Kane smiled. “Fair enough.”
I could tell he liked that I turned his own words on him.
“But will you do me one favor, Meadow?”
“Depends,” I said, looking at the crashing waves.
He gently moved my face towards him and looked into my eyes.
“Believe me when I tell you how beautiful you are.”
His eyes never broke contact with mine as he said those words to me. He meant it. I could tell.
Men were always telling me I was perfect and beautiful, but they never actually thought about what they were saying. They never actually meant it. Kane meant it. He saw me. I felt the connection between us.
My stomach filled with butterflies and I was left speechless. His words meant so much to me and I leaned forward to kiss him so that he knew it. This time, our kiss felt different. It was more than just our lips that were connecting.
A cool breeze passed over us and I shivered slightly. Kane moved to sit behind me, his legs on either side wrapping me up tightly and keeping me warm. Despite my reluctance, deep down I knew I could trust him. I was safe with him.
“It’s just that my husband …” I started to say.
“Your husband?” he said, cutting me off mid-sentence and removing his arms from around me.
“My ex-husband,” I quickly clarified.
I only relaxed again when I felt his arms return around me.
“He was a cheater. He cheated on me for years. With so many women.”
“He sounds like a piece of shit,” Kane said.
“That’s an understatement. At first it was just random affairs with women when he was away for work. But gradually they grew more serious. The last woman he was with was a full on relationship. He was leading a double life. She didn’t even know he was married.”
“I don’t understand how people can do that. Lead double lives, I mean. It seems exhausting and like it’s just asking for trouble. I’ve always been a one woman man, Meadow. That’s something I know about myself. When I’m with a woman, she’s my entire universe. I’m not kidding.”
I didn’t want to look at him for fear he’d see dreamy little hearts form in the pupils of my eyes. Prior to him saying that, I had convinced myself that there wasn’t a man on earth who thought that way anymore.
“I put up with my husband’s cheating until this last woman. Once I realized he was in love with her, I just snapped.”
“You mean, you knew about his cheating before?”
“Yup.”
“And you said nothing?”
“Nope.”
“Why not? You should have cut off his dick and mailed it to his mother so she knew what a bad job she did. You don’t deserve a man like that. No woman does.”
“I was too scared to admit it to myself. I was terrified. It was like, as long as I didn’t bring it up, it wasn’t really real. He gave me everything. Well, everything money can buy. He provided for me and I was paralyzed with fear at the thought of having to be on my own.”
“You’re on your own now, and you’re doing great,” he said, squeezing me tight.
“Haha, yeah, it’s been a real solid twenty-four hours of independent woman power.”
“Hang on. You left him yesterday?” Kane said in shock.
“Yup.”
“Jeez. Well that certainly explains why you’re feeling so fragile. So what, you called him out for cheating yesterday and left him in your dust?”
“Not technically. I called him out months ago, but to my surprise, he actually ended it with the other woman and begged me to stay. He made promises to be a better man. He promised we’d finally have the baby I’d been begging for. He gave me expensive gifts and promised I’d never have to worry again.”
“Big promises.”
“I stayed on a trial basis, but I knew in my heart it was over. It was never real to begin with. Well, I thought it was, otherwise I never would have married him. But his cheating started weeks after we got married, and it never stopped. With each affair he proved he loved me less and less. All his promises were empty and broken, just like our marriage.”
“I hate that you stayed with him through all that. Sounds like you’ve been robbed of knowing what a real man’s love should feel like.”
“Tell me about it.”
“So, why yesterday? What made you finally leave?”
“Well, speaking of fragile moods. Remember this morning when you saw me at the café?” I said, reaching into my purse for my phone.
“Yeah.”
“I’d just been crying.”
“I could tell. I’m actually slightly relieved to know I’m not one-hundred percent responsible for all your tears in the last twenty-four hours.”
We both laughed and I opened the emails on my phone.
“Just before you arrived, I watched this video some guys sent me. I don’t know who they are, where they came from, or how they knew Matt, but yesterday these four big, bad looking guys showed up at our home in Palo Alto. They were looking for Matt. They knew he was a cheater and a liar and told me I deserved better. It was strange. For years I knew it, but it was like I needed to hear it from those guys before I believed it.”
“They’re right.”
“Anyway. Long story short, in a daze, I handed them my wedding band and let them into my home to find Matt. Then I just got in my car and drove away. I didn’t look back once.”
I held up my phone and hit play. I couldn’t believe what I was about to show him. It was so personal. I wondered if it might even scare him off, giving him a glimpse into my dramatic soap opera life. Part of me was dying to share it with someone though. It was still so surreal.
We watched as the camera followed the men down the hall to my bedroom. As soon as the door was broken open and there was a clear view of Matt, I felt my eyes fill with tears. Kane took the phone from my hands and pressed pause.
“Is that him? Is that your cheating fuck face ex?”
