His hands held mine, one on each side of my head. Our eyes stayed locked and our lips close. “It’s a tradeoff. One that worked just fine before you decided to do this. Why can’t you go back to being you? Being us?”
“Is that what you want?”
“No.”
My heart did back flips. It may not have been much, but it was something. It was his way of telling me he did feel. He felt me. My lips parted and his tongue darted in. His hands slid down my sides and rested on my ribs. Mine went around his neck and my body molded with us. There was no way in hell that Paxton could deny this. This searing pull between us. My glitter danced in his heart. I knew it did.
Something changed that day. That moment. Another weird turn was taken. His touch was softer, his kisses sweeter, and his anger lifted. He still wanted the control and I gave it to him. Almost. We had a little disagreement later that evening by the beach.
Rowan and Ophelia was busy with letting the waves push them to the sand. Paxton sat in the sand and pulled my hand. Not beside him. Right between his legs. He never did that. I leaned into his chest and wrapped my arms around his legs.
“I have to know where you were, Gabriella. I’m never going to let it go. You don’t just leave like that. Not unless you were on a mission. Like a plan gone bad. Something’s not right. You never hid things from me. I knew your every move.” Paxton’s lips kissed the top of my head, but it wasn’t the sweet kind. Not that time.
His fingers spread when I laced mine with his. For a second I thought his fingers were going to stay like that and I’d be left hanging, but then he softened. His fingers folded around mine and he sighed a deep breath. A defeated, deep breath. “What if there wasn’t anything malicious about it. What if I gave someone a lift, or something? Something simple, because I’m a good person, and nothing else. Did you ever think about that?”
I sat up a little when Rowan choked on salt water. She was fine, but a fight was born.
“Rowan coughed on me. Tell her she has to cover her mouth.” Ophelia didn’t give me time tell her anything. She scoped up a mouthful of water and spit in right on her arm. One steady stream. Of course that sent Rowan into a frenzy.
I raised up, letting go of Paxton’s hand and shook my head. “Oh, my God. You go take care of that.”
“Do that whistle thing.”
“It stopped working after the third time. Go, before someone gets drowned.”
Paxton leap-frogged my head and growled like a bear. Crooked fingers for scary bear claws. That did it. Both girls screamed and took off running in different directions. Ophelia was caught first. Her little body bounced below Paxton’s arms while he ran after screaming, Rowan. I smiled after them, feeling. Hmm. Happy?
“Out with the family. How nice.”
My hand shielded the bright sun and I looked up. White sneakers, blue running shorts, and a plain white T-shirt.
“I texted you,” I blurted out. Maybe because I knew I didn’t have much time.
“Yeah, I know. Don’t do it again. You look better. How are you feeling,” Lane questioned, his tone changing with distance Paxton closed between us.
“I’m feeling much better, thank you,” I said with the same exact fake tone. What the hell?
“Lane, how’s it going, man?” Paxton said with an extended hand. The men shook hands and I watched cautiously, looking for any sign of stress. It was there. No doubt. I could read fakeness miles away. This entire neighborhood was fake.
Paxton and Lane talked about the last ballgame, stroking their own egos as they boasted about wins and losses. You would have thought they were talking about the super bowl.
“I’ll see ya later, dude. Candace has us going to some play in the city tonight. Wish me luck.”
“Yeah, good luck. See ya.”
Paxton resumed his position behind me and kissed the back of my head. I wished a million times over I could see his expression, his eyes. I needed to read his face after that conversation.
“You don’t like him either, do you?”
“Lane? Yeah, he’s alright. I don’t like his wife.”
“Why?”
Paxton leaned back on his elbows and changed the subject. “It doesn’t matter. What have you planned for Ophelia’s party? She’s starting to get pretty excited about it. I want it to be bigger than Chance’s.”
“Yeah, about that. What if we just went away? Just us. A family birthday.”