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“Don’t bring anyone else out here, Major,” she whispered. “Tell everyone to keep this spot quiet. The director will want to film here, and they’ll wreck it. No matter what they say about protecting the environment, they’ll bring all kinds of equipment out.”
“I happen to know the mayor put into the contract that they couldn’t film out here. It’s a preserve of sorts,” Major said, his voice hushed. “You like the light?”
“It’s magic and you know it.” That light made the world seem softer. It drove out her insecurities and made everything seem more possible than it had been before.
“You do your thing. I’m going to be over here reading. Let me know when you’re ready for lunch.” He was already laying out the blanket. He lowered himself down and pulled out a book.
She’d expected him to want to talk, to treat this as more of a friendly lunch than to actually allow her to work. No one simply allowed her to work. It was why she had to carve out time to be alone. Dolly lay down next to Major, resting her head on his chest as he started to read.
He was here in case she needed him. He was here to keep her company if she wanted it.
He was here, and it was enough.
She pulled out her pad and started to sketch.
* * *
* * *
Major woke up to the sun on his face and realized it must have been at least an hour or two since he’d fallen asleep. The sun had been high in the sky before and now it was lower.
He’d read for a while and then eaten two of Sera’s perfectly done chicken salad sandwiches. He’d silently handed Brynn one along with a bottle of water. She’d munched away as she’d sketched, her whole being focused on the work in front of her.
He’d managed to take both dogs for a walk, and then he’d come back and fallen asleep to the sound of her pencil moving across the paper. It had been soothing and had lulled him right into the nap he’d sworn he wouldn’t take.
But when he’d fallen asleep, he hadn’t had something warm and soft lying beside him.
He glanced down and sure enough, Brynn was next to him, and sometime while they’d been sleeping he’d gotten an arm under her neck and she’d curled into him, her hand resting on his chest.
Damn, it was a date. The best date he’d had in a long time. Maybe ever, since he already felt something for the woman next to him.
He shifted, and her eyes fluttered open.
She blinked up at him but didn’t move. “Major? I must have fallen asleep. I did not start out this way. I promise.”
She was so pretty, but his attraction went far beyond her looks. There was something about this woman that calmed him. It had annoyed him that first day. He’d been the one on the verge of panic, and she’d been so calm and competent it had put him off slightly. But now he recognized how peaceful it was to be around her.
Well, except for physically. Physically it was starting to get uncomfortable, but it was far too early for that.
Was it too early to kiss her? Or for her to kiss him?
He put his hand over hers to let her know it was fine staying right where it was. “How did you start out?”
“I wanted to get this point of view, looking up at the sky through the trees, but I stayed on my side of the blanket,” she explained. “I don’t know how I got here.”
He was pretty sure he did. Natural attraction. “You must be a snuggler. It’s okay. I don’t mind a good snuggle. And I used to do that when I was a kid. I would lie back and look at the sky through the trees. It was like the world changed simply because I shifted positions. I think we’re on a date, Brynn.”
She frowned at him, her face turning up. “What makes you think that? We’ve barely talked to each other.”
That was true, but he’d kind of thought she’d needed some space. She’d been nervous in the boat, but the minute they’d made it to this patch of paradise, all of that had fallen away and she’d become an artist. She likely would have sat there and let a gator walk by without noticing it unless she was going to draw the sucker. But she was right that he hadn’t exactly romanced her. He sought a way to turn this around because he wanted that kiss.
When he thought about it, she was using a very traditional definition of date. “If I’d taken you to the movies, we would have talked in the car, but then we would have simply enjoyed the movie quietly. We talked in the boat and then we enjoyed nature quietly. There was even a meal.”
