist in his palms to help her down the steps to the sand.
“We should take our shoes off,” he said, helping her sit on the wooden step that bordered the sand. “Or in your case, shoe. It’ll be easier that way.” He tugged at the laces of his oxfords, pulling them off one at a time. He then pulled his socks off and stuffed them inside. Ally followed suit, sliding her sandal off, and putting it next to his shoes on the steps.
“Let’s hope nobody throws them in the trash,” she teased.
“I still owe you a pair of running shoes for that.” The hint of a blush stained his cheeks. She’d never thought of men as beautiful before, but the word was so perfect for him. Looking at him felt like staring at a perfectly sculpted statue. He made her heart hurt in such a good way.
“I think I’m the one who owes you,” she said, her voice soft.
He stood and reached for her again, pulling her up until she was balanced. She could feel his shoulder muscles flex beneath his shirt where she held him.
“Ohhh…” she sighed as her foot sunk into the sand. It still held the warmth of the day, but didn’t burn like it sometimes did. “God, I’ve missed this.”
“You want to head down to the water?” he asked.
“We can’t. Not with my cast. The doctor said I couldn’t get it wet.”
“You won’t get it wet,” he said, pulling his arm tightly around her waist, encouraging her to lean on him. “I promise.”
He was staring at her intently. “Okay, then,” she breathed, her whole body reacting to his closeness.
They took their time walking down the sand. Not just because it was harder to balance on the uneven ground – though that was reason enough – but because they were in no hurry. The spectacle ahead of them was only getting better as the burnished sun sank into the ocean.
“We should stop here,” Ally murmured. The waves were kissing the sand two feet ahead of them. Any further and they’d be lapping over her cast. “This was always my favorite part of the day when I was a kid,” she told him, her eyes trained on the horizon. “Dad used to let me play by the ocean while he closed up the café for the evening. When he was done he’d bring down a drink and a bag full of whatever he hadn’t sold that day and we’d eat it overlooking the sunset.” She smiled, remembering the way the sandwiches had tasted – a little stale, a little crunchy from the grains of sand that inevitably got into them, and yet good enough that she’d always eat it all up. “It would be the one time of the day when it was only him and me. No customers, no fellow business owners popping in to chat with him.”
“Do you miss him?”
“I guess I do. But it’s weird because I’m angry at him, too. I’m not sure if I want to hug him or scream at him.” She breathed in a fresh lungful of salty air. “Although right now I’m not doing either because we’re not talking.”
Nate inclined his head, looking at her through the corners of his eyes. “Why not?” he asked. “Because he sold the café?”
“Partly,” she admitted. “But also because he left without thinking about what it would do to me. I worked like crazy trying to keep that place running, and he sold it anyway.”
“But he made sure you still had a job,” Nate pointed out. “It was part of the contract.”
She’d unblocked her dad the day after the fireworks, but hadn’t had the energy to message him. There was plenty of time for that. The sea breeze lifted the ends of her hair, making them dance against her skin. She wrinkled her nose as they tickled her lips. “And there was me thinking you employed me because you thought I was a fabulous manager.”
“You are.” The corner of his lip pulled up into a half-smile. “Normally when I buy a place I bring in a new team. But I’m glad your dad asked for you to stay. Otherwise we wouldn’t have met.”
Her eyes caught his, and she felt the connection between them like a fist to her chest. She filed away her thoughts about her dad in the little compartment in her head she saved for things she wasn’t ready to process right then. She’d worry about him another day, because right now all she could think about was Nate.
