“Oh?”
“Yeah, the weather’s better here, if you can believe it. And I love being closer to my family, and you—obviously. But the job on the Adelie is boring.”
“You think your job is boring.” She looked at him like she couldn’t believe he was telling the truth.
“I don’t think it,” he said. “It is.”
She put her treat in her mouth, and Dave had a hard time functioning as he watched her pretty pink lips move. He had to kiss her soon, or he’d combust. He felt sure of it.
“Unbelievable,” she finally said. “And here I am, worrying about you.”
He reached out and touched her hand. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“I guess not.”
“I mean, you could get bitten by a dog. I literally don’t even think about it.”
“Thanks,” she said in a dry tone, and rolled her eyes.
“Trust me,” he said as he scooped up more cake. “I’m thinking about you all day long. Just not that you’ll get a dog bite.” He grinned at her and popped the chocolate deliciousness in his mouth. “More like how much longer I can last without kissing you.”
Her eyes flashed with dark fire, and Dave wanted to get seared by it. Badly. “Well, maybe not much longer,” she teased.
“Is that so?” he asked. “Are you going to give me a timeframe?”
She took a bite of ice cream with fudge swirled through it. “Nope.” She shook her head, that flirtatious smile on her face. “It’ll be a surprise.”
Dave smiled back at her, feeling like someone had filled his blood with carbonation. “Can’t wait.”
Chapter Twelve
Brooklynn hadn’t had a date for Valentine’s Day in years. The February before Ryker had died, he’d been out of town and she’d made herself a batch of red velvet cupcakes and gone to her parents’ house.
But tonight, Dave was coming to get her and they were going to Bell Hill for dinner and dancing. He’d apparently bought a ticket to a community event up there the local dance studio was putting on.
“There will be food and music,” he’d told her earlier in the week when he’d asked her out. “It looks like it’ll be fun at least. If we’re hungry because the food is bad, we can stop anywhere you want.”
She’d readily agreed, because she didn’t care what she did with Dave. They’d been spending many evenings together, sometimes just at her house, and sometimes at his. If it wasn’t raining, they walked down the pier and got him his beloved hot dog. She loved the pork nachos at a nearby place, and she’d become grateful for the walking and standing her job required as she ate out more and more.
She still hadn’t kissed him, and she knew he was dying a slow death. He had not brought it up again, not even to say, “I hope I get my surprise tonight.”
“Tonight,” Brooklynn told herself as she slipped into the dark green dress she’d bought with Julie the previous evening. The dress shop had just gotten in a new selection as most women didn’t wait until the night before Valentine’s Day to get their shopping done. But Brooklynn hadn’t dated in a while, and her wardrobe was sorely lacking for nice dinners and fancy dates.
She put the necklace with her first wedding band around her neck and tucked it under the collar of the dress. She’d worn it a few times when she’d gone out with Dave, and he’d never mentioned it. She hadn’t either, but she felt like her whole heart was with her when she wore it. And she wanted to be complete when she was with Dave.
Her group therapy had gone well. She was with several other people who had severe fears, and the first few sessions had been a discussion of who they were and why they were afraid of what they were.
Two other people had lost family members to accidents, one to a snake bite, and one in a mountain biking accident in Olympia Park. She’d become fast friends with them, and when her phone chimed, it was from Darcy, the woman whose brother who had passed away five years ago because he wasn’t wearing a helmet and fell down part of a mountain.
Have fun with Dave tonight!
Brooklynn had told her about Dave and his job, and Darcy had encouraged her to keep dating him. Brooklynn didn’t exactly want to break up with him—the very thought gave her anxiety. But his job also caused a great deal of unrest within her.
Thanks, she texted back. What are you and Ty doing?
Staying in. He got Thai and I picked a movie.
It sounded like heaven to Brooklynn, and she wondered if she and Dave would ever just stay in on holidays. She hoped so. And she hoped they’d go out too. She realized in that moment that she was thinking long-term with him, and she waited for the fear to hit her right behind the lungs.
But it didn’t.
A smile touched her lips as tears formed in her eyes. No, she wasn’t ever going to stop loving Ryker. But maybe her heart was now open to love someone else as much as she’d once loved him.
She slipped on her shoes and went into the bathroom to make sure her hair wasn’t a frizzy mess. She’d just tamed her curls when Dave rang the doorbell. That got her heart working hard, and she hushed her pups as they yipped and ran ahead of her as if a dangerous man stood on the doorstep.
“It’s just Dave,” she said to Cinnamon, who led the pack despite being the smallest.
“Just Dave?” he echoed when she opened the door. But he wore a playful smile that said he was kidding, as well as the most handsome black suit, with a bouquet of red roses in his hand.
“Hey, you,” she said, grinning at him for all she was worth. She felt sixteen again, especially now that she’d realized that she wasn’t afraid of a future with Dave.
“Hey, yourself.” He swept right into her house, taking her easily into his arms. She’d been waiting for lightning to strike or some major strong feeling to overwhelm her before she kissed Dave. The right time. Something.
