“Don’t get me wrong,” she goes on. “I liked it. I just got publicly claimed by the Warren Knight. It’s quite the accomplishment.”
I try really hard not to like the fact that she liked me being possessive of her, but I can’t stop myself.
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie as we reach the car.
She chuckles and pats me on the arm. “Sure you don’t.”
My driver already has the door open for us, so we slide in easily, and I crowd Trix’s space as soon as I settle into the seat beside her. I tug one of her legs to rest over mine, and she responds to the comfortable gesture by resting her head on my shoulder. I stretch out my arm behind her back and hold her against me, tracing soft circles on the skin of her arm.
We stay like that the entire ride back to my gated community, with such familiarity that it feels like I’ve been holding Trix like this for years.
Once we pull up to my house and exit the car, I give my driver a nod of thanks and then start heading up my driveway. But when Trix starts veering towards my front door, I tug her away.
She looks over at me with question in her eyes. “We’re not going inside?”
“I figured we can get a few more things off your to-do list tonight,” I tell her.
I lead her around the grassy expanse of my front yard, all the way to the back. I unlock the gate with my code, and then I take her past the patio area and pool, heading down the private hilly pathway that leads to the beach.
As soon as she realizes where we’re heading, her breath catches in her chest. “You’re taking me to the ocean?” she asks quietly as I help her down the wooden steps inlaid into the side of the hill.
“I am.”
She’s quiet, making me wonder what she’s thinking, but when I look back at her, I see that she’s watching me with an inquisitive look on her face, a slight pucker between her eyebrows like she’s trying to figure me out.
When we reach the bottom of the hill and hit the soft sand, I bend down to relieve her of her shoes. I tap her gently on her ankle to indicate what I want, and she dutifully raises one foot and then the other for me.
I let my touch stroke its way lightly around her ankle, marveling at the softness of her skin. I carefully unclasp the back of the straps before tossing the heel
s onto the ground.
She groans a little and lets her toes sink into the soft sand. “Oh shit, that feels good,” she says, looking down. “It’s so soft!”
I smile at her enthusiasm as I kick off my own shoes and socks, leaving them next to hers.
Retaking her hand, I tug her towards the cusp of the ocean waves. Her face lights up as soon as the water grazes her toes. And the way she looks out at the ocean… It’s mesmerizing.
With the moon lighting up her face, she looks like a goddess I want to worship. Just one simple moment like this, of her just looking at the ocean, and she’s filled with palpable joy. And that’s what she brings to me every time I’m around her, I realize. This excitement for life that I’d lost.
Looking at her like this, her white dress practically glowing, tendrils of her pink hair floating around her face from the winds, and her eyes locked on the waves—she has such a look of wonderment in her expression that it makes my chest ache.
Unable to go a second longer without touching her more, I reach up to grab her chin, turning her face towards me. “You act like you’ve never seen the ocean before,” I murmur.
Her eyes dart over to look at the water again before meeting mine. “I’ve looked at it lots of times, but…” she trails off.
“But what?”
“I’ve never been able to come down and see it for myself. To feel it. I’ve always been separated before.”
I can relate to that, but for me, it was because of my own detachment. Something that is slowly fading away whenever she’s in my presence.
My hands move, trailing down her waist, and then I skim my fingers down to the hem of her dress and pause.
She shivers, but she doesn’t reach down to stop me. Instead, her hands automatically twine behind my neck to pull me closer.
“Two items,” I tell her quietly.
Her tongue darts out to lick her lips. “What?”