"We are almost finished, Mrs. Shelby." He smiles, and I just nod at him as the door to the bathroom opens, and Ace comes out. He is holding a white towel around his waist as he shakes his head side to side and then runs his hand through his hair, pushing it back. Whatever I was thinking in my head is gone, and the only thing I can do is look up at him up and down.
"What's going on outside?" I ask him, and he stops beside me. All I can smell is his body wash, and my mouth waters, thinking about the kiss.
"You like eating outside," he tells me. "So I told him to set up dinner outside." I turn my head to look at him, my mouth opening. "What?" he asks of my shocked look.
"Nothing," I say, shaking my head. "There is so much going through my head right now. I need a minute to process everything."
"Well, you get five minutes because this is happening as soon as I'm dressed," he informs me, walking over to the closet and grabbing an outfit.
He walks back into the bathroom, and Roberto comes to the open glass wall. "I'll be back with the food," he tells me, and all I can do is nod at him.
I take a step out of the bedroom as the sun is slowly going down, and there are lit candles all over the deck, giving you some light to walk. The sound of the waves hitting the stairs sounds like it's from one of the apps you find on the internet. The sounds of crickets also fill the air. The breeze goes through my hair, and I just take a second to take a deep breath.
I make my way to the table that Roberto was setting up at the far end of the deck. A white linen tablecloth covers the table and hangs to the ground. White chairs are set up facing the water. Little pink rose petals are scattered all around the table with two candle lanterns in the middle with a bouquet of pink flowers at the edge of the table. "At least it's not all white," I hear from behind me and look over to see Ace coming to me wearing blue shorts that are loose on him and a cream-colored long-sleeve shirt pushed up to the elbows with three open buttons at the top. You can see how his fingers went through his wet hair.
"It's not all white." I smirk at him. "And they used pink."
"They didn't have any peonies. I asked." He stops next to me.
"Why didn't you tell me it was you?" I don't wait for him to say anything to me or give him a warning that this talk will be starting a lot sooner than he probably thought it would.
"How did you not remember?" He counters my question, and I look up at him, his blue eyes looking darker in this light. But I now can see them clear as day in my head when I leaned into him. It's as if him telling me that it was him made the box of memories open and escape.
"I sort of did," I admit. "But then I thought it was just my imagination because, well, I've thought about kissing you for a long time, and then I came to see you the next day, and you didn't say anything." I tilt my head to the side; he has to take some blame for this.
"I thought you regretted it," he cuts in. "I kept asking you if you had a good time, and all you could do was nod and avoid my eyes." He puts his hands in the pockets of his shorts. "The question is, how did you think it was Joseph?"
"I ran into him two days later," I tell him. "He kept going on and on about what a great time he had and hoped that I did also. Then he said that he enjoyed New Year's Eve and spending it with me. So, I assumed that it was him, and well, I went out with him."
"Um, not to know any other details." He holds up one hand. "Because there are things I don't want to know, but didn't you notice how different the kiss was?"
"I did." I throw my hands in the air. "But then I thought it was all in my head and that all the champagne skewed it."
He takes a step forward. "Nothing about that kiss was skewed," he whispers, his hand coming up to hold my chin. "The kiss was everything I thought it would be and more." His eyes search mine as my heart speeds up tenfold. He bends his head, and my breath hitches as he comes closer. I'm waiting for him to kiss me, waiting for him to do anything, but all he does is rub his nose with mine. "That kiss was four years in the making, and in three minutes, it was done."