I break off the kiss to push my forehead to hers, and she loosely hangs on to me as I walk her around the pool. We can both feel the eyes on us, but I don’t care. Right now, it’s just the two of us because nothing and no one else exists.
“Where did you want to go after this?” she asks when I start walking out of the pool.
She shivers against the wind, and I walk over to the table where I have two oversized beach towels. But I carry her all the way over there, not really giving a damn if anyone thinks it’s ridiculous.
When I sit down, she’s still in my lap, and I wrap a towel around her body before hugging her to me. To create some heat through friction, I rub her back with my hands, sliding them against the towel.
“We can go now if you want to. I know you pretty much just got here, but—”
“Let’s go,” she says while grinning.
Her hair is wet, her face is glowing, and her sweet body is all mine for the taking. I wish I could just take her home right now.
“Let’s go,” I echo, trying not to sound as nervous as I am.
Ash glares at us when she overhears, considering the party is just starting, and a lot of planning went into the Luau portion of it. But then she shrugs instead of commenting. I suppose she understands.
After we bid everyone an early goodnight, Brin grabs her purse and we head to my Range Rover. She shivers a little, and I open the door for her to climb in.
As soon as I reach the driver’s seat, I’m pulling a shirt over my head. It’s dark, so this is probably going to creep her out, but it needs to be done.
“Where are we going?” she asks excitedly.
I have a feeling that excitement will be gone soon. Very soon.
“You’ll never guess,” I say while reaching over and taking her hand as I pull out of the driveway and head down the street.
When she squeezes my hand, I take an easy breath. There’s that peace. She’s the reason it’s there.
***
BRIN
When we pull up to the dark, creepy cemetery, I look at him like he’s crazy. This is not a good prank.
But the tension radiating from his body makes me realize this isn’t a joke. What’s going on?
“Rye?” I prompt, reaching back over for his hand. “What’s this?”
He looks over at me, and his lips thin. Finally, he takes a breath and pulls me toward him. I climb over the center piece dividing us, and my towel-wrapped body comes to rest sideways in his lap.
I take both sides of his face in my hands, and press a soft kiss to his lips, trying to do whatever I can to rid him of the nervousness he has. It has me worried.
“This,” he says against my lips, “is me giving you the answers you’ve wanted. If you don’t want to go in there right now, I understand. We can wait.”
I already get creeped out at night, but I’m not about to refuse him. This is apparently some big revelation, and I’m not going to risk him losing his nerve.
I was hoping we’d be going to a candlelit house with rose petals everywhere. And then I thought he might say he wanted to be in a relationship. I didn’t have unrealistic expectations of him admitting he loves me. However, I was willing to accept whatever he was going to offer, because he’s worth it.
But a cemetery? I didn’t expect this at all.
“Do you have a flashlight?” I ask hopefully.
“I have two of them.”
He reaches into the back seat and pulls out the first one to hand to me. Then he grabs a jacket and hands it to me. It wasn’t all that cold until I got wet. Now the night wind isn’t nice.
I take the jacket happily, and he grabs another flashlight. When he opens his door, he helps me down first, and I wait for him to get out before I glue myself to his side.