Page 64 of Hiding Rose
He brought the silky material around my eyes and tied it in the back. With the scarf blocking my sight, the darkness was overpowering. I took a deep breath and reminded myself I was with Sawyer.
“Take my arm,” he ordered. “It’s only a little bit farther now.”
I hooked my hand in his and we strolled slowly and carefully through the sand. After a few more feet I could hear notes playing over the sound of the crashing surf. “Music?” I asked and he chuckled.
“You have a good ear,” he whispered, his lips on my cheek. “You Look Wonderful Tonight.”
“Eric Clapton. I love his lyrics,” I said as he brought me up short and held me there.
“I’m going to put my hand on your head and tell you to duck.”
I felt his hand and I bent to the light pressure he put on my head, then stood when he released me. The music was much louder now. He loosened the blindfold and it fell to my neck. What I saw made my breath catch.
A white sheet covered the sand, red rose petals sprinkled across it lazily. They blew around in the wind, giving the effect of falling petals. On each corner of the sheet was a vase of roses to hold everything in place. The music played, and a champagne bucket held a bottle and two glasses.
“This is gorgeous, Sawyer,” I sighed. We were under the low hanging branches of an outcropping of trees at the end of Kupid’s Cove.
He held his hand out to me and pulled me in to dance, the music changing toI Need You.
“They call this spot, Lovers’ Cove. It’s a place where you can hide out from life for a few hours and concentrate on each other.”
“It’s perfect here. You’re perfect,” I whispered.
He laughed and it reverberated through my chest. “No, I’m far from perfect, but I didn’t realize how much I needed you until you showed up in my life,” he said, his hand warm on my back. “When Gideon called this afternoon yelling about you being hurt, I thought my heart would never start beating again. Ask Tim how crazy I was when I ran from the beach to the daycare center. If he hadn’t opened the door I would have plowed right through it. You can’t leave me,” he whispered, “ever.”
I kissed his neck, wanting to settle his pounding heart. “I’m not leaving, Sawyer. I just got here.”
He kissed me then, his lips fierce and harsh on my skin. His moans carried across the breeze and rode the waves. I held his face, soothing his hunger until the kiss turned languid and soft. “Promise me we’ll make love tonight. We need to be as close as two people can be or I’ll never sleep.”
I put my finger to his lips and he kissed it. “I’ve never made love on a beach before,” I teased.
He walked backward onto the sheet and pulled me with him. “I’m all about introducing you to first time experiences,” he said, his lips going to my neck. He kissed his way to my ear and whispered into it. “I’m going to grab you under the arms and lower you to the blanket. Let me do the work.” I nodded and he lowered me down, the brace awkward as I tried to sit. His hands snaked under my dress, caressing the skin between the ridges of the brace. “How about if we take this off for a little while?” he asked, his fingers manipulating the straps as I rested on my elbows watching him. In seconds, the brace was discarded on the sheet and his hands massaged the skin the way the therapist showed him. I sat up and wiggled the dress out from under me, pulling it over my head to fall upon the sheet. I wore no bra under the dress and all that remained was the tiny scrap of lace covering his desire.
He lay over me, fully clothed, and made love to my lips. “You, are the sexiest woman I’ve ever met, and the best part is, you don’t even know it.”
I grabbed his waist and held him to me, grinding against the man in him, needing the escape. “Stop talking and kiss me,” I begged.
Our lovemaking had been frenzied, and then smoothed out, leaving us both panting and relaxed. He carried me to the water, a quick dip in the ocean to cool off, before we retreated under the trees to the sheet again. The nervousness was back as we sat together and I couldn’t figure out why. My gaze fell on the roses in the vases. Each vase had a different color and I noticed a card attached to each. The first vase held a dozen lavender roses. I opened the card and read it by the light of the moon. “The lavender rose represents love at first sight, which is what happened when we met. You captivated me the first day and I will never forget how beautiful you were.” I glanced up at him and laughed softly. “Sawyer, I looked like hell the first time you met me. My face was bruised and my leg was three times its normal size.”
His lips turned up. “I didn’t see any of those things. I saw my future.”
I leaned in and kissed him. “I was too out of it to see anything, but I’m glad you kept coming around.”
He brushed a piece of hair off my forehead. “Oh honey, there was no choice in the matter.”
I pulled a rose from the second vase, but two came out. I realized they were twined together as I inhaled their scent. I flipped the card open and read it aloud. “Red and white flowers banded together signify unity. There’s no question in my mind we are one unit, even when we are apart. In everything I do, your name is in the forefront of my mind. I’ve never burned so many dishes as I have the past few weeks. You captivate me no matter what I’m doing.”
I lowered the card and frowned. “I’m sorry. I feel bad for making your job harder than it already is.”
He sat up on his knees and took the flowers, inhaling as deeply as I did. “Don’t apologize, beautiful. For the first time in my thirty years of life, I’m finally living and not just going through the motions. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
He leaned backward and pulled the card off the third vase, filled with orange roses. I flipped open the card and read it. “Orange roses signify desire. As you’re reading this, there’s a decently high chance I’m already hard with desire for you. Making love to you every night for the rest of my life wouldn’t be enough to quench the desire I hold for you in my heart.” I held the card to my chest. “How decently high is the chance?” I asked and he grinned. His hand snaked out and captured my left one. He laid it on his groin and it was my turn to grin. “Feels like a one hundred percent chance to me.”
He nodded, his eyes going closed and his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I’ve never made it a secret how easily you turn me on.”
I took the fourth and final envelope from the last vase as he took deep breaths to get himself under control. There were eleven roses, red and dark pink, ten of which were twined in pairs and the final red one rising above the others. “These are stunning,” I whispered, taking a pair out of the vase. The dark pink roses were tipped with burgundy and I noticed they had no thorns. The card shook a little in my hand when I opened it. “You’ll count only eleven roses in this vase as assurance I love you truly and deeply. Red roses signify true love while pink represent gratitude and thanks. You have my deepest gratitude for being in my life and making all my dreams come true, at least I hope you will. Two roses twined together indicate one thing, and if you’ll notice, every vase is filled with two twined roses. What does it mean? Ask me.” I glanced up from the note card and he sat in front of me, holding the single red rose. “What do twined roses mean?”
“Twined roses symbolize unity and marriage.” He handed me the rose and something brushed against my finger. I glanced down and a diamond sparkled from the stem.
