Page 42 of One Last Time?
I didn’t know what to do.
Chapter 13
Taylor
* * *
Inever expected sailing to be my thing.
It wasn’t something I would have seen myself doing on a Saturday.
My cousins went all the time, but I stayed away because I hated fish. Big ones and little ones. It was the whole concept of being in water and having creatures swimming around me.
Add my fear of sharks to the mix, and I was a no-sailing girl, for sure.
However, today shocked me to shit because I’d gone sailing with Dylan and loved it so much, we decided a night aboard the sailboat he’d hired was a must.
We’d spent the whole day sailing out into the open sea and enjoying the scenic landscape I wouldn’t have taken note of if we hadn’t been right in it.
It was night now, and we were curled up together in the little bed, looking up at the skylight that took up a majority of the space on the roof.
We were in a naked tangle. Me cocooned in his arms while he told me about the stars above. Stargazing.
I’d always wanted to do it but never actually set aside the time to learn about the different stars and constellations. Mr. Dylan turned out to be the guy who knew it all and taught me all about them. While the clusters of stars looked to me like a splash of diamonds here and there on the velvet sky, he went in depth describing what he could see.
I listened and took it in, but really, I got lost in the sound of his voice. I got lost in the rich timbre and the fact that he was sharing something with me.
“Goddess, that constellation there has to be you.” He smiled and pointed to the sky.
“Which one is that?”
“Andromeda. She was one of the most beautiful women to walk the earth.”
I laughed at his sweetness. “Dylan Patterson, you know exactly what to say to make a girl’s head swell. You’re comparing me to a star constellation named after one of the most beautiful women to walk the earth?”
He cupped my face. “You are that to me.” He held my gaze, looking at me under the moonlight like he was trying to see inside my soul. “Taylor Cartwright, beautiful like Andromeda, and strong. She knows what she wants, she gets what she wants because she works hard to get it, and when she gets it, she knows she’s earned it. That is you… Beauty and strength. Nothing is more attractive than that.”
That…
That was the most powerful thing anyone had ever said to me. It was also the nicest. I’d done everything in my power over the last few weeks not to like this guy too much. I really had. I tried and tried harder every day I was with him.
“Thank you. It means a lot that you said that.”
“It’s true.” The corners of his mouth slid into a smile.
This was our fourth week together. The fourth weekend. We’d been together all that time. At play, like we were now, and at work at Cartwright PR. It was all great. All of it. Work and play.
Dad was right to value Dylan’s talent. I did too. When I got over my stubbornness, I’d opened my mind to take in new ideas that could make me better, but in the process of doing that, I’d opened my heart too.
Now, how was I supposed to close it again when we’d planned to say goodbye to this no-strings-exclusive relationship of ours?
“Where’d you learn about the stars?” I asked running my finger over the contours of his chest. “I wouldn’t have thought something like that would interest you?”
There was a sad look in his eyes that almost made me wish I hadn’t asked the question.
“My brother,” he answered.
I narrowed my gaze at him. He’d never mentioned that he had a brother. I thought he was an only child. He spoke like he was.
