Delight.
Her eyes open wide; shocked and pleased. Her beautiful, kissably plump lips curve into a megawatt smile. Her face is so utterly transformed in that moment that I make a solemn promise to myself right now.
I want to delight her. Again and again. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make her smile the way she is right now.
"I'm pretty glad too," she laughs. Her voice is softer. "It's gorgeous here."
I look down at the shoreline. The waves are gentle, sighing into the sand. It's low tide. "Sometimes shells wash up," I tell her. "Over here."
They wash up everywhere, but I am using this as an excuse to take her hand. It slips into mine like it belongs there. "Okay," she says, her voice barely above a whisper. I'm not sure if she's saying it to me or to herself.
Darkness is gathering in the trees. "What was that?" she asks, startled by a sharp cry from the branches.
"Migratory birds," I tell her, picking my way carefully along the waterline. "This is a stop for a lot of them. Someday I'm going to learn all of their names, but right now I just think of them as happy surprises. This place is protected, you know. A bird sanctuary." I pause. "My sanctuary.
Sanniyah stops, forcing me to look back at me. Her head is tilted to one side, exposing the curve of her throat to me. I eye it hungrily until her words catch me by surprise. "So why share it?"
Chapter Nine
Sanniyah
I shouldn't have just blurted it out like that. His face is completely stricken. I can see how pale he is, even in the low light. "I'm...sorry, that was rude," I start to stammer.
"No." He sighs heavily. "It's a valid question. One I've been trying to come up with a good answer for, myself." He gives a rueful chuckle and runs his hands through his hair, tugging slightly. I have the urge to smooth the rumpled tangles away. To smooth the worry lines off his face.
Carter Easton turns away from me, striding up the beach to sit heavily on a piece of driftwood far above the waterline. I hesitate. He seems like he wants to be alone. But he also seems like he wants to answer me. So I move towards him, shifting a little as I sit so that our bodies aren't touching. I am acutely aware of the heat in the air between us.
"Basically, it comes down to this," he says, like he is making a decision, once and for all. "Cammy is my baby sister. She should have a normal, happy wedding, with our father walking her proudly down the aisle. But she can't have that."
I swallow. The crash. I didn't put together what it meant for Carter, what it meant for Camilla, until just now.
I am saved from having to murmur something apologetic and awkward by the fervor in Carter's voice as he continues. "She's getting married, to a good man. She's found happiness, and deserves to have that celebrated. And I can make that happen. I can afford to give her that, give her the wedding of her dreams...fuck, I can afford that a million times over. It's not going to make up for our parents not being there, but it's the best I can do."
The silence after his speech hangs heavily in the air. I can feel all of my assumptions about Carter Easton sliding slowly sideways. This isn't what I was expecting...at all.
I slip my hand quietly into his. "I can help you do that," I tell him. "It's my job. And I'm really good at it."
Carter looks up, and bursts out laughing. "Thank you," he says. "I think I'm going to need the help."
I shift on the log. This is more my speed. Dolphins, birds, walks on the beach...Carter himself...they all had me feeling off kilter, but planning a spectacular wedding? That I understand. "Why don't you tell me what you have planned," I start.
Carter runs his fingers through his hair again, the wild, trapped look fading from his eyes. It is replaced with a boyish, rueful grin. I can see Cammy's shyness, there underneath the gorgeous, studied cool of his exterior. "If we're going to be...working...together, Ms. Jones."
"You can call me Sanniyah," I interject quickly, blushing slightly.
"Okay Sanniyah," he grins wider, showing a dimple deep in his left cheek. "You need to know that...I don't really...plan. That's not how I work, not how I've ever worked, honestly." He slides his hand out of mine and for a moment I miss its warmth. The faraway look I first saw on his face when I arrived, returns. "The more I try to control things, the more they slip away from me." He spreads his hands wide. "So I just learned to let it all...go."
There is a sadness to his voice that gives me pause. I want to touch him and suddenly I do, running my hand up his forearm. He closes his eyes and lets his head drop back. Then suddenly he rises to his feet, lifting us both. His hand is on my waist and we are walking in silence, just touching.
I should be working. I should be talking about the wedding, my client's needs. I should be planning, doing my job.
But I am only walking next to him.
I don't want to break the spell I am under where this is completely okay.
Chapter Ten
Sanniyah
My dreams are filled with the sound of the ocean in my ears, the memory of Carter's fingertips on my skin as indelible as ink. I really don't want to wake up and have that memory fade away.
We just walked, nothing more, but that walk was more intimate than if I had torn off his clothes and kissed every inch of his body.
And while every cell in my body yearned for him to kiss me, he did nothing more than squeeze my hand when we said goodbye. The pressure of his hand on mine still heated my skin the morning after.
It is torturing me that I didn't kiss him. I lift my phone to stare at his number. Then, feeling like a complete idiot, I press my lips to the cold screen.
Since when did I revert into a teenager around guys? It didn’t matter. Carter was no ordinary man…
It will have to suffice. For now. Because right now I really have to return to reality and get to work. I wasn’t here to play matchmaker for myself. I was here to plan a wedding.
My home office is the same as it always is, but for some reason, today it feels...lonely. I blaze through my emails like I am trying to set land speed records. I am keyed up, rushing for some reason.
You know the reason.
Carter's phone number is in my phone. Taunting me. Like the cookies in the pantry that I am deliberately avoiding, that phone number calls to me all damn morning. My gaze keeps dropping down to my Iphone. I want to pick it up, text him. "No, Sanniyah Rose," I told myself out loud. "Stop it."
The morning goes by in fits and starts. It's Saturday and I have a wedding scheduled for this evening, but until then I have plenty of time to get my emails and pitches done.
Instead, I fritter away my time looking at pictures of Carter on the internet.
Pathetic.
I need a distraction and luckily one lives right next door to my apartment.
Tricia has been my best friend since I was a nervous and traumatized fourteen-year-old girl. The first day my mother and I moved into Otis' house, Tricia hailed me from her driveway. "Oh, you're the new kid? Thank god you seem normal," she had shouted.
I certainly didn't feel normal back then. Moving to the big house on the corner from the tiny studio apartment my mother and I had shared was making me feel as conspicuous as if I had a horn growing out of my forehead. My mother had just married Otis, down at the courthouse, and all of our possessions were crammed into plastic bags, in the back seat of his car. Everything I knew had just been turned upside down, but Tricia said I looked normal.
I never forgot that.
We went through school together, the Asian and the black girl a united front. And when we both moved to the city after college, we made a pact to live in the same neighborhood again. Th
e universe had done us one better and let us be next door neighbors once more
I love having her so close. Especially this morning when I need to talk and only face to face will do.
I knock on her door, inhaling the scent of cooking smells that emanate from within her apartment.
Her gorgeous wife Rita answers the door, spatula in hand. "Hey Yahya, you eat lunch yet?"