“Pressure?” I echoed.
“I’m not expecting anything,” he said. “I’m also not against anything that might happen, but I want you to know I’m not expecting it, okay? Nothing has to happen. I didn’t bring you here for that.”
He brought his hand up and touched the side of my face, and my heart went wild again. I couldn’t look him in the eye and found myself staring at top of his chest, trying to understand the markings that went from his neck down into his shirt. I held my breath and ran my tongue quickly over my lips.
“No pressure,” he repeated. “We’ll just be sleeping in the same bed. It’s a king—plenty of room.”
“I guess…I guess that’s okay.” I stole a glance up at him. It wasn’t easy because I practically had to bend my neck all the way back to meet his eyes.
“Are you going to end up cuddling me again?” he asked with a smirk.
I blushed and quickly looked down again.
“I’m sorry…I…I…”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I really don’t mind, not at all. I just want you to be comfortable.”
I swallowed and nodded.
“Care to check out the beach?”
“Yes, please!”
He dropped his hand from my face but kept his grip on my hand as we walked through the house and to the sliding doors in the back. He released a lock at the top, opened the door to the patio, and led me to the beach just behind the house.
The sun was low behind us as we looked out over the brilliant blue water. The tide was low, and brown sea grass covered the sand near the waves. As we walked to the water, I could see purple and blue jellyfish washed up along the shore. There were very few people on the beach, and the only sound that could be heard was the waves crashing against the sand.
I stood just at the crest of the tide line and looked out over the water. Aiden stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders to hold me against him. I leaned back, and the sense of security washed over me again.
Alarm!
I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be doing this. Twelve hours ago, I was checking work email and planning my week. How the hell did I end up here in this man’s arms? What was wrong with me?
“You won’t believe the sunrise,” Aiden said. “Sometimes I get up extra early just to watch it.”
“It really is beautiful here,” I said quietly. Aiden’s arms tightened around me as he pulled me tighter against his chest.
“Not bad for an extended date, right?”
I tilted my head back to look up at him. His eyes were calm and peaceful but still held that sparkle deep inside of them. My skin tingled as he rubbed his hands down my arms and then back up to my shoulders. I glanced down at his hands and the swirling tribal marks over them. On his left hand, the words LOVE LIFE were scrawled, one letter of each word per finger. Instead of the “O” in LOVE, there was a heart.
“Your eyes match the ocean,” Aiden said. “The blue’s the same shade, and there are all these little flecks of white in them that look like whitecaps.”
I looked away, not sure how to respond to his flattery. A simple thank you didn’t seem quite right, but I also didn’t want to respond with some kind of “I bet you say that to all the girls” line, either. The pause was too long, and the moment passed before I could think of a reply.
“Are you hungry?” Aiden asked. “You haven’t eaten much today.”
“A little.”
“Well, there are a thousand restaurants I can take you to,” he said, “but I might prefer to cook you something.”
“That would be wonderful.”
“Why don’t you get comfortable on the patio,” Aiden suggested, “and I’ll get cooking.”
He took my hand, and we walked back through the sand. He sat me down on a lounge chair on the tiled patio and smiled.
“I’m really glad you dec