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She was quiet after we got into the car. I drove toward her house.
“Hey, let’s go back to that spot at the cove.”
“Yeah? You like it there, huh?”
“I do. I always think best on the shore. Listening to the waves. I used to go out there all the time as a teenager. No one understood my passion or my drive back then. Hell, I don’t know if most people understand it now.” She chuckled, but there was something in her words that told me she meant it.
“They understand you, and they love you. There’s no shame in being strong or passionate or driven.”
I pulled the car down near the cove, and we found a blanket in my trunk. We got out and walked down to the sand. The tide was coming in, and the water moved pretty far up the shore.
She spread the blanket out and plopped down a few feet from the water line and pulled off her sandals. “God, I love it here.”
“Yeah, it’s nice. I can see why it’s your favorite place.”
She turned to face me. “I can’t believe how much you shared tonight with my family. That’s very out of character.”
“It is. But I like them. And I have grown to trust you, and for whatever reason, that makes me trust them.”
“Do you think this is just some sort of conquest now?” She held up her hand to stop me when I was about to argue with her. “I’m just saying. Maybe you just like winning, and you don’t like that I’m not giving you what you want.”
“Is that really what you think?”
“I don’t know what to think. I mean, where can this even go? It’s so complicated. I work for you, and you can have anyone you want. Why me?”
I moved closer, pulling her hands in mine. “First off, if I was just trying to win something, I would have taken you up on your offer last night, wouldn’t I? Instead, I didn’t take your shitty offer. I wanted more. I want more now. I had dinner with your family. That’s the kind of shit I normally dread. But I did it because I want you. That’s it. It’s not that complicated. But I’m not a teenage boy who sneaks around. If I’m with a woman for one night, sure, it’s private. But if I’m with someone, the way I want to be with you—I won’t hide that. I’d want everyone to know that you’re mine.”
“It doesn’t work the same for me. I finally have offers in a profession that I’ve worked really hard to break into. I can’t let the world know that I’m sleeping with my first client. It’s already hard enough as a woman trying to find a place for myself in this field.”
I nodded. She made a good point.
A fair point.
“I understand that. And I can work with that. What I can’t work with is one night with you. I’m not here for that. I haven’t felt like this before, and I want to see where it goes. So, if you feel the same way, we can keep it between us for now. As long as you and I know that it’s—”
“That it’s what?” she whispered.
“You and me. Together. No one else. I don’t share, Brinkley. I want you and only you. And we can keep it quiet until you land a job, and you publish the story that you wrote about me. We can say we got together later when we’re ready to share it.”
“You think we’re going to last that long?” she asked, her eyes watery as the light from the moon shone down on her. “You don’t think we’ll kill each other first?”
“I guess we’ll have to see. But I can tell you this much,” I said, placing my hand beneath her chin and turning her face to look at me. “I have very few things that I’ve been sure about in my life, and this is one of them.”
“Tell me what you’re sure about,” she said, moving closer and climbing onto my lap. She wore a little white dress, and my arms wrapped around her.
“My mother’s love. I’ve never doubted it for one day of my life.” My fingers intertwined with hers. “Football was it for me, and I knew it at a young age, and I’ve never wavered.” I cleared my throat. “And the pull that I feel toward you is different from anything I’ve ever felt before. So, I’m trusting it.”
She looked away, staring out at the water. “I think you’re going to break my heart, Lincoln Hendrix.”
“That’s just fear talking, sweetheart. I get it. What’s happening here is scary as shit.” I chuckled. “But since when do you or I let fear stop us from anything?”
She turned to face me as a tear slipped down her cheek. “I’ve never felt like this. And it terrifies me.”
“I’ve got you, Brinkley Reynolds.”
She nodded, and a few more tears fell, and she swiped at her cheeks. “Okay, then. I’m all in, Captain. You better not crash this boat.”
That was all I needed. My fingers tangled in her hair, and I pulled her mouth down to mine.
