Page 21 of Wine & Whiskey: Everything for You
“Just us? No bodyguards or limo?”
“Yeah, if that’s okay with you.”
Her small smile melts the fear gripping his heart. This time, they can run together. “I get to drive?”
“Can you drive a stick?”
She stands up and offers him her hand. “Kind of.”
After a few false starts, they make it down the driveway onto the winding road hugging the coastline, flanked by enormous houses between glimpses of empty beach. Strands of hair billow around her face, beautiful even in the darkness. Her hands flex on the steering wheel, her ring catching the headlights of passing cars. A symbol of where they’ve been and where they’re going. They have to make it through this.
They pass the turn to take them to her neighborhood, continuing down the highway. He stifles the urge to ask where she’s going, giving her control over their journey. And over him. Just like she has from the first moment he saw her.
Relaxing in her seat, she reaches over and entwines his hand with hers. A small gesture more significant than she can imagine. No words needed between them.
More than an hour passes before she pulls off the road into an almost empty parking lot. Dancing flames line the perimeter of the outdoor seating area. Even this late past the dinner hour, a few diners linger over their food as two waiters relax by the hostess stand. She kills the ignition and spreads her fingers across her skirt, smoothing out the wrinkled fabric.
“Even though I was taking a huge risk, I felt so free the night you brought me here. I’d never done anything like that before. Dinner with a man I didn’t know, without bodyguards or approval from Gail to make sure it wasn’t…” Her fingers curl into air quotes as she shakes her head. “‘Detrimental to my career.’ No one had any idea where I was.”
The crash of the waves, invisible in the darkness, is the only sound around them. So many responses roll through his mind, yet uncertainty smothers them all. Her regret is the only emotion he couldn’t handle right now.
She curls onto her side, her cheek lying against the seat. “Somehow, even then, I trusted you. I knew you were a good man. Now, we’ve been through so much, and I still feel the same way.”
Mimicking her position, he turns his face toward hers. Like their long talks in bed, losing themselves in each other and shutting out the rest of the world. His voice returns at her confirmation of their connection. “It was different for me too. I wasn’t thinking of how to get you into my bed.” Her laugh floats across the wind. She knows him too well for him to get away with that bullshit. “Okay, I mean I was. But it was more than that. I knew I wanted more than that with you.”
“Now, we have it.”
He curls his fingers over hers as her hand rests on her lap. “Yeah, but I don’t want to lose it.”
“We won’t. I love you and want to be with you. Even tonight when I was upset, I knew if I left, I would come back.” She lays her other hand on top of his, squeezing his fingers. “But I’m not sure you believed it.”
Believing and accepting are two very different things. Fear runs like ice through his veins. She never needs him as much as he does her. “I didn’t understand why you wanted to leave. But now I do. My world is too much for you.”
“Sometimes this life overwhelms me.” She nods at him. “You’re a very strong man to survive it.”
“I don’t think I can, if you’re not with me.”
“You’ll never be. If I stop and catch my breath, it doesn’t change how I feel about you. Or us. It just means I need a break. But not from you. I never want to be without you.”
Only now does he wish for the limo. So he can close the space between them and remind her why he doesn’t want her to leave. Why he needs her so much. “Me neither.”
The whine of her stomach makes her smile.
“Are you hungry?”
Wrinkling her nose, she shrugs her shoulders. “Yes, actually, I am.”
“Then, let’s go.” He digs in the glove box for his gun before hopping out of the Jeep. Her deep breath accompanies him sliding the Glock into his back waistband and covering it with his shirt. “I still have to protect you.”
“I know.” She takes his hand, and they walk towards the restaurant, where the final patrons are leaving their tables and the waiters extinguish the tiki torches. “They’re closing.”
Disappointment tinges her voice. She forgets how stubborn he is. No way he’s giving up that easy. He detours her to the back of the building, and she giggles as his knuckles rap on the metal bar across the screen door. A guy filling salt and pepper shakers looks up and frowns. “No take out.”
Nick pulls three hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and presses them to the screen. The guy tips his head side to side before giving in. He glances over his shoulder and then opens the door, grabbing the money and stuffing it into his pocket. “What do you want?”
Nick glances at her and winks. “Four fish tacos.” Soft, cool fingers slide under his shirt and give his side a light squeeze. “Uh, buddy? Can you make it ten?”
The guy leans his head out and follows the direction of Nick’s earlier look. She gives him a small wave before he looks back at Nick. “That’s Shae Armstrong.”