I wiped my tears and nodded. Kane held the phone up closer to his face and got a better look at Matt.
“Do they kill him? They look like tough guys. I hope they killed him.”
“No. They just made him strip naked,” I said, tears mixing with laughter as I realized what I was saying.
Kane started laughing with me.
“They spanked him, then they made him shove my wedding band up his ass.”
I wiped my face, and Kane forced himself to stop laughing. We really weren’t sure if it was funny or disturbed, but laughing felt good. He closed the video and put my phone back in my purse.
“Whoever those guys are, I’m glad they gave you the wake up call you needed. That asshole of an ex-husband had no business being with a beautiful, amazing woman like you. Come on. Let’s go down to the water.”
He jumped down from the lifeguard post and landed in the sand. He put his arms out for me and, after hesitating just a second, I leapt right into them.
CHAPTER 31
KANE
I’d happily catch that woman any time she wanted. She wasn’t my usual type, but she had me captivated.
From first glance she seemed so well put together, so in control, but as I peeled back the layers, I was learning that there was much more to her than what initially met the eye.
I couldn’t believe any man would take a woman like her for granted. That gang of brothers did the right thing, putting her ex in his place. Meadow deserved the best. Any man that didn’t understand that, didn’t deserve to be within a million miles of her.
“Ahh what are you doing?” she exclaimed as I spun her around.
“I just can’t keep my hands off of you.”
Still holding her, I kissed her. She wrapped her legs around me and I held her closer. What started as a gentle kiss, quickly became more intense. This woman drove me crazy, in the best possibly way. I pressed my lips firmly against hers, causing them to part slightly so my tongue could find hers. The second our tongues met, my dick was fully er
ect again. Right then I made it my mission to have my tongue explore every inch of her perfect body.
I knew she realized I was hard for her when I noticed a smile grow on her face as we kissed. I let her body drop slightly and I thrust her back up so that her body pressed against my hard-on.
“I’m not sure who likes you more, me or my dick,” I said.
She giggled.
“Where did you come from, Kane?”
“I already told you, right here in Pismo Beach.”
“You dork. You know what I mean. I’m still trying to believe that you’re real. That this night is actually happening. Being in a place like this, with a man like you. I’ve never had a man make me feel the way you do. You seem too good to be true.”
It felt really nice for her to say that to me. What felt even better was that for the first time in two years, the feeling of getting close to a woman wasn’t making me hit the panic button. The old me would have gone running for the hills after a moment like this.
While I was hanging out with Steph, I figured the reason I wasn’t feeling connected to her was because I wasn’t ready to move on. Being with Meadow quickly made me realize that I was ready after all. I just hadn’t found the right woman.
“You know what I love?” I said, and her eyes widened immediately.
“No.”
“Swimming at night,” I said.
She laughed.
“Come swim with me,” I said as I put her back on her feet.
“I can’t. I don’t have a swim suit.”
“Neither do I,” I said with a smirk.
I pulled off my shirt and dropped it on the sand. Then I undid my pants and boxers and stepped out of them. I hoped she would follow my lead.
She didn’t.
I don’t think she’d even noticed I was naked yet. She was too focused on the darkness of the ocean and her excuses not to get in.
“It looks freezing,” she said. “And there could be anything out there at night.”
“You mean like sea monsters?”
She didn’t answer but the way she was looking at the ocean told me she believed that wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
“Trust me,” I said.
“We don’t have towels.”
“Please Meadow. We really want you to get naked and come swimming with us.”
“We?”
She looked around at me for the first time, finally noticing that I was completely naked.
“We,” I said again, indicating my raging hard on.
When she saw the size of my cock for the first time, her eyes widened. She raised her hand to cover her mouth. Seeing her reaction only made me harder.
“Holy cow! That was inside me?”
“It’s the only sea monster you need to be afraid of, babe.”
She let out a laugh.
“You’re so ridiculous, Kane.”
“You’ve been warned,” I said, taking her hand and leading her closer to the ocean.
“It’s tempting, Kane,” she said, eyeing my massive cock, “but I’m just terrified at the thought of getting into that dark water. All I can think of is whales and giant squid and all the other creatures that might grab me.”
“You sure?” I said, stepping into the water.
“Go ahead. I’ll watch.”
“All right. You’re off the hook, but only because it’s night time.”
I gave her a kiss and ran into the water, diving head first into the first wave I came to. I came up for air and looked back to her on the shore. She was rolling up the bottoms of her pants to take a few steps into the water.
I dove back under the water and swam out a bit. The beach at the pier was usually crawling with people, but at night, it was like a completely different spot. I loved being in the ocean at night, but honestly, there isn’t any time I don’t love being in the ocean.
There was a time, after the accident, when I couldn’t go near it, but that time had passed.
I turned around and let the waves take me back to shore.
“Isn’t it the most incredible thing?” I said, rising out of the frothy water.
“Pretty amazing,” she said, but I wasn’t sure if she was eyeing my cock or the water.
