Page 99 of Always Been Yours

“Plus,” I add with a casual shrug, “It’s really worked out for us in some ways.”

“Us?” she asks in a skeptical voice.

“You and me, Viv.” I cross my arms over my chest and give a small shrug. “One of their mom’s happens to be my old principal…”

“The one who owed you a favor? And got us that information on the charities?”

Nodding, I reply, “That’s the one.”

“I guess that investment brought you more luck than just financial,” she teases.

In a serious voice, looking her in the eye, I say, “It really did, Viv.”

Later that evening, before needing to get the girls from my parents, Vivi’s laughing freely and beautifully in my passenger seat—her belly laugh that tells me she’s truly enjoying herself. I refuse to let her roll the windows up but she’s being a good sport about her hair whipping us both.

This,the simple act of driving up the coast, was one of my favorite things to do in high school. My first car was an old blue Saturn Ion. It kind of sucked but I had the best memories in that car. There was a sunroof, so the twins and I used to drive up and down the coast in the middle of the night, taking turns sticking our heads out. Hudson typically preferred to drive but every once in a while, he’d get up there. Asher loved it though. He would spreadhis arms out, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Where are we going?” She tries to hold back her hair out of her face but it’s a fruitless effort.

Next time I’ll braid it for her before we come out here.

“You’ll see. Connect your music. It’s another twenty minutes tops.”

She puts on a playlist I think she made herself, and we roll up the windows just long enough to let her pull her hair up. My hand rests on her bare thigh, her fingers interlaced with mine. We don’t talk much the rest of the drive, but I can hear her quietly singing and humming along to the music.

When we get to my favorite set of cliffs, I back in toward the edge so we can watch the sunset from the back of my car.

She walks around the back and pulls open the doors, jumping up to sit in the back of the Jeep. “Romantic,” she says with a cheeky grin.

I pull out a bag with some of her favorite snacks—diet Cokes, Goldfish and Chips Ahoy—creating the perfect smorgasbord for Vivi. “Damn right it’s romantic. Nothing says romance like Goldfish, especially where you’re concerned.” During one of our meetings, I noticed she keeps a box in her classroom to munch on. “Plus, this is something I definitely would have done with you in high school. I would’ve looked for any reason to get some privacy with you.” We both know it would have been nonexistent at the time.

“Grady Miller,” she starts in a fake appalled voice. “Did you bring me all the way out here so we could,” she puts her hand up to her mouth as she whispers, “fool around?”

I step up to her and situate myself in between her legs. My hands find her waist and her legs instinctually wrap around mine. “Obviously that’s exactly why I brought you outhere.” She gives me a heated look that only burns brighter as my hand runs up her neck to cup her jaw. “But I’m not getting arrested for public indecency or whatever, so you need to have some control tonight.”

The smile she gives me tells me that she’s going to love testingmycontrol the rest of the evening.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Grady

“Wow,” I sit back in the tandem kayak we borrowed from The Shack, the small surf shop her brothers own. Vivi sits in the front as she guides us through the caves in La Jolla.

She looks over her shoulder at me, giving me one of her pretty smiles. “You’ve really never been kayaking before?”

“No,” I laugh, “I promise.

A week after she woke up in my bed, I finally convinced her to bring me out here. She asked three times on the way here while she was explaining to me the best times of the year to go out on the water. It’s pretty late in the season, so she was iffy about wanting to take me for the first time. I was insistent though. She’s mentioned a few times that she hasn’t gotten to go as often as she likes this year, but every time she talks about it, her entire being brightens.

“This was definitely one of the last good days to be out here for a few months. Thanks for bringing me,” she whispers over her shoulder.

I lean forward so I’m right against her ear. “Thankyoufor bringing me, Viv. This isincredible.”

And now, as we’re floating idly outside of some caves and I twist her braid around my fingers, adding this to my growing collection of new favorite memories.

Eventually, we make our way back to my Jeep and pack everything up. We didn’t get into the water, but the waves started to get a bit choppier on our way back to shore. Vivi’s been shivering for fifteen minutes now and the sight of her being uncomfortable brings out something primal in me now.

Before she can climb into the passenger seat, I grab a hoodie from the back and wrap an arm around her waist. “Here, baby,” I murmur into her hair before placing a soft kiss there. She turns around slowly in my arms and graces me with one of her pretty soft smiles—one that I’m almost positive she saves for only me now.

---