“It’s been called Dandelion since I opened the doors. You just now noticed?”
“Even thinking about you hurt, so I did everything I could to bury my head in the sand. We spent a lot of time avoiding each other, remember?”
“All too well,” she admitted.
Because she’d done exactly the same thing—buried her head deep in the sand so that she wouldn’t have to look around and see signs of Trent everywhere on the island. The first place they’d kissed. The first place they’d made love. The first place they’d said I love you. But now, as she gazed into his loving eyes, she was struck by the sincerity in them. Struck, too, by the realization that it was time to finally lift her head all the way out of the sand and face the man standing before her.
“You’re right. We’ve gone way too long without talking about what happened.”
All of the chairs in her studio were covered with supplies, so they sat on the floor among the paint fumes and wet brushes. Trent immediately tugged her in close, pulling her legs over his lap, the way he always used to. Despite the difficult conversation they were about to have—or maybe because of it—she needed the closeness. And she could tell that he did, too.
But even as she wiggled in closer while her heart went crazy—and the look in his eyes told her that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him just then—she knew they really did need to talk. Because sex without love had never been her thing. Not ten years ago. And not now.
“Trent...” There was so much she needed to say to him that all the words got tangled up inside her head. “I don’t know where to start,” she admitted in a soft voice.
“I think maybe I do,” he said, his words gentle, soothing her the same way his hand stroking over her back worked to calm her jumping nerves. “Yesterday you asked me why I waited ten years to come back for you. Today I think I may have finally figured out the reason. At least part of it.”
“Tell me, Trent. I need so badly to understand.”
“I never really loved New York City. Not the way everyone thought I did.” She was stunned by his confession, but she made herself stay quiet to let him continue speaking. “As the eldest Rockwell, I felt so much pressure to succeed, and I was afraid to let my family, and myself, down by coming back to the island. I knew my father didn’t want me to end up working under Chandler’s thumb the way he had his whole life. So even though New York never really fit—especially not without you—I stayed because I felt like I had something to prove to everyone.” He shook his head. “And now I wish I had come back years ago. Come back to you and the life we should have had here together.”
Reese was struck dumb as she tried to fit what he’d said into the reality she’d believed for ten years. She’d thought he craved the busy, corporate environment and the challenge of getting to the top of the industry ladder. But could she have been as blind to his true emotions as he’d been to hers back then?
“But after I left you that note,” she said slowly, “when you did come back to talk with me that final time, you told me you had to work those crazy round-the-clock hours to gain footing. And I knew there was no point in trying to argue with you, not when you had such laser focus on success.”
“I was twenty-six, Reese. Full of invincibility and driven to succeed, and too blinded by the belief that I needed to make sure the Rockwell name meant as much in New York as it did here on the island that I refused to consider any other options.” He ran a hand through his hair in obvious frustration. “Ten years later I now know that while other lawyers were living and breathing the business, I wasn’t working round-the-clock because I loved the law above all else. I was simply trying to prove to everyone that I was worthy of the Rockwell name. Worthy of my position in our family. I was trying to show Chandler that I didn’t need his name to succeed. And I wanted my father to feel that guiding us to leave the island and get out from under his father’s thumb was a good thing.”
“It was a good thing. You are so well respected in your field, Trent. Regardless of your reasons for working so hard, I won’t let you try to tell me otherwise. And I definitely don’t want to take that away from you.”
“You’re beautiful when you’re adamant.”
“Stop… Your touch is kryptonite to my mental abilities. It’s so easy for me to forget everything we went through and end up in your arms again, but...” She stopped and looked into his eyes. “I want to make sure being together is more than just physical. That it’s emotional, too. And honest. As honest as we can possibly be with each other.”