I let the waves crash against my legs and naked ass as I stood there, looking at her.
“Three quarters of the world is covered by ocean. We’ve barely explored any of it.”
“Incredible,” she agreed, but this time she was definitely looking at my cock.
“So vast, so deep, so mysterious.”
“I’ll say,” she said, and let the most adorable, naughty smirk cross her face.
“You’re a naughty girl,” I teased.
“What do you expect, mister naked?”
I laughed and let myself fall backwards into a wave that was coming up behind me.
“Aren’t you afraid of sharks?” she said when I came back up.
“I don’t allow myself to be afraid. There are too many wondrous things in the ocean to let fear get the best of you. Think of all the creatures they haven’t even discovered yet!”
“That’s what scares me.”
“What about blue whales? Do you know how big they are?”
“More or less.”
I looked at her, so pretty in the moonlight.
“I’m not boring you, am I?”
“Not at all.”
“Just tell me to shut up if I go on too long. I can get totally carried away talking about the ocean.”
“I like listening to you, Kane. I like that you’re passionate about things.”
“I’m very passionate about blue whales. Did you know their arteries are big enough for a person to swim in?”
“I did not,” she said.
“Or that a car could park in their heart?”
“I had no idea they were that big.”
I stood up and strode toward her.
“They’re massive,” I said, giving my cock a little shake.
Her smile killed me. I had to kiss it. I loved that she was in the ocean, even if just barely. I stood up and reached for her face to kiss her. She let me kiss her, but she backed her body away from mine to avoid getting wet. I laughed and turned to dive back in the water.
Before I swam out too far for her to hear me, I paused and turned around.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come in? It feels so good.”
“Yup. Quite sure,” she said, without hesitation.
“You should come in and let the waves wash away your ex-husband. The tide can pull all his negativity into the water and you’ll be free from it.”
She looked at me like that was exactly what she needed. She bent over and held out her hands to touch the water washing over her feet. She looked back up at me and shook her head. I thought I’d convinced her but she was clearly a stubborn woman.
“There’s so much symbolism in waves,” I said.
“You really are quite the surfer, aren’t you?”
“I guess so. Should I stop?”
“No. Keep going. Please. It’s been a long time since I spent any time with a man who was passionate about anything.”
I smiled and carried on.
“So waves. Dude, they’re like not only totally gnarly to shred on, but they’re like a wickedly symbolic metaphor for life, bro,” I said in my most exaggerated surfer voice.
She burst out laughing. Her laugh was one of my favorite things about her. I felt like I wanted to spend my whole life making her laugh.
“But seriously. Life is change, and there’s always something new coming your way, just like the waves approaching the shore. Some are bigger than others, some are better than others, some we want, some we don’t. But whether you like it or not, they’re always coming.”
“You’re right, Kane.”
“You can’t stop a wave, but you can learn to surf it.”
Meadow was really listening, really appreciating my take on things, and it made me feel proud of
what I had to say.
“Sometimes we don’t want the wave yet, maybe we don’t feel ready for it, but no matter what, it’s coming, and that’s okay. If we allow ourselves to relax and float in the water, we’ll simply rise as it passes by. There’s no need to worry about missing it, because there’s always another one coming.”
I demonstrated by letting an approaching wave lift me up and then down. Then I swam to where the waves were cresting. I stood with my back to the ocean, my legs spread wide, my arms crossed tightly in front of my chest, and I faced her.
“If we resist, no matter how hard we try, they’ll knock us over.”
I let the big wave crash against my back before taking me under the water. I let it keep me under longer than I had to. When I finally came back up for air I continued.
“The harder we struggle against it, the longer it will keep us under and drag us against the ocean floor.”
“You had me worried there,” she said. “I thought you’d never come back up.”
I smiled at her.
“Then there’s the perfect wave. The wave with our name on it. A wanted change. A needed change. The change we’re ready for. We see it coming and it’s exciting. We get on top of that wave, leap to our feet on the board, and ride it all the way to shore.”
I dove on top of a wave and used my body like a surfboard. I rode it all the way back to Meadow.
It was bigger than I anticipated. I could feel the power build as it carried me. Meadow got closer and closer and I could see she wasn’t aware of what was happening. I tried to get her attention, but just as I called out for her to move, I was too late. The wave broke right in front of her, giving her only enough time to turn her back on it. The force pushed her over and she fell with a splash into the water.
I couldn’t believe the irony. I laughed as I ran to lift her back up to her feet. Another wave beat me to her, covering her with more water. When I reached her, she was fine, but she wasn’t laughing.
“Kane! I’m soaked. I’m so embarrassed. Quit laughing at me,” she said, trying to fix her hair.
“You’re just ocean kissed. That wave really got you good,” I said, helping her out of the water.
I could tell she’d had enough beach time. I shook myself off as much as I could before putting my pants and shirt back on.
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