Page 22 of Romance Reset
“Think you can manage one of these?” he asked moments later, handing her one of the backpacks.
She took it and knew it had to be the lighter of the two given the way his muscles bulged when he lifted the other. “Yes. I’ve got it.”
“Good. Ready?”
He grasped her hand and led her away from the beach, toward the interior, following a barely visible trail toward the center of the narrow expanse. Lincoln warned her of rough patches along the way and even grasped her waist and lifted her and the pack over a couple of spots to protect her bare feet.
Lincoln’s broad shoulders filled the space in front of her, so she focused on their clasped hands and putting her feet where he treaded. When he stopped and stepped to the side, she gasped at what she saw in the fading light of the day. He’d… Wow.
There. Away from the water and tide that would wash it away was a pit with a stash of wood at the center, surrounded by a circular sand bench. Just like the one Lincoln and Carter, along with a group of friends, had dug that last perfect summer day before Lincoln’s parents had been killed and their lives had imploded.
Tears stung her eyes at the sweetness of it. Leave it to Lincoln to remember her comment after that day that she couldn’t wait for them to return for a picnic—just the two of them. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“I can’t take all the credit. Carter, my kids and their dates, and I dug it out a few months back for the twins’ graduation celebration. Thankfully it’s stayed pretty much intact,” Lincoln said, taking the backpack from her shoulder to dig inside. “I brought the wood out earlier today and fixed what needed fixed.”
From the backpack she carried, he produced a couple of blankets and small pillows along with a lighter, portable speaker, and bug repellant coils and candles. He lit everything meant to be lit, then opened the second, larger backpack, which held a cooler with bread, cheeses, fruits, crackers, and tiny bottles of wine along with stemless wineglasses. She watched the process with dazed appreciation. “You’ve thought of everything.”
“Not yet.”
Lincoln removed his phone from a pocket, and with the press of a few buttons, soft music filled the air.
“But maybe now. You hungry?”
She laughed softly and nodded, accepting his hand for the two steps down into the pit. Amelia spread the blankets for them while Lincoln poured the wine and uncovered the prepared food. Finally they settled in beside each other, and Amelia broke the silence with the thought plaguing her. “This is above and beyond, Lincoln. I love it. But I’m surprised, too. I… wasn’t sure I’d see you again after our first date.”
Lincoln chewed the bite he’d taken of the bread and inhaled.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to see you again.”
The statement cut deep even though it proved her instincts were correct. “Yet here we are.”
He’d propped an arm up, his body turned toward her, and he lifted his glass. “Here we are. To fresh starts.”
She clinked her glass with his. “To… romance resets,” she whispered, quoting Izzy’s comment from that fateful meeting with Marsali.
Lincoln’s brown-eyed gaze sparkled in the light of the fire and held hers with an intensity that left her trembling from nerves and excitement and anticipation of whatever the future would hold.
“I did a lot of thinking after our first date, and it finally dawned on me that I owe you an apology, Amelia.”
“For?”
“Scaring you away all those years ago. I knew what your life was like growing up and taking care of your siblings. Weight of the responsibilities you carried. And there I was asking you to trade one anchor for another. I didn’t get it then, but now, as a dad and an adult, I see it clearly. I’m sorry.”
She tightened her grip on the glass in her hand but lowered it to her lap, his words touching the deepest recesses of her soul. “Itwasa lot of pressure. My parents didn’t want me to go away to college because it meant losing childcare. I constantly argued with them, and then you… More than anything, though, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me to be. I hated myself for that but I just couldn’tstay. It scared me so badly that if I married you I’d never be able to find out who I was supposed to be. The real me.”
Lincoln leaned closer, his fingertips lightly brushing her hair away from her cheek. A moment passed. Two. Then he slid his hand to her nape and tugged her toward him, his lips covering hers in a bittersweet kiss that sealed the past in the past and freed the future to be whatever they made it.
By the time the kissing ended, they were both breathing heavily and leaning hard against one another.
“I guess that hasn’t changed.”
“Mmm. Nope,” she said, her body practically buzzing. Desire had never been a problem for them. Ever. “But, um, maybe we should… slow things down a bit?” Had she really said that? Now? When her biological clock ticked away at light speed and slow was the last thing she needed? “At least until… we… um…”
While she tried to rein in her scrambled brain cells to form complete sentences, Lincoln grasped her trembling hand in his and lifted it to his lips to kiss, sucking the fruit juice from her fingertips one by one, his gaze holding hers. Yeah, like that didn’t scramble the cells even more?
“Until we what, Amelia?”
Chapter 9
