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“The greatest feeling?” I ask with a little sarcasm.
Gabriel raises a brow. “Well, second best.” He transfers the string spool over to Tennyson, and helps him fly the kite again.
I step back, watching them working together to keep the kite in the air. It’s all so domesticated. It’s all so family-like. All we’re missing is the dog.
The breeze plays with Gabriel’s dark hair and he looks like something right out of the pages of a magazine. It’s insane to think this man has kissed me. The moment my mind goes there, I can’t stop thinking about it.
The way his lips felt against mine. Overpowering. Needy.
It makes a trillion tiny tingles erupt, cascading up and down my spine.
Gabriel let’s Tennyson take over the kite, and Tennyson rushes off down by the water, leaving Gabriel and I alone.
“He loves being here,” I say to Gabriel.
“I love having the two of you here.”
I blush, unable to say anything back.
Gabriel smiles at me and the chills are back, despite the balmy temperature.
“You’re really good with him,” I say.
“He reminds me of me when I was a kid.”
“That’s a scary thought,” I joke.
“I’m not that bad, am I?” He turns to face me, and all those feelings I’ve been trying to push down bubble back up to the surface.
“You’re not bad at all.” The limo ride, the living room, every time Gabriel has had his hands on me floods into my memory, and I have to look away before he sees the want in my eyes. I glance back at the sugar-white house and change the subject, “The pool looks like it’s an extension of the ocean.”
“Want to take a dip?” His voice drips with sexual innuendo, and all the naughty thoughts I’ve been having about Gabriel re-appear. As if he can read my mind, his eyebrows shoot up. “Maybe later tonight?”
Is this what life with Gabriel will be like? Fighting the chemistry for a year? I’m tired of fighting. What happens in paradise, stays in paradise.
I nod. “I like that idea.”
We sit on the beach, watching Tennyson fly his kite, and when he gets bored with that he splashes around in the shallow waters of the ocean, building sand castles.
“What happened with your sister?” Gabriel asks me as the afternoon winds to an end.
I dig my toes in the sand, wishing I could burrow my whole body beneath it. I hate talking about this. I never know what to say or what to tell people. “It was a long time ago,” I start, not really sure where to begin. “As you know, she worked for your grandfather. She loved working there, but Ronin became obsessed with her.” I break out into a sob. “I’m sorry, just thinking about her.”
“I’m sorry.” He rubs my back, comforting me.
I pull myself together, not wanting Tenny to see me break down in tears. “It was a long time ago. Your grandfather fired her because he thought there was something going on between the two of them.” I laugh a little at the irony. “And Joseph Prince’s grandson could never be in love with someone so...common.”
His head snaps to me. “I didn’t know.”
“I guess Joseph didn’t like theirfriendship.” It still makes me furious when I think about how upset Savannah was the day she came home from the Prince estate after being fired. How I couldn’t get her to calm down. How she was determined to see Ronin. “She took her car that night, and,” now the tears come, “the police officer knocked on my door later that night. She was in a horrible car crash and didn’t survive.”
“Clementine, I’m so sorry. Death sucks. I lost both my parents in a car accident as well, and it just fucking sucks.”
I swipe at my tears. “It really does.” I marvel at Tennyson by the shore. “I should make him lunch.” I pop up and head down to the ocean.
Gabriel doesn’t follow me, and I breathe a sigh of relief he isn’t questioning me more on my past.
We collect our things and head back to the house for a late afternoon lunch.
