“Just walk slow; I’ve got you.”
Tears prickle the backs of my eyes beneath the mask, the candles, the flowers, the nuzzling, and the handholding completely overwhelming my cold, dead heart, along with his words. He does have me, and I want him to know I trust him. Quickly kicking off the flip-flops Birdie bitched at me for thirty minutes about not wearing with the sexy romper she and Tess picked out for me, I let Shepherd blindly lead me forward with his big, warm hand wrapped securely around mine, knowing he’ll never let me fall. My feet sink into the soft sand as I feel him walk me a good ways out onto the beach, the sound of the crashing waves getting louder as we go, the ocean breeze ruffling my hair around my face that I didn’t put up into a ponytail or a messy bun for once.
We suddenly come to a stop, and Shepherd turns me around in the sand until it feels like I’m facing the way we just came. He lets go of my hand, and I feel the blindfold being gently pulled off me. It takes a few seconds of rapid blinking for my eyes to adjust and for Shepherd to come into focus. My heart flutters in my chest when I get my first look at him again after we kissed and after just talking to him via text since then. His hair with the close-shaved sides and just long enough on top to grip with your hands is neatly pushed back and to the side, his jaw is smooth from a fresh shave, and both of his dimples are popping out as he smiles down at me.
“Hi,” he whispers, his smile growing bigger as excited butterflies start flapping around in my stomach.
“Hi, yourself,” I reply with a soft laugh. “You clean up nice.”
That’s an understatement if I ever did hear one. I’ve seen him “cleaned up” plenty of times in photoshoots for magazines, but knowing he did it for me just makes it even sweeter. In a light-gray fitted button-down made from a soft jersey material instead of the typical polyester blend, he’s got the first two buttons undone and his sleeves cuffed and pushed up to his elbows. His hands are shoved into the front pockets of the slim black dress pants his shirt is tucked into and paired with a black belt. I try not to drool over the muscles in his forearms and how his shirt clings to his biceps, but it’s pretty much impossible at this point. He’s so beautiful it hurts, and he’s so adorable with his bare feet in the sand I wish I had my phone with me so I could take a picture of him and have it for always.
“You take my breath away.”
It’s a cheesy statement, but there’s nothing cheesy about the way Shepherd looks at me when he says it, his eyes trailing slowly over my body from my head to my feet, making me more than a little glad I let Birdie and Tess drag me around all day putting me through hell. We finally agreed on a plum-colored, long-sleeved, wraparound-style, super-short romper. I wanted to wear a lace bralette under it, considering the front of the romper plunges into a deep V right below my breastbone, but I was outvoted by the two annoying women in the dressing room with me. With some strategically placed double-sided tape, and the way Shepherd can’t seem to take his eyes off me, I guess their decision was a good one.
“Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful,” I tell him, bringing the small bunch up to my nose and taking a huge sniff. He doesn’t need to know it’s the first time anyone has ever given me flowers and this small handful I’m clutching is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me before.
“Yeah, you might want to hold off on saying that,” he starts, my eyes coming back up to meet his in confusion. “So, I just want to note before you turn around that I called my sisters and my mom for date ideas, and they had a lot of suggestions and I spent way too many hours on Pinterest. I just…. Just blame Pinterest.”
Shepherd trails off with a sigh, and laughter bubbles out of me and my heart melts right in my chest at how nervous he sounds and looks while he shifts foot-to-foot in the sand in front of me, his eyes dropping from mine as he kicks at the sand. Slowly turning away from him, my laughter cuts off with a choked gasp, and it only takes seconds before my eyes are so filled with tears as I look around I can barely see out of them.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, a shaking hand coming up to press against my mouth as I blink the tears away. Instead of disappearing, they just fall down my cheeks while I stare out at the beach in front of me and what Shepherd has done.