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“Daisy was my fiancée.”
“I didn’t know you were married…”
“Never made it to the altar. She was looking for a Yankees player who didn’t get injured so when I did, she moved on to the guy who took my place.”
Jen shook her head. “That’s the most… I’m angry, Nate. She wasn’t worthy of you.”
He laughed and hugged her close. “No, she wasn’t. But I couldn’t see it until it was too late. We all fall into relationships like that.”
She thought about that. Even Marcia—her smart sister—had fallen for a guy who wasn’t everything she’d thought he was. “Why do we do that?”
“I have a theory.”
“I bet you do,” she said. “What is it?”
“That we find these people when we most need them in our lives. I know for me I needed Daisy when I first started playing because she gave me a reason to get away from the field. She taught me how to relax and enjoy life.”
She thought about her time with Carlos. “Carlos gave me a glimpse of what life might be after I stopped dancing.”
“But you didn’t end up teaching kids,” Nate said.
“No, I didn’t. I ended up teaching the rich and famous…not so different from kids.”
“Ha. I think I’ll mention that to Hutch when I pick him up at the airport next week.”
“No, don’t. I doubt he’ll want to work with me if he thinks I called him a child.”
Nate laughed. “He will think it’s funny. He’s a good guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously.”
“How did you meet him?”
“I met him when we were kids but that’s not important,” Nate said.
“Yes, it is. I don’t want to think about Carlos and what he did. It makes me feel really small and sad. Do you mind talking to me?” she asked. She’d already revealed her vulnerability to Nate tonight—there was no hiding it from him now. She needed to just lie here in his arms and forget that life wasn’t perfect.
“I can do that,” he said.
He held her closer to him and stroked her hair as he talked about meeting Hutch Damien at boarding school and the trouble they both got in. She enjoyed that. It made Nate all the more real to her and that was exactly what she needed him to be.
Nate carried Jen to his bed and tucked her in before going back up on deck to stare out at the sea. He needed some time alone to figure this out. He didn’t like the fact that he’d wanted to physically hurt Carlos. He hadn’t been kidding about that.
“Nate?”
He turned to see her standing in the doorway. She leaned there watching him, her hair flowing free around her shoulders.
“Yes?”
“Why didn’t you come to bed?” she asked, walking over to join him.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “And I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“That is precisely why I couldn’t sleep. I like having your arms around me, Nate. I’ve grown accustomed to you.”
He wanted to warn her not to rely on him. That the more deeply they came to care about each other, the more panicked he felt at living up to her needs. But he didn’t.
He didn’t because she chose that moment to wrap her arms around him. “Dance with me in the moonlight?”
“There isn’t any music,” he said.
“I will sing for you.”
“Can you sing?”
“Sort of.”
He chuckled. “I have a stereo system on the yacht. What do you want to hear?”
“What’s your favorite song?”
“Slow or fast?”
“I guess I’d say that depends on your mood,” she said.
“I love Dean Martin. I know he’s not hip, but he is cool—the ultimate cool, you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I do.”
“And he sings the perfect songs for holding a woman in your arms.”
“I’d have to agree. Dean is a great one for romantic standards. What about a fast song?”
“‘Shine a Little Love’…ELO.”
“Jeff Lynne is the best. Let’s dance to ELO.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes. We need something that will make us forget about everything. That’s the power of dance.”
Nate fiddled with the iPod and the docking station and found “Shine a Little Love.” Soon the music was blasting from the speakers and Jen stood on the deck in the moonlight beckoning to him. Her hips were swaying and she drew him closer to her.
She brushed by him and touched him with each move she made, and he felt powerful and together with her. He forgot about his anger toward Carlos—and toward Jen a little for getting herself in this situation.
