He chuckled. "I just said the same thing to Clay yesterday."
"What are you wanting to do with your life? Are you going to go into business or coaching?" I licked at my cone one more time before getting up to throw it away.
"Give me that, silly girl. We don't waste ice cream." He smiled and took the cone, eating his and mine in a few bites.
I waited for him where the sidewalk met the sand. The serenity of the place was easy to find, even in the middle of all of the people milling about.
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and squeezed softly. "I want to be a coach, and I think I would be great at it, but it's a big commitment. I'm not sure I want to take the risk of putting my career above my family until things took off."
"Would you have to? Is that part of the contract to be a coach?" I laughed and turned to face him, sliding my arms around his waist.
"No, but that's just the way it usually works out." He leaned down and brushed his lips by mine. "Would you be willing to support a man who wanted to follow his dreams, even if they didn't make sense?"
"If it would make him happy and help solidify our relationship, of course. Would you do the same for a woman you loved?" I asked, brushing my nose by his. How far we'd come in the course of a few days, and yet that alone was the reason I wanted to hold back. It was scary as hell. I could feel the compatibility between us before it ever started.
"I'd bend over backwards for her and support anything she wanted to do." He nipped at my lips. "Let's go take the boat out to the alcove and feed the gator. Live a little?"
I laughed and moved over to take his hand. "This isn't living?"
"Oh yeah, but this is the chick-flick part. We gotta get in a little bit of horror, too. It makes for better snuggles later." He wagged is eyebrows.
"I'm telling the guys you just said that." I tucked myself against his side as he laughed.
"You unruly witch. You better not."
"Never."
Chapter 30
Brody
"Do you think that alligator is really still out here?" Cora asked as she reclined against the front of the boat. Her long golden legs lay stretched out toward me, and I was ready to park the boat and get over to her. Foreign emotions raged through me, and even though I knew I should sort through them, I didn't want to. Just enjoying the newness of being with someone for more than once or twice was thrilling enough.
"I don't know, but we'll go over near the shallow area. There's not nearly enough water over there for them." I got up and dropped the first anchor off the back of the boat.
"I was hoping to go skinny dipping again." She got up and walked toward me, sliding her hands under my shirt and scraping her nails down my back softly.
Warmth spread through my center, and I gripped her sides before leaning over and kissing her a few times. "We can still go skinny dipping, baby. I don't think we have much to worry about. Besides, if it comes near us, you run, and I'll stay behind and whoop its ass."
"Oh yeah? You'd do that for me?" She smiled and moved back as I grabbed the second anchor.
"Are you kidding? I'd beat a hundred alligators back for you." I wagged my eyebrows, hoping to make her smile more than anything.
"You're such a brute." She sat on the front of the boat again, but put her back to me and let her long legs dangle into the water below. "It's beautiful out here. The sun is going to set soon. Do you see the sky starting to turn red and orange over there?"
I pulled out a beer and a bag of chips and joined her at the front of the boat. I sat down and handed her the chips as I took a quick drink before offering her the bottle. "It's beautiful, but it's got nothing on you."
She laughed. "I thought you weren't the kind of guy to spout about all that poetic stuff?"
"People change." I ran my hand over her taunt thigh before squeezing softly and releasing her. "Well, some do."
"Do you want to change, though? It's not like the lifestyle you had a few weeks back was a dull one. It had to be stimulating, in more ways than one." She laughed again, and I couldn't help but smile.
"It was the only life I knew." I shrugged. "I honestly didn't think I would ever be the kind of guy that could settle down, but you know what I realized yesterday?"
"What?" She reached over and intertwined her fingers with mine, looking like an angel beside me.
"I could be that guy. A hot chick that wanted my attention hit me up and I almost felt ill at the thought of even hitting on her. It was refreshing. She didn't look attractive, at all, but like a random girl that was just...there." I shook my head. "You've ruined me. You've ruined me, and now you're stuck with me."