Page 13 of Life's a Beach
He nodded and led her to his truck and helped her in.
“I need to get you a step stool. Or a smaller truck. How is your back?”
She laughed, “You are really tall Gareth. If you had a tiny car it would be silly. And after I put some of that cream on that you sent over, it feels like it never happened. Thank you.”
“I guess you are right. This is one of my favorite things I bought for myself. I told you it’s a miracle worker. I didn’t want to see you in pain anymore.”
She smiled and listened as he told her about fighting and earning his own way.
How he lived in a motel for a long time before he decided where he wanted to put roots down.
She loved hearing him talk and when he told her about the time he visited Myrtle Beach when he was younger, she grinned.
“You have been here before?”
He nodded, “Yep. When I was about twelve I would say. I loved the beach and the town. It always seemed so inviting. So welcoming. And when I made money from my first fight, I bought a house here. I knew it was where I wanted to end up.”
She smiled, “I like that.”
He picked up her hand, “I do too. It was as if I knew my girl was here. And I had to find her.”
She warmed a bit at his statement. He was getting under her skin. She loved it.
And when he took her to dinner at her favorite restaurant, it made her like him even more.
They talked and talked, and had more in common than she realized.
His parents seemed like they were fun, but she knew how hard it was on him to move around all the time.
Never having a steady home. She understood a little. While she had a steady home, it was not a home.
She had one now and she loved that he had chosen to live here.
That of all the places he could have gone, he came here.
When they got done eating, they walked down to the beach and she took her shoes off and he held them for her in the hand that wasn’t already holding hers.
He took his shoes off as well and they walked barefoot in the sand down the beach, talking some more.
She told them about opening the boutique and how she wanted every single woman to feel beautiful in her clothes and how she hadn’t when she was young.
He let out a growl after hearing her talk about the boys that had been complete assholes to her and turned to her, “Boys like that are the stupidest things on the planet. They don’t see what they have right in front of them. How they let a fucking diamond slip through their fingers because they thought they saw a bigger cubic zirconium. They didn’t know baby. But I do. I know. I know you are the real diamond in a sea of fakes. I’m sorry those boys were douches. I hope you know I’m not like them. I love your curves. Every fucking inch of you is perfect in every fucking way.”
She smiled up at him, “I know. Now. I learned to love my curves. And I will never take them for granted.”
He kissed her until she was breathless, “Good. Because these curves fill my hands just perfectly.”
He held her hips in his hands, “See?”
She swallowed and nodded and he kissed her again, before pulling back.
“You make me lose my mind. I want nothing more than to throw you down on this sand and make you mine.”
She looked around, “No one is here. I would let you.”
He shook his head, “You deserve more than a quick fuck in the sand. One that is rushed because I would kill anyone who sets eyes on my naked girl.”
She bit her lip, “Then take me some place quiet. So we don’t have to rush.”
He put his forehead to hers, “I don’t want to rush you baby. We can go as slow as you want.”
She kissed him, “I know you would. But I don’t want slow right now. Right now, I want you to put your money where your mouth is and prove how much I mean to you.”
He growled at her, “Done.”
Then he bent down and threw her over his shoulder and walked through the sand to his truck, where he put her in the seat and buckled her in, before he ran around to the driver’s side.
