Page 99 of Caught Looking

I found her sitting on the dock looking out at the bay. Her knees were pulled up and she had her chin resting on top with her arms wrapped around her legs. Her hair was in her usual thick ponytail. It was early enough she didn’t need sunglasses. Roscoe was busy sniffing every single inch of the property so she hadn’t noticed me and I took my time memorizing her. Her bare, toned legs, her tangerine toenails, the wistful look in her eyes.

“I love it here,” she said.

So maybe she had noticed me. “Good thing it’s about to be ours.”

She tilted her head my way, resting her cheek on her knees. “Life is strange.”

I shrugged. “Sometimes.” The morning air was so humid that I was glad I skipped a shirt.

Annalise had smartly opted for a quick-dry fishing shirt so she was both covered and comfortable.

“This was supposed to be fake. Now we’re buying a house together? It’s been weeks not months.”

I did not like the direction of this conversation. “And?”

She rolled her eyes. “And none of this is normal. Not the fake relationship, not all the paparazzi or the security details, not buying an insane house on the water together after dating for a few weeks.”

Annalise was spooked. And with good damn reason. I was so sure about us that I missed a few hundred critical steps along the way. I could blame the shit with Owen causing us complications all I wanted to, but at the end of the day I didn’t slow down and make sure Annalise knew my story or that she felt comfortable with how fast things were moving.

I hadn’t even told her I loved her.

Which was as obvious as the sun rising behind us, but it didn’t change the fact that I hadn’t stopped, looked into her gorgeous eyes, and told her the undeniable truth.

So of course she was out here freaking out.

I sat down beside her, letting my legs dangle over the side of the dock. Would we get a boat? Would we use it if we did? Or would this just be someplace we came to enjoy the view? Maybe throw a line in the water for fun.

“Do you remember last night? How easily you trust me with your body? With those dirty kinks of yours?”

She blushed. “I remember every second of last night.”

“It was hot, babe. Intense.Intimate.I can only be me with you because I trust you so completely. I like to think it's the same for you.”

After an eternal few seconds she nodded, her blush deepening.

“Good.” I reached out for her hand, threading our fingers together. “The day we officially met, the day of the joint practice, I was in a bad way. I was trying so hard to find the path forward and I was stumbling. And then you came through, sprinting, light where I felt so heavy, happy where all I could remember was feeling lost. You were sunshine in all that tangerine. I want to tell you I fell in love with you right then and there, but I’m not sure. I was too far gone to fall, I think. But I spent every day after that trying to be better. Trying to find that same light that you’d shown me was possible. Every time we crossed paths it was like a jolt to my system, bringing me slowly back to life.”

I’d loved her all this time, but the moment I fell, the point in time I could point to and saythere, that’s when I stopped caring about myself more than I cared about her, I knew without a doubt. “That first night at Dottie’s is one I’ll never forget. I really didn’t think you’d be there.”

“Then why did I tell you my favorite late night dining spot?” She shot me a look.

“Hush, I’m pouring my heart out of here, gorgeous.”

She rolled her lips between her teeth. “You were there in that adorable onesie about to feast on pure sugar. And you had a look of such joy on your face. You were there for pancakes. Not for me. You let me be…me. And then you got all mad at me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m a bit touchy when it comes to Owen.”

“You demanded I be a better man. And I realized I wanted to be that man more than anything in the world because I wanted to be what you needed. I wanted to be your man. To protect you and love you and be good enough for you. But it was at your car, while you were huffing and angry, and yet you trusted me, let me kiss your forehead. No one had ever made me feel so many things in such a short length of time. I knew I was a goner. Knew I’d never meet anyone as special as you.”

We were definitely not close enough for the avalanche of feelings currently surging through me. So I gently tugged her to face me as I turned to face her, then threaded our legs together as I took her face in my hands.

“I am madly, wildly in love with you, Annalise Ryan. I will happily spend the rest of my life working to be your man, to be the man you deserve.” My heart thudded in my chest. I knew exactly how I felt, knew she loved me, too, but it was still so hard to put the words out there.

Her head tilted to the side. “You go zero to a hundred in absolutely everything in life but this. You take all this time to tell me you love me?”

I shrugged. “That’s how you know I’m serious. Loving you is too important to rush through.” A lifetime wouldn’t be enough.

“You want to know when I fell for you?”

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