He shrugged. “The only thing I can surmise is that it would complicate her life—her very cushy life. The man she married when I was young didn’t like kids. And that’s how I ended up living with my aunt and uncle. Nothing was going to come between my mother and the lifestyle she thought she deserved.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for you.” She squeezed his hand tighter.
“After my aunt died, my uncle still hung in there—never giving up on me. I could tell that he wasn’t thrilled to be a single parent, but he never pushed me out the door.”
Ric stopped and turned to her. The sun’s last lingering rays shrouded him in light. As she stood there looking at hi
m, she saw him completely different now. And she knew why. That reinforced wall around him had come down. He let her see a vulnerable side to him that she never would have thought existed. And that made him even more attractive than ever before.
And then they were gravitating toward each other. She wasn’t sure who moved first. Was it her? Or was it him? Either way, their lips met in the middle. Oh, did they meet. It was as though the stars in the sky had lit up just for them. Or maybe it was sparks of desire lighting up the evening.
There was no hesitation as his tongue delved into her mouth. A moan swelled deep in her throat. He tasted sweet like wine. And she was already intoxicated by his touch.
She knew exactly where this passionate kiss would lead them. And in that instant, she didn’t care about the right or wrong of it. She wanted to live in the moment. And that was a first for her.
In Ric’s arms she was content—no, not content, exhilarated with the here and now. She wasn’t worried about the past. And she wasn’t anxious for the future and the answers she might find. Right now, in this moment, she had everything she could possibly want—and a little more.
She leaned into Ric. His muscular chest pressed against her soft curves. Could he feel the pounding of her heart? Did he know how he made her feel—
Buzz. Buzz.
The vibration of his phone in his pants pocket tingled her leg. It was like a wake-up call. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Not now. They had Gin to find.
Gia pulled away from him. She couldn’t quite meet his gaze. The guilt of losing herself in the moment was too great for her.
“I’m sorry,” Ric said. “I should get this. It might be news about Gin.”
Gia nodded. She hoped it was good news.
Ric checked the caller ID and then pressed the phone to his ear. “Marta, have you heard anything?” Silence ensued. “Where?” More silence. “Thanks. We’ll check it out.”
There was news. Gia’s heart filled with hope. “What is it?”
“The puppy has been spotted, at least they think it’s Gin, near the south shore.”
“Really?” When Ric nodded, her mind started racing. “That’s so far away.”
“I sent them a photo of him. We’ll know soon.”
Gia retraced her steps. Her strides quick. Short. All the while, she was thinking. Where would Gin go? Someplace familiar?
Ric’s phone dinged with a message. He frowned. “It wasn’t him.”
“I know where he went.”
* * *
What happened back there?
As Ric maneuvered his car toward his uncle’s villa, he replayed the scene on the beach. What in the world had gotten into him to open up about his past? He never spoke of that time.
It wasn’t so much the pain of his mother’s rejection—because he’d dealt with that long ago, when he told his mother to her face that he never wanted to see her again—but rather it was the vulnerability attached to the memory. Who admitted that their own mother rejected them?
And yet there was something about Gia that made him want to comfort her—even if it meant revealing more of himself than he’d ever meant to. He cared about her. He knew that was a dangerous admission. The women he’d cared for in the past had hurt him deeply.
But Gia wasn’t like those other women. She was kind, thoughtful and caring. If he had any doubts about that, they wouldn’t be rushing to his uncle’s place to find a stray dog that had stolen Gia’s heart.
And then the memory of the kiss they’d shared on the beach came to mind. Okay, she was very special. But what happened when she found her biological father?