She pulls the lid off and her fingers shake as she fishes through the shoebox.
I watch intently as each item brings forth a different emotion on her face. Some things make her smile, others make her frown, and when she flips through the countless letters and cards she gets a lost look in her eyes that feels so fucking familiar, the look of loss. Of being robbed.
Minutes pass in silence as she goes through her sister’s prized possessions, pulling them out and setting them to the side, until she gets to the letter. The one I’d read countless times.
She sinks into the couch and I watch as her eyes devour every line. When she finishes, she presses it to her chest.
She peers up at me. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything but drop off something you left behind.”
“This is so much more.” She folds up the letter and puts it back in the box. “I thought she’d forgotten us, ya know? Packing up her place there was nothing about us lying around. No photos, no keepsakes. I assumed she’d rather forget her past, that we weren’t really worth holding on to.”
I motion to the box. “Seems to me . . . she kept you all safe, in a place where her memories of your love would never be lost or tainted by her life.”
She places the lid back on the box and turns fully to me. “You’re a wonderful man, Aden Colt.”
I tug her hips and bring her to straddle me on the couch, then look up at her. “I’m not, but because of you . . . I’m getting there.”
She leans forward and kisses me, her tongue sliding against mine in a sultry rhythm. The hunger left neglected since she took off ignites with a furious demand. Her hips grind against mine, the heat between her legs teases me until I’m aching to strip her bare.
To feel her skin against mine, her pulse pounding behind her chest, all evidence that she’s alive. Pushing off the couch to my knees, I place her ass on the coffee table.
The rise and fall of her chest, swollen lips parted to accommodate her rapid breathing, it all works to further arouse both my body and mind.
“Thought I’d never have you again.” I unbutton her shirt, brushing my knuckles against the swell of her breasts encased in white lace. “But here you are.” I slide my hand down the softness of her belly to pop the button on her pants. “I’m going to be the best kind of man for you, Sawyer.”
She sighs at the sound of her name.
Dipping my fingers into her panties, she tilts her hips to give me better access. “Whatever it takes.”
She lifts her hips and I help her out of her clothes, then she slides her shirt off so that she’s in nothing but her bra, her legs open wide with me on my knees between them. There’s something so dirty about her position, so vulnerable and exposed and trusting.
Painfully hard, I reach down and free myself from the confines of my jeans. She watches and scoots to the edge of the table, her eyes firmly fixed on mine. “Have you been with anyone since me?”
I wince, but not for the reason she’d think. My weakness is written all over my face. “I couldn’t think of another woman but you, let alone touch one.”
She slides onto my lap and I hiss as her bareness presses against mine. “I’m on the pill.” She rocks her hips against me. “And I want to feel you, Aden.”
With a groan I bury my nose into her neck, breathing her in.
She pushes up and slowly takes me into her body. My fingers bite into the flesh of her ass and she fucking purrs into my ear.
“Sawyer, baby . . .” I’m hypnotized by the way she rolls her hips in waves. “I’m fucking wrecked without you.”
Bringing my lips to hers she whispers, “I’m sorry I lied to you.”
For a moment I wonder if I should’ve been more upset about her pretending to be someone she’s not, but the way her eyes flicker with apology, and having felt the heartbreak of losing her once, I cup her cheeks. “Don’t.”
“I’m scared, Aden.” She melts around me, leaning on me for strength, and fuck, but it feels so good to be needed.
“It’ll be okay, I promise.” I kiss along her jaw to her ear, and knowing instinctually I can squash her concerns in a few simple words, I whisper them against her skin.
“It’s always been you, freckles. Always.”
EPILOGUE
Seven years later . . .
SAWYER
It’s funny how a place can bring back a feeling.
How the whip of wind through my hair and the smell of diesel fuel and dead fish can bring me instant joy. There’s a calmness that comes with the splash of a boat’s wake through the bay. The seagulls squawking for a scavenged meal combined with the low murmur of fishermen as they commune before or after a day at sea make for a peaceful symphony.
It’s why we chose this house, just a half mile from the marina right on the bay. From the front yard I watch Aden’s fleet of fishing boats leave before dawn and return at sunset.
Calvin Jenkins Commercial Fishing.
It was a name he settled on immediately after Cal sold the Sunset Cliffs property and invested in Aden’s idea.
All Aden needed was a job and someone to believe in him.
The first he had.
The second he had in two, but that number was growing rapidly.
“Listen, Pop! If yur goin’ to be a deckhand on my boat I got two rules.”
My dad salutes the pint-sized boat captain slash drill sergeant. “Ready for my orders, Captain!”
“Deckhands bait hook and drink beer. You don’t fish!”
I mouth an apology to my dad. “C.J., your grandpa can fish if he wants.”
Aden flashes me a proud smile and digs into the ice chest, pulling out three bottles of root beer before crossing to his daughter. “Nope, she’s right.” He hands her two bottles. “Those are the rules.” His eyes slide to me. “They were good enough for you.” He winks and butterflies tumble through my belly and not for the first time I wonder if his effect on me will ever die down.
“Yes, sir!” My dad salutes C.J. again.
She hands him the cold root beer. “It’s ma’am, Pop! I’m a girl!”
He laughs and pulls her to him for a big hug. “I know you are, pumpkin. But you’re a strong, tough little girl.”
“Celia Jane, are you ordering around your pop?” My mom sidles up next to Aden and he pulls her in for a side hug.
“Granny!” C.J. rushes to my mom in a flurry of deep auburn hair. I don’t know how she did it but she managed to get the darkness of Aden’s hair with the red from mine.
Her skin isn’t pale either, she tans like a sailor and hero worships her dad, swearing she’ll become the best fishing captain when she grows up.
“We better get going if we’re gonna make it out there before sunset.” Aden crosses to me and holds out his hand to pull me up from my seat and to his chest. He runs his nose along my jaw, breathing in deep. “Have I told you lately that you’re the hottest mom in Southern California?”
I cup his strong jaw and purse my lips. “Only Southern California?”
“I was going to say the world but thought it sounded too cliché.”