Page 62 of Velvet and Valor
I pull her in close, my arms encircling her waist.
“You’re not alone, June. Not anymore. Not ever again. I’ve got your back, always.”
June cocks an eyebrow. “You’re saying that to a woman you only met a short while ago, Axel.”
I can hear the hesitancy, the doubt in her voice. But there’s hope in her eyes. She wants me to convince her. This is it. The most important battle in my life. And I’m having it not on a blood soaked tarmac in Iraq but on pink tiles outside a candy store in Downtown LA.
Life is crazy sometimes.
“Maybe, but I mean it, June,” I say. “No matter what happens…you know, with us…I’ll always have your back. I’m just saying, you’ve got yourself a friend for life no matter what.”
June squeezes her eyes shut and I think she’s mad. At first. Then I see glistening moisture at the corners of her eyes.
“Damn it, Axel,” she says. “Just…damn it. You’re too good for this world.”
Now that makes me laugh, and hard.
“Wow, you need a bigger shovel to sling that kinda BS around,” I say. The phone dings. “We need to pick up the pace, Dane is losing his shit.”
I start to pull away, but June won’t let go. Our gazes lock, and then I kiss her nice and sweet. I file this moment away for laterre-living and consumption. I could get by for years on just this kiss.
We finally make it outside about half an hour later to find Dane just casually leaning up against the side of his car, drinking an iced latte like he hasn’t been an absolute impatient dick for the last hour or so.
“You look like a senator on vacation,” Dane says of my white leisure pants, white shoes, and off-white sweater vest.
“Good,” I reply, adjusting my visor and sunglasses. “That’s exactly who you’d expect would come and look at a yacht for sale.”
Dane glances at June’s checkered sundress and sandals and nods in approval.
“Now she understood the assignment. Small flashes of wealth here and there but overall trying to look restrained.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” June says. “We’ll go with that, rather than this outfit was my last desperate attempt to pass the assignment.”
“You look great, June,” I say.
She beams a smile back. Dane cocks an eyebrow but offers no comment. He drives us to the marina, where it turns out Dane has had some fun at my expense.
“Eaton Dickerson, huh?” I say, giving him a dirty look. “Real funny asshole.”
“I’m getting you in, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, you’re going to get into the ocean when I drown you in it.”
June takes my arm and squeezes hard.
“Come on, Eaton,” she says insistently. “And put a smile on your face. You’re a guy looking to buy a yacht with a woman on his arm. Act like it.”
“A beautiful woman,” I correct her.
The breeze has kicked up a bit of a chop, white foamy caps forming at the top of deep blue waves. A man-made cove of concrete blocks helps protect the marina from the worst of it, but the boats all bob up and down in their moorings. Sometimes a hull bumps the dock, and you can feel the impact in your feet.
“Now might be a good time to mention I get sea sick,” I say.
June laughs. I don’t.
“You’re kidding. Why didn't you say this before?”
“I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. If the water’s calm, it doesn't bother me. I didn’t know it would be like this.”
