“I’ve got a few extra shirts in my truck. Let’s go get changed so we can head to the next activity.”
“There’s more?”
“Of course there’s more. I know the seals are entertaining, but if you’ve given me the day, I’m going to take full advantage. And I won’t end it smelling like fish.”
“All right,” I agreed all too easily, and followed him back to his truck, a smile on my face the entire way.
“I always keep a few spare shirts in the truck since my job can get dirty sometimes,” he said, pulling a small duffle bag out from under the backseat of his cab. “Here.” He handed me a flannel shirt and then immediately started unbuttoning his.
I was frozen for a moment, completely caught up in watching Aiden unbutton, but when he smirked at me, I focused on myself. Well, I tried, anyway. Pulling the sweatshirt over my head, I aimed my gaze low, knowing if I looked up I’d get caught ogling. I’d never wanted to watch a man take off his clothes as much as I wanted to see that flannel disappear off Aiden.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw his flannel shirt hit the seat in the cab of the truck and my eyes flashed to his torso, disappointed to see white cotton there instead of bare skin. I quickly shoved my arms through the flannel, enjoying the softness of the fabric more than I thought I would. It was warm, too. Something I wanted to curl up in bed wearing. While it rained. Listening to a fire crack a roar in a hearth.
I pulled my hair out of the collar, then watched as Aiden finished buttoning up his own shirt.
“Ready?” His eyes found mine, his smile tipping up on one side, and for the first time in my entire adult life, I was.
“Yes,” I breathed, completely aware that my answer was to a different question.
He took my hand again. We’d held hands so many time already that day it was beginning to feel normal. We walked back toward to ocean, only the sound of the waves in the air. It was dark already, but not too cold out.
We walked along the boardwalk and my eyes were drawn to tiny bursts of orange light out in the distance. People on the beach were having campfires and the glow of the flames were soft and soothing when coupled with the lull of the ocean.
We came to a cement staircase that led down to the sand and Aiden sat, unlacing his boots.
“You might want to take your shoes off.”
“We’re going out there?” I asked, motioning toward the roar of the sea.
“You said you’d never been to the ocean before. Of course we’re going out there.”
“I am not going into the ocean at night. For a multitude reasons.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’re not going swimming. It’s too cold for that anyway. But we can put our feet in.”
“If you pull any shenanigans and I end up soaked, I’ll find a way to get you back.”
“Trust me, Rose. The first time I get you soaked, you’ll enjoy it.”
I choked at his words, surprised by his forwardness, but also so desperate to experience what they promised.
He didn’t wink to indicate he was joking. In fact, the smile was absent from his face. His gaze was locked on mine, his face serious, his expression...needy? Was that a thing? He looked like he needed me. Almost as though if he didn’t get me soon, he’d, well, I’m not sure. But from the way he looked it seemed as though he was determined to get me in the end.
“Come on,” he finally said, standing and placing his shoes right next to the staircase.
“You’re just going to leave your shoes there?”
“No one wants my work boots. And your flip-flops were, like, five bucks. Besides, I’m planning on needing my hands.”
Oh, my.
“Okay,” I gulped.
We walked in silence toward the sound of crashing waves, and eventually they came into view. White caps breaking on inky black water. The sand went from being cool, dry, and unstable, to wet, cold, and solid. The waves were getting louder and my heart was beating faster, anticipating the moment when my feet would hit the water.
Suddenly, my feet and ankles were stinging with freezing cold water and the ground beneath me felt as though it was moving.
“Oh, my, gosh,” I stammered, my entire body locking up at the shock of the water. “That’s really cold.”
“Shit, yeah. I forgot how frigid it feels at first. It’ll get better. Give it a minute.”
I laughed, squealing out of shock, trying to force myself to get past the almost painful sensation of the cold water against my skin.
“Nope,” I shouted, giving up just moments later and running back to dryer land.
“Hey,” he yelled after me, laughing. “You can’t run away from your first steps in the ocean.”
“Yes, I can. That’s stupid-cold. I can admire the ocean from the dry sand.”
I heard his footsteps coming after me and another yelp jumped out of me, running away out of instinct, giggling like a silly schoolgirl being chased on the playground.
“Aiden, no!” I screamed as I ran into the dark oblivion. I’d never seen such darkness before. There were no streetlamps, and a thick cloud cover, so not even the moon was lighting the night. I could hear him coming after me, closing the distance I’d put between us with my puny head start. I yelped again when his arms closed around my waist, lifting me into the air and spinning me around.
“Oh, Rose, you can’t run from me,” he said as he carried me back toward the water. “I’ll always catch you.”
“Aiden, please, don’t put me in the water,” I begged as we neared the frigid sea.
“I’m willing to accept bribes.”
I wiggled in his arms, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good and that any attempt at escape was futile.
“What kind of bribe?” I panted, out of breath from our silly game of chase.
“I’ll let you down on dry sand if you promise to kiss me.”
“You want our first kiss to be forced?” I goaded, even though my heart jumped in my chest at the idea.
