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Chapter 12
The beach was gorgeous, nearly empty since it was still early, and a little breezy because it was spring. We walked a mile or more, sometimes hand in hand. We’d both taken off our shoes and rolled up our pants, walking barefoot while we shared stories about growing up.
“Do you have siblings?” he asked as he angled his face toward the morning sun, breathing deeply. “I think you mentioned you had a brother.”
“I do have a brother,” I replied. “But we weren’t raised together. My parents divorced when I was three. Sam lived full-time with my dad, and I lived full-time with my mom.” The salty air was invigorating. “Sam lives in Denmark now. He moved there for a job a few years ago. We’re not close, but recently we’ve been making an effort to connect more. The practice of splitting up siblings should be outlawed. I don’t recommend it for anyone. It robbed us of having an immersive sibling relationship and caused a lot of ill feelings and unnecessary competitiveness. We’ve since forgiven our parents, but it doesn’t change how we were raised. I’m happy to say my brother and I are getting better at communicating. I love him and am looking forward to having a solid relationship with him in the future.”
I’d been so busy with the prep work for the shop that I hadn’t talked to my brother in a few weeks. I made a mental note to reach out to him soon.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to grow up together,” Marco said. “I’ve always wished for siblings, but not being able to live with both my parents in the same household would’ve been extremely hard.”
It had been hard, but the only thing we’d known. “We should probably head back if we want to make it to Seattle at a reasonable time,” I said reluctantly. Reasonable meaning after midnight at this point. We still hadn’t discussed the possibility of stopping along the way. That would come later.
Marco had informed me that he had a client meeting tomorrow afternoon, so we needed to get on the road soon.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to fly back?” I asked. “I can ride back with my friends, no problem.”
“I’m sure,” he said. “Spending time with you is a treat.”
We talked about the Watering Can on the way back to the car. I was excited to get back to work at the shop. Marco had so many good ideas that I knew without a doubt the place was going to be a success. I couldn’t have asked for a better teammate.
Once we arrived at the rental, he turned, surprising me as he gathered me into his arms.
I’d never wanted anything more in my entire life than to be held by him.
And this wasn’t happening in a closet. It was out in the open and for real.
His kiss was like an explosion inside my brain.
My hands wrapped around his shoulders, and I held on for dear life.
I was kissing the man of my dreams.
And it was fantastic.
Frickin’fantastic!
We didn’t come up for air for quite some time. I was hazy on the details.
In my previous life, I would’ve stopped kissing a lot sooner, possibly before it had even started, conscious of the world around me and my ordered place inside it. Excessive PDA was not in the top hundred things I felt comfortable doing. But I’d waited more than seven long years for this, and the freedom of actually being with Marco without any strings attached—damn if I wasn’t going to enjoy the hell out of it.
We finally came to our senses after lots of kissing.
“We should go,” he said a little breathlessly. “We have a long drive ahead of us.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, leaning in for another kiss.
His lips were soft and full, and they fit between mine perfectly. A few mewls came out. Being connected to him felt that good. Kissing him might be the most joyful feeling I’d experienced in my entire life, including all the holidays I’d celebrated as a child combined. My heart felt ready to explode. It was exhilarating that we could be together out in public and didn’t have to hide.
There was no dehydrated pony here. Just me and my A game.
Eventually, we separated.
My lips tingled like crazy. So did other parts of my body. It took some rearranging and deep breathing once we’d gotten into the car to settle down.
We managed to get on the road and head out of town without ripping our clothes off. That felt pretty incredible. We fell into a nice rhythm of chatting, mostly about inconsequential things like favorite TV shows, recent binges, music we liked, and favorite coffee shops and stands around Seattle. Coffee was big for Seattleites, and everyone had their favorites.
