“It’s amazing.” Her breath was short. “I thought it would feel like being in a plane, but it doesn’t at all.”
Twilight was in full force below them, and it made the landscape look desolate and beautiful. As they made their way toward the coast, the mountains giving way to the flats, and then to the dunes, she couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” she asked Gray.
“Yeah.” He grinned. “It is.”
“How many times have you flown in a helicopter?”
“A few.” He shrugged. “But this is my first time with you.”
The way he said it made her skin tingle all over.
But it also made her realize how different his life was from hers. These past few weeks they’d felt like equals. Two inhabitants of Hartson’s Creek spending time with each other. Falling for each other. But he wasn’t just some guy who lived in town. He was Gray Hartson. He sold out arenas and took helicopters like they were taxis.
“You okay?” he asked her, as though he noticed her change in thoughts.
“Yeah. Just thinking about your life and mine. How different they are.”
He reached out to stroke her cheek. “That’s why I like you. Why I like this. Watching your face as you experience this flight for the first time. I’m not looking for somebody who likes me because I’m a singer or because I have money. I want you because you like the Gray Hartson who repairs roofs and cuts his hand up.”
The tightness in her chest loosened a little. “But it all has to end soon, doesn’t it? You’ll go back to L.A. and touring, and I’ll be here teaching piano and serving at the diner.” No more late night visits. No more kisses that become dirty. No more hearing his deep voice in her ear as they make love beneath the stars. God, she was going to miss that.
“It doesn’t have to end, Maddie.”
“Okay, folks, we’ll be landing in a few minutes. If you take a look outside, you’ll see the Atlantic Ocean. And up ahead, if you stare real hard, you’ll see a lighter dot. That’s Samphire Island, your destination.”
The dot grew bigger as they got closer, and she slipped her hand into Gray’s as the helicopter slowed down and hovered over the helipad, slowly lowering down until the rails hit the ground.
And when the rotors finally stopped, Gray climbed out first, holding her waist as he helped her to the ground. Maddie knew the night was only just beginning.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dinner was set up on the beach. The white chairs and table were positioned under a canopy of sparkling lights, facing toward the ocean as it ebbed and flowed against the shore. Gray couldn’t stop looking at her, despite the beauty around him. At the way her face lit up as she saw the tiny candles lining a path to the water, or the waiter standing next to the table with a bottle of champagne in his hand and a cloth draped over his forearm.
“This is crazy,” Maddie told him, shaking her head with a grin. “You know that, right?”
“Maybe we need a little crazy,” he said. “It’s been a tough few weeks.”
“You know, I would have put out for a lot less.” She tipped her head to the side. “You don’t have to do all this. I’m pretty much a sure thing where you’re concerned.”
He pulled her against him, closing his eyes as he breathed her in. The floral scents of her shampoo mixed with the salty tang of the ocean, filling him up. “You’re never a sure thing,” he whispered. “I wish you were.”
She tipped her head up to look at him. “Nobody’s ever done this for me. Nobody. And you must know I’d go anywhere for you. It has to be written on my face.”
His throat felt tight. Not just because this felt so right, but because it was what his soul needed. Somebody who wanted him for him. Not because he was Gray the football captain, or Gray the son who managed everything. And definitely not because he was Gray the successful musician.
But because he was Grayson Hartson IV, the kid who cried every night when his mom died, but hid it from his siblings because they needed him to be the strong one. The boy who protected them from their father’s wrath. The teenager who escaped to follow his dreams, only to discover they had an edge of a nightmare, too.
And now Maddie was waking him up from those bad dreams. Showing him what life could be like if he could only have her.
Truth was, he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. Including his career.
“I want to kiss you,” he said, his voice rough.
“Here on the beach?”
“No. In the ocean.” He nodded his head toward the vast darkness. “The way I promised we would.”