But giggling and looking up at him, she realized she had to make the right time. She lifted up in her heels, whispered “Surprise,” and pressed her lips to his. Heat exploded through her, and when he growled low in his throat and brought her closer, she was really glad he had such a great hold on her body.
He kissed her, and Brooklynn had never been kissed with as much emotion and passion as Dave had in his touch. Her head swam, and she felt herself falling, falling, falling, the way she’d only done once before in her life.
She kissed him back, hoping she was conveying everything she felt for him too. By the time he finally pulled away, she couldn’t breathe properly, and she felt like she’d just wrestled with a fifty-pound dog to get him to hold still so she could clip around his eyes.
He pressed his forehead to hers and swayed with her. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he whispered. “I had flowers, but I’m not sure where they went.” He made no move to try to find them. He lowered his head and skated his lips along her throat, making her shiver. “We should probably go. The dinner starts in half an hour.”
“Mm,” she said, enjoying the warmth from his body as it melded with hers.
He did pull completely back then, and he stooped to pick up the roses he’d dropped. “Here they are.” He looked at her over the top of the petals, and Brooklynn’s breath caught in her chest.
“You’re so handsome,” she said, taking the flowers. “Thank you. Do I have time to put them in water?”
“If you want,” he said, coming in and closing the door behind him. He bent down to pat her dogs while she got out a vase and filled it with water. She arranged the roses, smiling at them as happiness burst through her.
“All right,” she said, taking her coat off the back of the couch and letting him help her into it. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and pushed her hair back so he could kiss her ear. “Ready?” she asked.
“Ready.” He turned her in his arms and kissed her again, and Brooklynn decided this was definitely the best Valentine’s Day she’d ever had.
A couple of hours later, the dinner had concluded but the dancing was still going strong. Bro
oklynn’s feet hurt in her heels, and when Dave caught her adjusting the straps for the third time, he said, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah?” she asked. “I’m fine.”
“Well, I want a hamburger,” he said with a smile. Dinner had been nice, actually. Chicken cordon blue with mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. The dance students were currently giving ballroom lessons to couples, and Brooklynn had enjoyed the teen who’d helped her and Dave learn to twirl and dip.
“Oh, I’ll take one of those,” Brooklynn said, linking her arm through his as they headed for the coat closet and then slipped out into the night. Every move he made was perfection, from how he helped her into her coat to how he took her hand firmly yet gently in his.
He guided her with his hand on her back while she got in the SUV, and then he leaned into the car after her. “That was really fun, right?”
“Totally,” she said, seeing some apprehension in his gorgeous eyes. She leaned toward him, glad when he closed the distance between them and kissed her. She held onto his face, completely enamored with the taste of him, the smell of him, the feel of his mouth against hers.
Someone honked, and Dave pulled back, moving smoothly out of the doorway and closing the door behind him. He walked around the front of the car and got behind the wheel. “So where to?”
“You said you wanted a hamburger.”
“I do, but there’s at least a dozen choices for that.”
“You pick.”
He glanced at her, and he was probably thinking she’d have another break-down if he chose wrong. So she said, “I love Tricky’s,” she said. “And they have sweet potato fries they serve with maple syrup.”
“Are you serious?” he asked.
“You’ve never had them?”
“I have not.”
“Well, prepare to have your mind blown.”
He chuckled, reached over and took her hand, and lifted her wrist to his lips. “Have I told you today that I really like you?”
“Not today.” She leaned her head back and smiled, her eyes drifting closed.
“Tired?”
“No,” she answered. “Just happy to be here with you.”
A few seconds passed as he pointed the SUV back toward Hawthorne Harbor. “Up for talking about something serious?”
Brooklynn straightened and opened her eyes. “Depends.”
“I knew you’d say that.” He let go of her hand and turned down the radio. “It’s about a family,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot the past couple of weeks. I’m not sure why.”
Kids. “Oh,” she said.
“You don’t want kids?” He seemed surprised.
“It’s not that I don’t,” she said. “Ryker and I—he….” She didn’t know how to answer that wouldn’t make her former husband seem like a non-serious playboy. “He didn’t want them right away, and I said that was fine.”
“Okay,” Dave said, and she’d seen him shut down this way before. Usually when he didn’t know what to do or say. She’d really like to see him in action on his ship, because he probably always knew what to do and exactly what to say.
“I’m thirty-eight,” she said next. “If I want to have a baby of my own, that would need to happen pretty soon.”
“Yeah?” Dave asked, and it was obvious he was oblivious to women’s issues.
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “Women can’t have kids forever, Dave.”
“I know that.” He cut a glance at her and focused on the dark road in front of them again. “So how soon?”
Brooklynn felt backed into a corner, and she shrugged, the idea of having a baby forming fully in her mind. “Soon.”
He didn’t say anything else, and the drive back to Hawthorne Harbor seemed to take no time at all, both of them inside their own minds. He pulled up to the Tricky’s drive-through and ordered their food, and they went back to her house to eat.
He loosened that tie and discarded his jacket like he’d done with his Coast Guard uniform a time or two before, and Brooklynn stood and watched how comfortable he was in her house.
