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“You did fine,” I whispered, my lips brushing her ear. She shook her head and groaned, leaning against the banister.
“Ohmygod. I don’t know why I agreed to this, Milton.”
“Because you secretly love me,” I said, shooting her my most charming smile.
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“C’mon, let me show you Starlight Bay at the holidays. That’ll cheer you up.”
“Fine,” she said, climbing the stairs, one step ahead of me. “I need to grab my coat and purse.”
I stood at the bottom of the stairs and appreciated the view, taking in her perfectly round ass. I obviously still had a lot of warming up to do.
* * *
The town square wasn’t crowded, being the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. We parked by Town Hall, then walked towards the giant Christmas tree and all the shops.
“That tree is huge,” Sydney said, tilting her head back to take it all in. “I think it’s bigger than the one at Faneuil Hall.”
I laughed. “Maybe. Starlight Bay goes all out for Christmas. They are not messing around with holiday cheer here.”
Sydney smiled, a genuine smile that reached her eyes. “I like that about this town.”
“Me too.”
We crossed the street and made our way over to the tree. The scent of pine mingled with the salt air and I took a deep breath in, exhaled.
“Hey, Syd, I just want to say thank you.” I scrubbed the back of my neck, suddenly self-conscious. I never had trouble with girls; what was it about Sydney that threw me off my game?
“I, uh—I just wanted to say, um—it means a lot to me that you’d come back home with me.” I dropped my voice lower. “Even if we aren’t technically still together.”
Sydney blushed, then broke eye contact with me, staring straight ahead at the tree. My gut knotted a little tighter, wondering if I’d said the wrong thing.
“It’s fine, Nick. I didn’t mind coming with you; I just can’t risk losing my job. Now that we work together, it’s not like before. Plus, I don’t like lying to your parents.”
Then let’s not lie—be with me. The thought ricocheted through my brain, but I managed to rein in my enthusiasm.
I bit my lip and sighed. “Yeah, I know. But it’s only for one week. Then we can go back to how things were before. If that’s what you want.”
My words hung in the air, heavy between us for a few seconds, the only sound the distant crashing of the waves on the beach and the pounding of my heart I desperately hoped she couldn’t hear. Out of the corner of my eye, I searched her face for clues, trying to read her mind, but her face was neutral.
“Okay.” Sydney reached down, fiddling with the silver initial necklace she always wore.
Not exactly what I’d hoped to hear.
“You know my job is my life. Me just being here with you is a risk, but since you came up with a good cover…”
“I know, Syd. I get it.” I shoved a hand in my pocket, swallowed hard. This week was going to be tougher than I thought. What if I couldn’t convince Sydney to take another chance on us?
I didn’t even want to entertain that thought right now. Like Coach always said, take it one down at a time. And we were still in the first quarter, plenty of time left in the game.
“C’mon, let’s do some shopping.” I took her hand and led her down Main Street.
