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“Except for the near-drowning, I liked her. How about we try on this trip to let her out some and see if she has grown up any?” He moved to sit on the same bench.
“She hasn’t, and she never will. I don’t want to be her.” She turned her green eyes to him.
“How about this?” he proposed. “This week, you become Beckett. I want Beckett to be that part of you that you hide from everyone. Beckett doesn’t let life get her down; Beckett doesn’t think before she acts. I will be there to save her from drowning you.”
“I don’t know if I want to.” Her eyes were on his.
“Beckett is up for anything. She’s not scared.” He took her hands into his so that she was no longer hugging her legs.
“You make it sound easy,” she whispered.
“It will be easy, once you get used to being her again.” He got up and pulled her to her feet. “Does Natalie or Beckett want to drive the boat?”
Once on her feet, she looked into his eyes, hers sparkling back at him, and she smiled. “Beckett does.”
CHAPTER9
As Sam placedthe suitcases into the back of Natalie’s SUV, Natalie chatted with his parents. They had been so nice to her over the past two days, she hated to be leaving. And from their extra hugs and come back soons, it seemed they hated to see her leave as well.
The days had been filled with stories of young Sam and his brothers. And not-so-subtle hints that the couple wanted them to date. From offering them to share a room to making sure they had a lot of alone time, they reminded her of her own dad and his reaction to her staying with Sam.
But now it was time to leave so she could finally meet her birth mother. Her nerves were starting to show as she gave the older Sullivans one last hug and climbed into the car beside Sam. She would let him drive again—she didn’t want to think about driving while trying to figure out what to say to her mom.
She spent the day before trying to get past her nerves with Sam’s help. Once he put the notion into her head that she could let her old self out a little, she tried. The boat ride had been amazing. She had never driven a boat before, and it was freeing to be able to drive anywhere, turn at any time. By the time it was over, she thought that Sam was a little motion sick, but in true Sam fashion, he didn’t say anything.
They had been able to go out again after supper in the boat, and she had promised not to drown him if he swam with her. He did of course, and she didn’t even try to pants him, though it had been tempting. The water had been cool, and after a day in the sun, it had felt good.
She hadn’t really meant to drown him that afternoon. She had planned to feed him the air she had in her mouth to him, but at that moment, she had thought it would be too much like a kiss and chickened out. Her hesitance had been what had almost drowned him. But through it all, she knew that even though she had her arms around his, it wasn’t tightly. He could have freed himself at any moment, but he didn’t. He just looked into her eyes under the water.
His anger annoyed her. He knew he could save himself. Was he mad about something else, and the incident had brought it to the surface? Maybe she had something to figure out herself this week.
Glancing over at him driving, she thought he looked pretty good in his khaki shorts and orange Landstad Tiger’s T-shirt. Of course, he looked good in anything, it was super annoying. She loved that his hair was slightly longer than it should be and fell across his forehead. He had sunglasses on today, so she couldn’t see his dark brown eyes.
“How long until we get there?” she asked, though she knew since she had looked it up after they had sat around the fire for a while the night before. His parents had tried everything to get them together.
“About two hours.” He focused on the road ahead.
“I’m nervous. What if she sees me and knows it’s me and she’s mean, and I don’t like her?” Natalie rambled as they drove.
“First, if you came from her, she is in no way going to be mean. Second, you are unrecognizable to people who actually knew you at ten, much less someone who maybe saw you at one day old. And third, she is going to love you,” he assured her, which oddly worked to relax her a bit.
“Thanks. At least all that plastic surgery wasn’t a waste. It’s a great disguise.” She laughed at her own painful past.
“No talk about surgeries or scars for the rest of the trip, Beckett.” He was trying to use her new name more, get used to it. It was odd coming from him; he always made it sound like she was in trouble with his teacher voice.
“If you saw me naked, that is all you would be thinking about.” She glanced across at him.
He slid his glasses off and met her eyes. “Scars would not be what I would be seeing if I saw you naked, Natalie.”
Her mind was suddenly flooded with pictures of him kissing her scars all over her naked body, like he had the one on her arm on their walk. She could feel her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.
“You called me Natalie.” Heat flooded her at his words, but she forced herself to control it and called him out on saying her real name. Even if she couldn’t take her eyes off his.
“I was talking to Natalie when I said it.” He turned back to the road, and the car was left in a heavy silence.
His words reminded her that their trip was based on a make-believe relationship, but his words said that some of it wasn’t pretend. Was he feeling what she was feeling? That pull toward him that had started when he carried her to his truck in the rainstorm? Had that pull started years before when she was too young to really know or care what it meant? All she knew was that she loved it when he had his arms around her and longed for his mouth on hers.
Miles rolled by as the silence between them grew heavier. At lunchtime, they stopped for a sit-down meal, as they were ahead of schedule and couldn’t check into the B&B for another few hours even though they were less than an hour away.