“Would you move in with me?” she asked, and he froze.
He looked at her with wide eyes and swallowed before he spoke. “You want to live together?”
Brooklynn suddenly realized how her question had sounded, and her face heated. “I meant after we’re married.”
If anything, his eyes grew larger and his mouth actually dropped open. “Married?”
“Stop it,” she said, finally tearing her eyes from his and opening their food bags. “You’re the one who just brought up babies,” she said. “Pretty sure we need to get married before that can happen.” She cocked her eyebrows at him and cocked her head. “Unless you’d like my mother to die of a heart attack before she gets to meet her second grandchild.”
“Well, yeah,” Dave said, approaching the kitchen. “I was just seeing if you wanted kids. You didn’t seem super keen on it.”
“I’m keen on it,” she said. “I just…hadn’t thought about it in a while.” She pulled out his burger and slid it to him. “And I was just seeing if you thought you’d move in here, or if I’d move in with you.”
“Your place is way nicer,” he said.
“And yours is much bigger,” she said. “And closer to the edge of town, so it’s not as crowded.”
“Your place does not feel crowded,” he said, sitting and unwrapping his burger.
“Harder to get to the highway to get to Port Angeles.”
“It’s five minutes.”
“So you have strong feelings about living here.”
“No,” he said. “I’m just saying—I have no feelings. I don’t care.”
Brooklynn wished he’d have a stronger opinion. She bit into her gypsy burger, the bacon and caramelized onions making a party with the juicy beef in her mouth. She glanced down at her dogs, all lined up like the three blind mice. Except, of course, they weren’t blind, and they could see that hamburger, please share, thank you very much.
“I don’t want to live here,” she said, her voice barely loud enough for her own ears to hear. She took a bite of her burger and looked at Dave.
He stared at her again, this time clearly to tease her. Sure enough, in the next moment, he laughed, the tension in the house breaking with the jovial sound of it. Leaving his burger on the counter, he got up and came around to where she stood.
He took her into his arms, forcing her to stop eating too, and gazed down at her. “Wherever you want is fine,” he said. “We could get a new place.”
Instead of answering, she kissed him, not quite sure what she was feeling and not knowing how to articulate it. “Mm,” he said against her lips. “You taste really good.”
She laughed and swatted him back. “Stop it. I’m not your hamburger.”
“No, but yours tastes good.” He grinned at her again, and Brooklynn couldn’t help laughing. For the first time, her laughter sounded as joyful as his did, and that only made Brooklynn happier than she already was.
Chapter Thirteen
Dave tugged lightly on the leash, the boxer he’d just picked up from the animal shelter not quite sure he wanted to go home with him for the weekend. “Come on, bud. I’ll let you sleep in the bed.”
As if the dog could understand English, he finally jumped into the back of Dave’s SUV. “Good boy, Tantor.” He scrubbed the dog behind his ears, and by the time he got in the driver’s seat, the dog sat in the passenger seat. “Yep, you get to ride up front too.” Dave rolled the window down, glad the rain had started to lessen slightly now that March had dawned.
“Now, my girlfriend doesn’t like it when dogs jump on her,” he said as he started driving back to his place. Brooklynn had promised him dinner at his home that night, and his mouth watered just thinking about her cooking.
And the woman.
Oh, the woman.
The woman had made her way right into his heart, and he’d fallen way beyond a crush. He
told her every time he saw her how much he liked her, but he’d never quite made it to I love you.
He honestly wasn’t sure what love looked like or felt like. He knew he loved seeing Brooklynn, and talking to her, and the time he had to spend at work with others had become a chore.
He thought of the retirement packet he’d shoved in a drawer a few weeks ago. He hadn’t brought it up with Brooklynn, though they’d talked about pretty much everything else. Kids, marriage, their future.
Dave wondered if she’d say yes if he asked her to marry him tonight. The idea felt false in his mind, and he dismissed it. She wasn’t ready—and he wasn’t even sure he was in love with her.
“Here we are,” he said, turning the corner and seeing a black truck parked in his driveway. “And hey, Charlie’s here too, and so is Pierce. He’ll love you.” He pulled in beside his brother and made the boxer sit before he could get out of the SUV.
Charlie met him on the porch, his face full of anxiety. “There you are. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“It didn’t ring,” he said, pausing to look at his brother. “What’s going on?”
“Jackie’s in labor,” he said. “You said I could bring Pierce here when that happened.”
Surprise punched Dave in the face. “Oh, my heck. Yeah, of course. Go.”
“I wasn’t sure if I should leave him with Brooklynn, but she said it was fine.”
“So you’ve only been here a minute.”
“Yeah, just pulled up. He’s got his overnight bag, and Mom said she can take him during the day tomorrow if you need a break. The house is torn apart, but she said they could go to the mall or something.”
“Go, Charlie,” Dave said. “We’ll feed him and keep him alive for the weekend.” He grinned as his brother did, and Dave gave him a quick hug. “Tell Jackie we love her.”
“Will do.” Charlie practically ran down the steps to his truck, and the engine roaring to life startled Tantor, who whined and pulled toward the front door.
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