Page 146 of Aftersome
“Thank you.” Her smile deepened as I had pulled her to her feet. “Now, where are we? Doesn’t look like there’s much around here.”
She did a complete three-sixty turn before resting a hand on her hip.
“That’s because there’s not. It’s one of my favorite places to be when I need a breath of fresh air or just to get away from the city.”
Walking around to the trunk of the car, I waved my foot beneath a sensor that had the trunk door swinging open. On thefloorboard was a simple basket with our food and drinks inside, a few blankets, and a sweatshirt for Doe because I knew she would get cold.
As I reached for it all, Doe came up behind me and gasped.
“Is that a picnic basket?” she asked as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Thought it would be better if it was just the two of us tonight.”
Once I had everything in my hands and closed the trunk, I turned toward Doe who was fighting with her bottom lip.
She looked like she wanted to cry.
Fuck.
Had I already screwed this up?
“You made us food?” Her voice wobbled with emotion and when I nodded, she smiled so fucking brightly that the sun had nothing on her.
She was radiant.
My goddamn sunshine and I’d be a fool for not wanting to see her smile like that for the rest of our lives.
“Are you secretly a romantic, Mal?” she teased through her happiness that was extremely infectious.
“For you, I guess I am,” I admitted.
Her eyes softened as she took a step toward me. Her arms reached out to snatch the blankets from my hold, but I refused to have her carry anything.
“I got it, Doe.”
I ignored her scowl and began to walk toward the trail that led us down to the beach. The temperature was perfect, the breeze was just enough to create a calming atmosphere, and finally the water…
So violent yet so fucking peaceful at the same time it reminded me of myself.
Once we were at the distance from the crashing waves, I finally set everything down and laid out one giant blanket for us to lay on. Stepping out of my shoes, I took a spot on the side of the blanket and when I realized that Doe had yet to follow suit, I peered up at her.
Standing just behind the blanket, a look of awe had taken residence on her face. Eyes on the ocean in front of us, she looked to be in a complete trance.
Mesmerized by the scene in front of us, and she was taking her time to soak it all in.
But while she was staring at the water, I was busy staring at her. The best fucking view of all and it took everything in my power to not yank her down onto this blanket and have her see her first set of stars for the night.
“God, Mal. This is…” She shook her head as if she was in disbelief of this place. “So perfect. This beats every fancy five-star fucking restaurant any day of the week.”
A deep laughter rumbled out of me.
“The view? Fuck yes. But the food?” I grabbed the basket and opened it to reveal my creation. “Definitely not five-star quality.”
I then watched as she tore off her shoes before dropping down beside me onto her knees and cradling my face.
“I don’t care about how the food tastes, Mal. It could be the worst thing that ever touched my tongue and I wouldn’t care.” Desperate to touch her, she must have read my mind because she then leaned her forehead against mine. “This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me in such a long time. Just knowing that you put effort into making this means so much to me. More than you’ll ever know.”
My eyes closed on pure instinct.
