Solomon’s shout follows her, but she doesn’t stop. Panic, fear fuel her forward, her heels click-clacking across the wooden slats of the boardwalk.
She keeps running. Over cement, past palm trees, onto soft sand until she reaches the surf. There she stops, kicks off her heels. Water crashes over her ankles as tears slide down her face to stain her stomach. A sob tears out of her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers to Bear, cradling her belly. “I’m so sorry. People are stupid. And you’re going to have to put up with them. But I’ll protect you. As long as I can, I’ll be there, okay?”
She watches the ocean, wanting to shriek at the sky, wanting her mother, wanting to go back and slap Roni Zebrowski across her margarita-stained mouth, when there’s a rumble from behind her.
“Tess.”
She turns around. Head down, she walks straight into Solomon’s open arms.
“Bananas,” she gasps against his chest.
“You can’t do that to me,” he says in a gruff voice swollen with panic. Then his big fingers are against her cheek, in her hair, raising her face to meet his eyes. “You can’t run.” He kisses her lips, her temples, her throat with such desperation that for a second, she feels faint. “You hear me? Don’t run. Not from me. Please. Please, Tess.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. She closes her eyes. Solomon’s knock-out touch, his hug, is like a warm blanket. She smells the whiskey on his breath, his Solomon-scent in his beard, and she wants to live there forever.
“No, I’m sorry,” he says in a voice that breaks at every angle. “And before you say it, you didn’t overreact. They’re assholes. Fuck those people.” His callused thumbs whisk over the high arch of her cheekbone, sweeping away her tears. “You wear your heels, Tess. No one’s got the right to say shit like that to you. You’re going to be a great mother. And Bear’s going to be fine. Do you understand me? Nothing will happen to him. I won’t let it. Don’t listen to her. Don’t even give them a second damn thought—”
With a wild cry, Tessie throws her arms around his neck and smashes her mouth to his. The tight knot of fear inside her releases, and she presses up on tiptoes to melt into Solomon’s body of steel. His strength.
Her Solemn Man.
“Thank you,” she whispers against his mouth. She clings to him like she’s dissolving. “No one’s ever done anything like that for me.”
“Fuck,” he bites out, the intensity making her shiver. Like he’s her shield, her bodyguard, and nothing and no one will ever hurt her. “You get used to it, Tess. You get used to me. Because, baby, I’m here.” He holds her tight; he’s trembling just like she is. “For you, anything.”
A sob-laugh breaks out of her. “Does that include tossing Roni into shark-infested waters?”
He kisses her back, squeezing her tight against him, then holding her at arm’s length. “You just say the word.” Blue eyes sweep to her belly before moving to her face. “Are you okay?”
She nods. Sniffles. “I am. We are. Some night this was.”
He bands the back of her neck with his broad palm. “It’s not over.”
“It’s not?”
As she stares up at him, something inside her comes alive.
Sparks. Flames. A voice telling her she’s right where she should be.
“No, Tess, it’s not,” he growls fiercely, his gaze drifting to the inky sky. “Because, baby, we got stars.”
Then he’s grasping her face in his large hands and leaning down to kiss her in the moonlight.
The ocean crashes over her bare feet, Solomon’s boots, but all Tessie feels is his lips on hers, the warm surety of his touch, his I am here for you vibes. There’s no question in his kiss; only an urgency. A hunger. A promise.
Tonight, all her doubts, all the tightly controlled lines she’s drawn in the sand between them, are washed away by a single wave.
By a single kiss that has her losing her heart to Solomon Wilder.
Solomon opens his eyes to bright sunlight, to the low croon of the record player, to an empty bed.
Another goddamn empty bed.
“Fuck,” he groans, lifting up on one elbow.
One morning. Just one morning, he’d like to wake up to discover Tess hasn’t run out on him. To find her beside him, sleeping, soft and safe. Resting. Especially after last night.
He flops onto his back to study the ceiling. His stomach has been in a knot since Tess ran out of the pavilion with tears in her eyes. The way she looked last night: pale, panicked, terrified.
He could see her, during the conversation with those people, about to crack. She needed him. And he refused to let her down. He could have controlled his temper better with Rick and Roni, but he was pissed as hell, and all his focus was on Tessie.
Tessie and Bear—they’re his responsibility. It’s his job to protect them.
And then she ran.
And every long-buried emotion he’s been hiding from cranked on like a flood.
She ran from him. Like Serena. It had set him off, had him panicking, had him chasing her down to the beach and holding her in his arms like it was the end of the world.
Up until now, he’s given her crumbs about his marriage, but that’s it. Now it’s time to give her the truth about his past. He has to give her an out before he gives her everything. Because he’s ready. Ready to make that woman his.
Where is she anyway?
Frowning, Solomon sits up and checks his phone. A missed call from Evelyn, from Howler. Then he leaves the bedroom and goes into the living room.
Sun on her skin, Tessie’s dressed in yoga pants and a black tank top that hugs her stomach. Her hair, in two loose braids, hangs over her breasts. A gorgeous flush of color rides high on her cheeks.
“Morning,” he says, relief washing through him at finding her nearby.
“Hi,” she says, pulling a lavender yoga mat out of the closet. Seeing his curious stare, she lifts the mat. “Exercise. I haven’t done any since I got here. There’s a combo prenatal and postnatal yoga class at noon. I thought I’d check it out.”
He makes his way toward her. “You have breakfast?”
“Mm-hmm. Left you some coffee.”
“Generous of you.”
She laughs and rubs her stomach. “Bear was hungry.”
Gripping her hips, he pulls her in to him. Rests a hand on her belly. “Blame the baby.”
“I will. I have eleven weeks to do it.” She sticks her tongue out at him and pulls back.
But he holds her tight. Close. “Listen, Tess. We need to talk about last night.”
She flinches. “I know. I’m sorry for freaking out like that.”
“You didn’t freak out.” Holding her gaze, he cups her cheek. “Never be sorry for that.”
Her lips tip up like she doesn’t believe him. “Okay. Thanks.”
“Hold up,” he orders when she turns to slink off. “Get your beautiful butt back here.”
She looks startled by his tone but returns to his arms.
“I need you to hear something,” he says, all his focus locked on her. “I need a favor from you.”
“What kind of favor?”
“You can’t walk out on me. You can’t leave.”
Her eyes widen at his words, but he continues.
“I get why you do it. But you don’t have to run. Not from me. And if you need to. . .you tell me. No more dead of night slinking off—”
She scoffs. “I do not slink, Solomon—”
“No more leaving our bed, Tess.”
It’s a demand, and he won’t apologize for it. He nudges her chin up with a finger, making her meet his no-nonsense gaze. “I don’t ever want to not be able to find you. You understand me?”
“I’m—” She opens her mouth, ready to argue with him, then shuts it. “Okay. I won’t leave.” She tilts her head back as she appraises him, her brown eyes soft and curious. “Will you tell me why?”
“I will.” He kisses her forehead, running his palms down her slender shoulders. “Later. I don’t want you to miss your class.”
Her lips flatten like she’s unhappy, like she wants to say something.
He tucks an errant wisp of hair behind her ear. “Go, Tess.”
After a second of hesitation, she pushes off him and tucks the mat under her arm. “You could come with me,” she offers, pausing at the door. “Do some downward dog.”
He chuckles. “I don’t think I bend that way.”