Page 72 of Sweet Passions at Bayside
His father wiped his mouth and set the linen napkin on the table. “That was a long time ago, when, like most young boys, Dean still saw me through starry eyes.”
Emery made a split-second decision to try her hardest to rise above the hurt she’d felt from his earlier dismissal and make the best of it. All she needed was common ground, and having worked in a physician’s office, she felt she had that.
“I enjoyed your speech,” she said to his father, hoping she didn’t sound as nervous as she felt. “You mentioned several neurological disorders that I’ve had some experience dealing with. When I worked for the yoga back-care practice in Virginia, I worked with patients who suffered from many different types of ailments. With specialized yoga plans and meditation techniques, we saw physiological and psychological improvements in patients who suffered from several neurological diseases, like epilepsy, stroke, multiple sclerosis, even Alzheimer’s. I realize you’re personally not a fan of yoga, but does your practice work hand in hand with any yoga professionals as complementary therapy to your patients’ medical treatments?”
His gaze flicked between her and Dean. “That would be like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. It might soothe the patient’s anxiety temporarily, but there isnoreplacement for modern medicine.”
“Obviously I’m not implying that you forgo medical treatment for your patients,” she said more forcefully than she meant to, butwhat the heck? Did he really believe medicine was theonlyanswer to everything?
Dean pushed to his feet and took Emery’s hand. “If you’ll excuse us, I’d like to dance with my date.” He lifted Emery to her feet and quickly guided her away from the table.
“Dean!” she whispered. “I was trying to make some progress with him.”
His arms circled her waist, and the moment his hard chest pressed against her, the tension in her body eased.
“You mean well, doll, but you won’t win. He’s a man of science. He relates to statistics, facts, and documented research.”
“There have been studies—”
Dean pressed his lips to hers, kissing her slowly and tenderly, and just when she tried to pull away for a breath, he deepened the kiss. She came away a little dizzy, and warm all over.
“He’s arrogant, sweetheart. You think you’re having a rational conversation, but in his mind he knows more than anyone in the entire room. You’re not going to get through to him, and you’ll only get frustrated by trying.”
She sighed. “I just wanted to find some common ground. I hate that I’m causing more trouble between you two. And even though I hate that he just dismisses everything I stand for, which is wrong on so many levels, I wasn’t going to be confrontational. I just feel like, as a doctor, he should want to try everything possible for his patients. I was hoping if we could connect on some level things would be easier.”
“I adore you even more for trying, but I don’t want him to ruin this evening. Not when you look so beautiful and smell so sexy.”
His hand slid to the base of her spine, the other threaded into her hair. The familiar possessive and sensual hold was enough to melt some of her resolve. She rested her cheek on his chest and said, “Okay, but I still can’t believe Rose is his mother. She’s so nice. He should put her on a pedestal. It’s like he’s so busy keeping up this facade of who he wants people to see that he’s lost sight of the people who matter most.”
DEAN’S CHEST FELT full to near bursting. He didn’t think it was possible to fall deeper in love with Emery than he already had, but the combination of her determination to connect with his jerk of a father and her desire to see him cherish the people who should matter most solidified what he’d already known. While he and Emery might be as different as day and night on some levels, the very foundations of their beliefs were perfectly aligned. Family and love came before all else.
He rubbed his beard along her cheek, enjoying the feel of her shuddering against him. He was glad he hadn’t shaved it off this summer. He still remembered the night they were FaceTiming and she’d begged him to keep it, the way her eyes had turned sultry. It boggled his mind that a person could be so deep in denial about emotions so strong they had practically reached through the phone and gobbled him up.
“I’ll never become him, Em,” he assured her. “I’ll never put anything ahead of you, and I’ll never treat people poorly. I need you to know that.”
“I know. You care too much. Besides, you’re the most loyal man I know.”
“Thank you, but that’s not why.” He held her closer, swaying to the music as he spoke into her ear, wanting her to hear every word. “It’s because I’m falling for you, Emery, and I could never hurt the person I value most.”
She gazed up at him, looking deeply into his eyes, as if the answers to the questions in hers lingered there.
He smiled and touched his lips to hers. “From the very first day I saw you wrapped up in that big red ribbon, positive energy radiating off of you brighter than the sun, and you opened that beautiful mouth of yours and sassed me all night long, I was a goner.”
“Dean,” she said with watery, surprised eyes.
“I don’t want you to get freaked out and run away. I just need you to know that I’m all in, Emery. I want you in my life.”
“I’m all in, too,” she said joyfully, rendering him momentarily speechless. “I am, Dean. I know I’m not experienced at relationships, and I’ll probably still mess things up a bunch of times, but not in the really bad ways, like cheating or anything. Just in doing-dumb-things-without-thinking ways.”
Remembering the night of the bonfire and the way she’d decided to change her clothes in the bathroom instead of on the beach, he said, “We all do things without thinking sometimes, but I have faith in us. If either of us stumbles, we’ll be there to help each other find our footing.”
She pressed her body to his with the biggest grin he’d ever seen and said, “You have to at least pretend to dance, or everyone’s going to look at us.”
He hadn’t realized he’d stopped. “I want to remember you just like this for the rest of my life,” he said without moving. “Right here, in this dress, telling me you’re falling for me.”
As couples danced around them and the darkness peered in through the windows, he didn’t want to waste another second in this stuffy ballroom. All he wanted was to be alone with the woman he adored. “What do you say we get out of here? Go for a walk on the beach where it’s not so stuffy?”
“That sounds wonderful. Right after you dance with your mom.” She pointed to his mother, who was sitting at the table watching them with an appreciative smile. His father stood across the room talking with two of his partners. “She deserves to have a happy night, too.”
