He gazed openly and lovingly into her eyes. “We were both hurting back then, but now we can start fresh. No more apologies. This is our new beginning, made better, richer, by the scars of our past.”
She pressed her hands to his chest as he sealed his lips over hers, their bodies still moving in time to the music, their hearts dancing in the same frantic rhythm and their lives intertwining even more powerfully.
As he removed her sweater and lowered her to the blanket, blocking the bay breeze with his own body, they didn’t rush to come together the way they usually did. He kissed her forehead, the corners of her mouth, the dip beneath her ear. The slow loving was even more intense than their fevered unions. He ran his hand up her thigh, beneath her dress, caressing her skin, heightening her anticipation as his mouth made a slow path across her shoulders.
And then their bodies came together and the music fell away as the sweet sounds of the sea whispering through the leaves gave way to their tender and passionate whispers of love.
Chapter Thirty
THE NEXT DAY Trent didn’t go to work at the resort and Reese didn’t paint. Instead, they spent half of the day in bed making love, then reading passages to each other from the books she’d given him.
He’d missed these moments with her. So damn much. Hindsight really was twenty-twenty. Never, ever would he make the same mistake again.
It was almost dinnertime by the time they decided to shower and dress and venture out for a walk down to the water to kick off their shoes. They followed the residential streets out to Main and walked sidewalks they knew by heart, stopping to talk to friends along the way.
“When we first met,” Reese said, “I was floored by how many people you knew. It was like no matter where we were, people singled you out.”
“That’s part of the Rockwell curse.”
“But isn’t it a blessing, too, because everyone on the island has always watched out for you and your family?”
“You’re right, it is a blessing. Although,” he added with a slightly crooked smile, “it means I usually have to budget an hour in when I’m running an errand that should only take five minutes.”
“You handled it so well, Trent, even back then. You were always polite and you never got annoyed at all of the interruptions.”
“I think it was worse than ever that summer because they’d never seen me date anyone seriously before, and then suddenly I was desperately in love with my girlfriend, who I couldn’t stop kissing and dragging into alleys and behind bushes to have my way with her.”
“I’m glad you didn’t date every pretty girl on the island before me.”
“And I wouldn’t have blamed you for dating all the single guys who wanted to be with you after our divorce, but honestly, I’m glad you didn’t.”
“None of them were right for me.”
“That’s because they weren’t me.”
“No, they weren’t,” she agreed as she rested her head against Trent’s shoulder. She wrapped her hands around his arm and he pulled her in closer. Always closer.
As they rounded the corner and walked down the hill, the lights of the resort shone brightly in the distance and sounds of laughter grew louder as they reached the beach.
Chugger, Ethan’s golden retriever, bounded up to Trent, whining for attention. Trent and Reese both crouched to love him up. Chugger licked Trent’s chin as they petted him.
“I wonder where Ethan is,” Reese said.
Trent looked around and spotted Chandler sitting in his wheelchair facing the water. When Didi spotted them, she waved.
“Chugger must be here with Chandler and Didi,” Trent guessed. “Are you up to saying hello to them?”
“Of course I am.” Once they were out on the beach, she immediately reached out her hand to Didi. “I’m Reese. And it’s such a pleasure to meet you.”
“It’s wonderful to meet you, too, Reese.” Didi smiled warmly.
Chandler turned, and as his eyes trailed over Reese and Trent holding hands, his lips curved up in a smile. But just as quickly as the smile had appeared, he pressed his lips into a firm line.
Trent suddenly wondered how many other times he had missed Chandler’s flashes of emotion.
“Hello, Reese,” Chandler said in his characteristically sober tone. “It’s very nice to see you again.”
After Chandler’s earlier reference of that Nicholson girl, Trent was delighted by his grandfather’s kind greeting.
Reese beamed at his grandfather. “Hi, Mr. Rockwell. It’s lovely to see you again, too.”
Chugger stepped between Chandler’s knees to be petted, and Chandler automatically pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Even though Chandler had lavished Chugger with attention since the first week Ethan brought him home, given the standoffish way he usually acted toward people, it still surprised Trent to see him give so much affection to the pup.