“You say our first kiss like you’re sure there’ll be more than one.”
His words made my heart pound and other parts of my body vibrate. All of it was a lovely feeling, if not a little scary at how much I enjoyed it.
“Not if you don’t put me down.”
“Promise me.”
“Fine,” I exhaled, pretending to be irritated by his antics. “I promise I’ll kiss you.”
“Tonight.”
“Tonight.”
He promptly turned around and walked me back to the sand that wasn’t too wet, far away from the water, and placed me down gently. His hands slid back around my waist as I got my footing, his fingers gripping me through the flannel. I wanted his hands to stay there, to turn me, for him to take his kiss, but he just let his hands rest on my hips, neither one of us moving away.
I leaned back, letting him take some of my weight, wanting the warmth of him against me, even if he still felt far away. Too far.
“There’s one more thing I want to show you,” he whispered, his breath against my ear making me shiver.
“More?”
He’d already shown me so much. What more could there be?
“Just one last stop, then we can head back to Portland.”
The idea of going back home made me frown. I wasn’t ready for our meeting to be over. The heat of his chest disappeared from my back and he stepped up beside me, linking his fingers with mine. We walked back toward the boardwalk quietly. When we were about fifty yards from the hotels lining the beach, he pulled me away from the direction of the stairs.
“Where are we going?” Confusion set in and I looked up at him with a questioning glance.
“You’ll see.”
“So mysterious,” I teased.
“I’m just looking for any reason to keep you to myself for as long as I can. I know as soon as we get back to Portland you’ll disappear on me again.”
His words, although he said them playfully, struck something inside me.
&nbs
p; “I don’t disappear.”
“You do. You ran away from me so fast the first time we met. If there’d been cell service at the site you would’ve never gotten in my truck.”
“I didn’t know you then.”
“And that’s okay. I hope you don’t make a habit of accepting rides from strange men, but even after that you’ve kept your distance.”
I thought about his words, my brain ticking through the days since we’d met, cataloguing all the time I’d spent thinking about him—or trying not to—and how my first instinct was, in fact, to push him away.
“I’m not good at this.”
“At what?”
“Dating? I don’t even know if that’s what this is. And it’s not just dating, it’s relationships in general. Romantic or otherwise.” The words spilled out of me and for some reason I didn’t want to stop them. Somehow, on that beach in the dark, it was okay to tell Aiden things I’d never told anyone before. Not even my closest friends.
“I have a few girlfriends, but those were all girls I met in college who I was forced to socialize with because we shared a suite. I am not a people person. I’ve never been able to just make friends. Or date. Or hold normal conversations.”
“Unless you’re the boss, right? You don’t have any trouble at work.”
“Work is different. I’m in my element there. I know what I’m doing. When it comes to people, to you in particular, I feel like I’m drowning.”
“I hate that you feel that way. And I hate that it’s me who causes it.”
“It’s not you,” I tried to reassure him, giving his hand a squeeze. “I’m just not cut out for this.”
He tugged on my hand, pulling me back toward him gently, stopping in the middle of the sand.
“Stop it,” he said, his tone firm and strong. The timbre of his voice made my body do all kinds of delicious things. “Maybe you’re not adept at personal relationships, but you’re not incapable. And, by the way, not being social isn’t the worst character flaw someone could have. There are plenty of worse traits, trust me.”
I shrugged, looking up at him. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change anything.”
“Things can change, if you want them to.”
I wanted things to change, so badly. Never had I wanted to be comfortable around people more than when I was with Aiden. And the fact of the matter was, Aiden did make me comfortable. Something about him, about being around him, made me come out of my shell a little. It was scary. And wonderful.
“I think you’re pretty perfect just the way you are,” he whispered. “But I’m more than happy to show you the way of dating adults.”
“I think you’ve already gotten a pretty good start.”
His face was so near to mine, if I just pushed up a little I could touch my lips to his, give him the kiss I promised. The idea made me so crazy nervous, my heartbeat was thundering through my body. Just when I’d gathered enough courage to do it, rising ever so slightly on the balls of my feet and tilting my head slightly, he moved in quickly, pressing his mouth to the shell of my ear.
“Not yet, sweetheart.”
His voice was soft and teasing, like he enjoyed the fact that I was just about to kiss him.
“We still have an activity. No distracting me with your mouth.”
Again, his words sent an exhilarating shiver up and down my spine.
“Come on,” he said, pulling me through the sand.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Here it is,” he announced as he came to a stop, holding out his free hand toward the hotels lining the beach.
I looked around, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
“Here what is?”
“The swing set.”
I squinted, trying to see through the inky darkness, when the metal structure finally came into focus. There, in the middle of the sand, was an honest-to-goodness swing set built from metal poles and chains. It looked old, like it had been put to good use. And even though the beach was the last place I’d expected to see a swing set, it looked oddly like it belonged there.
“I’ll give you a push,” Aiden said playfully. He dropped my hand and pushed the small of my back gently toward the apparatus.
