Page 27 of Second Chance Wedding
Inside the small building, she noted the brothers’ great use of space. Rental prices were posted on the front of the small counter in plain view while smaller items were stacked, hung, or staged high on the walls or even the ceiling, while larger items lined the walls beneath and formed two small aisles to the left of the door.
“You’re on time,” Gage said, coming into the building from a side door. “That’s good.”
“I’ll leave you to it,” Ana said. “When should I pick him up?”
“We’re on winter hours, so we close at five. Should be finished up a little after.”
“I have his phone so if something changes, you’ll need to contact me directly.”
“Not a problem,” Gage said.
Ana nodded and turned to leave but stumbled to a stop when she realized Cole had silently entered the building behind her.
She wasn’t sure what to say to him after their last encounter, so she ducked her head and tried to sidle by him only to have him gently slip his hand beneath her arm. She sucked in a breath, painfully aware of his knuckles resting along her ribcage just under her breast.
“Gage, Ana and I are going for a walk. That’s her gray Rav outside, so don’t have it cited for parking.”
“Got it.”
“No, I-I should get to the boutique,” she said.
Cole’s grip tightened just enough to make her look up at him and meet his gaze.
“Come walk the beach with me. Please.”
She didn’t have a reason to say no. The boutique didn’t open for several hours and while there were plenty of things she could be doing, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d strolled along the sand. Which was extraordinarily sad considering she was a local.
And Cole’s husky “Please”?
She felt Benji’s gaze burning into her back as she nodded.
Cole’s hold loosened and allowed her to slip by his very broad frame and out the door.
The sun felt good. The warm rays kissed her cheeks and required her to pull her sunglasses from atop her head to cover her eyes, but she welcomed the barrier it gave her when she felt Cole assessing her.
“This way,” he said in his deep, rumbly voice.
She walked beside him, aware of every brush of their arms against each another. Aware of him, period. It had to be her imagination, but she could still feel her skin tingling where his knuckles had been.
“I owe you an apology,” he said.
She glanced up at him and missed an uneven spot in the sidewalk that left her tripping.
Cole quickly grasped her arm to steady her, but after she righted herself and kept moving, he didn’t let go.
“Guess I surprised you, huh?”
His amused tone sent a huff of laughter through her lips. “A…little.”
His chuckle warmed her insides, and hot, heady memories flashed through her head before she shoved them back into safe, tight little mental boxes.
Had she always had a thing for rumbly, gravelly voices? Or just…his? A grown-up, sexy voice that paired extremely well with his grown-up, sexy body.
“Ana, I’ve been thinking. I wanted you to know that…I was wrong and don’t blame you. What you said last night at the hotel…about always waiting for me to return and giving up those years of your life. It hit home. I like to think I have a reasonably well-rounded view of the world. Losing my parents made all of us grow up fast. But until last night, I didn’t realize just how narrow-minded I’d been.”
His words washed over her, through her, soothing the rough edges of nerves shredded by pain.
“All I thought about back then was us and our future and the plans we’d made—thatI’dmade. You hadn’t even graduated high school at that point, and yet I expected you to give up your family and friends and college to follow me somewhere only to leave you there while I deployed. I’m sorry I didn’t see that at the time, but I do now.”
