Page 34 of Sweet Passions at Bayside
“A wet suit? No thanks. Too confining.”
“Em, you’ll freeze without one.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve swam in an ocean before.”
“Yeah, in theSouth.” He opened the shed, but before he stepped inside, he closed the gap between them, staring down at her with a serious expression. “Why do you fight everything I say?”
“I don—” She realized she was doing exactly that and swallowed her words. “Knee-jerk reaction. I hate being told what to do.”
His brows knitted. “You take the long way around everything you do. Just this once, trust me enough to do as I ask, okay?”
She huffed out a breath. “I hate being confined.”
“By the wet suit, or by me?”
After a beat of silence, she said, “The wet suit.”
He cocked his head, as if he didn’t quite believe her. Planting her hands on her hips, she opened her mouth to refute his thoughts, but she knew Dean would never buy it. They may not have been face-to-face all these months, but she’d been honest with him about everything. She’d even shared her dream of one day becoming a yoga back-care specialist, primarily for the elderly, on a full-time basis.
She closed her mouth, warmed by the realization of how seriously he’d taken her dream.Seriously enough to have built me up to the one person who has the connections to open doors.
“Not you, specifically,” she explained. “But…I’ll try a wet suit if you really think I should.”
He stepped closer. He was good at this space-invader thing he did. Her heart skipped as he tipped her chin up with one finger and said, “And a real date? Think you can trust me enough for that?”
Her lungs constricted. “Our friendship…?”
“Is already on the line, regardless of what happens next.”
“You’re going to be my boss.”
“You’re fired,” he said with an impish grin.
She laughed. “I can’t let down Drake and Rick like that. I said I’d offer yoga to your customers.”
“We’ll send them to your classes at the inn.”
“Dean, I can’t just back out on commitments because you want me to. What would that make me?”
“Smart,” he said, tugging her closer again, softening her to his plight. “You’d have one less reason to pull away. One less excuse to keep your distance. One less reason to fight your own happiness.”
She inhaled deeply, trying to weed through right and wrong.Am I clinging to the best excuse I’ve got to keep my heart intact?She didn’t know why she was suddenly worried about herheart.
My heart?
Her hand drifted absently to her chest, her heart kicking against her palm. She’d never given that particular organ much thought beyond remaining healthy. It was their friendship and her career she’d worried about. She swallowed hard, suddenly aware of Dean watching her intently. Her heart beat faster.
“What do you say, Em?”
She wanted to accept the challenge.Or was it an offer? Suggestion?No, she realized, this wasn’t any of those things. This was agift. He was offering her an olive branch, giving her a way to set aside one of her worries and give them a chance. No one had ever given her the gift of happiness.
Except sometimes they did. Her father had done it when he’d paid for her back-care specialist courses, and hadn’t Desiree given her a gift when she’d offered a space at the inn for Emery and her business?
Okay, sometimes people who really care about me, really know me and love me, despite my faults, have done that for me.
Dean cocked a brow, and she opened her mouth to accept, but “Can I think about it?” came out before she could stop it. The hope in Dean’s eyes faded.Oh my gosh. I really do stand in my own way.
“Sure,” he said, looking at her for a long moment before breaking their connection and heading into the shed to retrieve the surfboards.