“I can’t remember the last time I was on a swing. Probably elementary school.” I sat on the swing, gripping the chains tightly. I yelped when Aiden pulled me back suddenly, but then laughed as he sent me swishing through the cool evening air, my legs instinctively straightening as I leaned back, my eyes trained on the dark, cloudy sky.
“You want an underdoggy?”
“No,” I cried out, laughing as he pushed me harder, sending my higher into the air. “This is high enough.”
I couldn’t have been more than ten feet off the ground at the highest point, but it was so dark and the endless black sea stretched out in front of me, making it seem as though I was about to float into an never-ending abyss.
“Jump,” Aiden called out.
“What? No! You’re crazy,” I cried as I leaned back in the swing, my hair swishing through the sand as my head skimmed the ground.
“You’ve never jumped off a swing?”
“Not since I was nine and fearless.”
I pulled myself up, leaning forward and bending my knees back as the swing changed direction, heading back toward Aiden. As I reached the top of the arc, I felt his hand very low on my back, gently pushing me forward.
“You can totally do it. It’s like riding a bike. You never forget how to jump off a swing. Plus, you’ll land in sand. Almost impossible to get hurt.”
The idea was thrilling. Even more thrilling than just swinging in the middle of the beach in the darkness with salty air whipping against my skin and flowing through my hair. I was afraid, but the excitement was overpowering.
Could I really fling myself into the unknown? Launch myself from this safe swing and hope I landed on my feet? Trust myself enough to know what I was doing?
It took a few more moments for me to gather enough courage, and each time I swung back toward Aiden I felt his reassuring hand against me, giving me strength even if it wasn’t intentional.
I counted backward from five, my heart thundering harder with each beat, and when the swing hit its farthest point, I leapt.
I also screamed.
Loud.
I looked like a starfish flying off that swing, arms and legs splayed out, squealing as I soared through the air, my hair crazy in the wind.
To my astonishment, I landed feet first in the sand. Not surprisingly, after I hit, the momentum continued and I fell forward, chest hitting the sand with a thud. It was a hard impact, but Aiden was right. I wasn’t injured.
I was delirious, though.
My first instinct was to laugh. It was either laugh or scream some more, and laughing seemed less crazy, so I laughed. I laughed maniacally, until I could hardly breathe. Until there wasn’t much sound coming from me at all, just gasps and wheezing.
“Jesus, Rose. Are you all right? I didn’t think you’d really jump.” He collapsed onto his knees in the sand next to me, his eyes assessing.
“Me neither,” I managed to rasp out on a breath between laughter.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.” More laughter surrounded the word and I rolled onto my side, holding one hand to my stomach and the other to my chest where my lungs ached from laughing so hard.
When the urge to laugh finally fell away, I rolled to my back, exhausted and exhilarated, my hands resting on my stomach, the cool sand beneath me, Aiden still by my side. I took in a much-needed deep breath and let it out, smiling all the while.
“You’re beautiful.”
My head snapped to the side, looking at Aiden, who was staring unabashedly at me, now lying on the sand, head propped up on his hand.
“You’re beautiful all the time, Rose. Prim and proper, wound up tight, or wild and uninhibited, lying on the sand at night, not a care in the world.” He reached out and touched
a strand of my hair that had fallen across my forehead. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
I rolled back to my side to face Aiden, and before I could think too much about it or analyze it to death, I moved closer to him until our chests met. I looked up into his eyes and his fingers moved down my cheek, hooking behind my neck, giving me all the permission I needed.
He waited for me to move in, let me make the first move, pressing my lips softly against his. Gentle at first. Tentative and unsure. Slowly tasting him.
He let me lead the kiss, let me kiss him, get acquainted to the way his body pressed up against mine, get used to the fact that the closer I got the more I never wanted to be away from him again.
Chapter Twelve
Aiden
R
ose had soft lips.
Maybe the softest lips I’d ever kissed.
When I’d made her promise to kiss me, I was expecting a peck on the cheek when I dropped her off at her condo later that night. And, to be honest, I would never force Rose to kiss me at all. In the moment I just thought she needed a little encouragement.
But I never could have expected what happened on that beach.
I brushed away a stray hair from her face and as soon as our eyes met I knew it was over. Or just beginning. I couldn’t bring myself to stop touching her, even if it was just one hand. I couldn’t. So, I didn’t. I slid my hand around her neck and didn’t pull away when she leaned in toward me.
No. I welcomed her. Prayed she wouldn’t get scared and keep her lips from mine.
As much as I wanted her, as badly as I needed to grab hold of her and tug her closer, to envelop her, I knew I had to go slow with her, to let her explore. I wanted her to be comfortable with me and I knew that meant giving her the reins.
She kissed me slowly, her lips just barely brushing mine. But she lingered, almost as if she wasn’t sure if she was finished or not.
I prayed she wasn’t done.
The sand was damp and cold, the wind was picking up, and it definitely wasn’t a warm evening, but I knew I’d lie there as long as she wanted me to, as long as she kept kissing me.
Coming Up Roses Page 10
