Page 53 of Turn the Tide
He couldn’t begrudge him her attention. Finally, after a few minutes, the sea lion took off into the water.
“This is the best present ever, Eric.” Was she sniffling? “Thank you!”
“No! No, this isn’t it. Or at least not all of it.” He swallowed. “Climb up. I’ve got something to tell you.”
“O-kay.” She tilted her head at a funny angle, narrowed her eyes at him over her sunglasses, and climbed up.
At the top, she spun around, blinking at the changes he’d made. “What’s going on?”
He’d done some work on the first deck—and hired a lot of it out, or she might’ve begun to wonder at his absences, but this wasn’t what he wanted her to see.
“There’s more. Come on.”
He pulled her up another level and inside, down the hall—to that place where they’d confronted those first two assholes—past the living quarters, which he’d had cleaned up, if not redone…yet.
“What…”
Hand in hand, they walked to the end of the hall, where he’d decided to turn the mess hall into something else entirely.
“What…what’s this?”
“It’s going to be my office.”
“Your office?”
“You know that security firm I talked about starting up? To keep me out of trouble, as you like to say?” At her nod, he went on. “Well, I’ve got three employees already. And this is our HQ—offshore, which gives us mega leeway.But, there’s room for more.” He eyed her carefully. “Right here, across the hall, we have space for…a nonprofit, maybe?”
“I don’t…” She was shaking her head. In confusion, he thought. Or was she turning him down? Crap, maybe he shouldn’t have kept this a surprise. “Eric, I can’t…”
“I want to give this to you.” After a second’s hesitation, he put a hand on her waist. “Please think about it. I know there are some messed-up memories here, but it’s also what brought us together, you know?”
She nodded, her soulful eyes glazed over with tears. “You’re crazy.”
“I know.” He wasn’t sure whether to smile or not. Was this too much? Probably.
“But I love it.”
Oh, thank God.
“Andyou. I love you, Eric.”
“Good. ’Cause it’s a package deal, so listen up.”
She paled and waited.
“Move in with me.”
She laughed. “Like I haven’t already?”
“Make it official.” He leaned in. “’Cause I don’t need more time to be sure of something I knew that first night we spent together.” He shifted back to get a good look at her face, but also to make sure she knew this was important to him. “You’reitfor me, Zoe Garcia. You’re the end of the line. And, more than anything, you’re the beginning. Of everything that matters.”
A tear gathered at the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek. He caught it with his thumb.
“I know this is fast, but we went two years before letting anything happen between us. I don’t want to do that again. No more wasting precious time. Will you move in with me? Will you…start something here? In the place we first met?”
She sniffled and wiped more tears away, but her smile gave him hope.
“Are youkidding?” Her arms went around him and she kissed him like she did every time she put her lips to his—like she meant it. Like he was the most important thing in the world. Like she loved him. “I’m wild about you.”
