Strip Search (Tap That)

The wind whipped her hair across her face and broke the moment.

Leighton swiped at it.

“See you Saturday,” Axl said to the phone. “We’re going below deck.” He ended the video.

Leighton shook her head. “Oh, my God, doing that is so hard. How do people film themselves constantly?”

“I have no idea. Not my scene. Normally. Until I met you.” He grinned and moved to undo the rope tying the boat to the dock. “Now I kiss you streaming.”

“That makes two of us. I told you about my beauty pageant failures. I like being a behind-the-scenes kind of girl.” Leighton sat down on a cushion.

“When I’m not at work, I’m a leave-me-alone kind of guy.” Axl went to the wheel. “Okay, I’m starting this thing up.” He didn’t want

to talk. He just wanted to enjoy the sun and the lake and a beautiful woman.

He didn’t want to stop and think about why he not only did he not mind Leighton on his boat, he liked having her there. She was a cute little skipper to his captain.

Which meant he was fucking nuts.

She was going back to LA and her Beverly Hills life and he was staying right here, on the lake. It didn’t matter that nothing about Leighton screamed California other than her blonde hair and her very put-together outfits. She wasn’t arrogant or spoiled or attention-seeking or any of those other stereotypes he had in his head about rich girls from LA. But that was still her home and where she’d grown up and where she belonged, presumably.

Axl drove along the coast until he got to town and then he cut the engine so they could float past Beaver Bend.

“This is a good perspective on the town,” she said, lifting her sunglasses up and scanning the shore. “It’s a cute place. Like what I imagine Norway looking like.”

“Sure, if Norway was drowning in coffee shops and pet groomers.”

Leighton laughed. “And what’s wrong with coffee and clean dogs?”

“Nothing.” Axl sat back, tipping his head to feel the sun on his face. “Someday I’d like a dog. But I’m concerned I work too much. Dogs need time and attention.”

“I’ve never had a dog. My dad is allergic. I would love a dog. But my apartment is too small and I travel too much.”

“I always had a dog growing up.” That was how he envisioned his life as an old man. Fishing with his dog. It was a good goal.

Leighton cocked her head. She was sitting with her ankles crossed. “Why do I picture you as being the kid who ran wild in the woods slapping down branches with a stick?”

“That’s probably pretty accurate. In the summer, I was in the woods. The winter, the ice rink. I loved playing hockey.” Leighton didn’t strike him as a kid who had played sports. “What did you do as a kid?”

“I read books. And suffered through dance lessons and singing lessons. I went on a few acting auditions at my mother’s insistence but I cried at one and ran out on another so my mother gave up on that dream.”

He felt bad for young Leighton. She must have been terrified. “Why do parents want to live vicariously through their kids? I don’t get that.”

“Do you want kids, Axl?” she asked, and her voice sounded wistful.

It told him right away that she wanted a family.

“It’s not what I ever pictured for myself, no,” he said truthfully and reluctantly. He hated when women pressed him, wanting an explanation. He didn’t even know entirely why. He’d just never seen that future for himself and he never wanted to defend that to anyone. “But I don’t know,” he said. “Never say never. I like kids, just never thought I would be good at raising them.”

Leighton didn’t ask him intrusive questions.

She just said, “I completely disagree. I think you’d be a great dad.”

“Thanks.” Axl didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t want to talk about feelings. And he didn’t want her to compliment him. It wasn’t his thing. But he reluctantly asked, needing to hear her answer. “Do you want kids?”

“I’m not sure, honestly. I do, in theory. But in reality, it seems scary. Too much responsibility. I would be happy with a dog.”

That wasn’t the response he had thought he would get. He thought she would say she wanted kids as soon as possible and that he would be able to dismiss him and her as never working because they weren’t on the same page.