Page 21 of It Happened Duo
I pointed to a gray Italian-looking car. “That one?”
“Nice choice. That’s one of my favorites, too.”
Within in minutes, we headed down the road to the dock and his boat. The scent of the expensive leather seats with the cool wind whipping my hair overwhelmed, but, no matter how cold I was, the evening had been such a rush. I couldn’t hold back. I waved my arms in the air and howled. Rex laughed, and I loved it.
“You’re gorgeous when you let go, you know that?” He complimented me.
My cheeks probably glowed pink under the moon. Something about the sea breeze in my hair and the man beside me had my heart racing as I hung my hand out and danced it on the wind.
“We’re here,” he announced, the ride over too early, before it’d hardly begun.
We parked as the only car in the Hampton’s Yacht Club lot this time of night, and walked to the docks, where several boats of different sizes all bobbed a little in the water.
“This one’s mine.” Rex pointed to a boat namedShip Happened. Of course, he had his own dock with a bigger boat than the rest. “Wait here.”
He jumped on board and disappeared into the yacht and I waited a few minutes, eyeing the length of it. I thought he’d be racing some little sailboat, not a shiny white ship that must be a hundred feet long. I shook my head.
He has plenty of riches affording whatever hedesired, so different from me working hard for what I needed or wanted. We definitely came from two different worlds.
He lowered a plank of some sort and held out a hand for me.
“Does size matter when it comes to sailing?” I teased.
“Size always matters when it comes to having the best of everything,” came his sly smile and smart remark back. “Come on. I’ll give you the grand tour.”
From the control room to the lounge, everything had been decorated with rich ebony wood and a decor of white and navy blue. My jaw hit the floor in the kitchen with every available amenity a chef would need.
“I could cook a feast here. Do you cook?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I hire a chef when I sail for more than a few days.” Of course he did.
Next came the five bedrooms below deck. With lower ceilings and smaller but luxuriously furnished rooms, I started feeling closed in. I wasn’t sure I could handle a week of sailing in this, one night, maybe, but any longer and I might end up sleeping on the deck. Then it occurred to me. “Wait…you have claustrophobia, but these rooms don’t bother you?” I asked, squinting his direction.
He turned to face me with a deer in the headlights look and sighed. “I’m sorry Pearl told you that. It wasn’t true.”
I stepped back. “I don’t understand. Then why don’t you like coming into the deli?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and lowered his gaze to the floor. “Dad took me to eat there as a boy, while heand Doug played poker in the back room. They played regularly after hours with some of their buddies.”
He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned his elbows on his knees, still looking down. “I was eating some cookies, and I choked. By the time any of them noticed, I was blue and not breathing. Next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital.”
My hand flew to my heart, and I sunk into the bed next to him. “My God, Rex, I’m so sorry. You must have been so scared.”
“Yeah, one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. I’m sorry, but I just can’t enter the deli without having an anxiety attack. I know it’s stupid. I’m a grown man, and it makes me sound weak.”
“No, no. Not stupid at all. You’re human. Nothing to be ashamed of.” I couldn’t help but rub his back, gliding my fingertips gently down his wall of muscles.
He shifted to face me. “Chelsea, the first day I saw you, I dared to go inside, but the walls caved in on me. Seeing you—the bright ray of sunshine you were behind the counter—grounded me and helped me get through it. For a few minutes, at least.”
“Until you dashed out.”
“Yeah.” He reached up and fingered the locks of my hair away from my face. “But I won’t be doing that again.”
“Promise?”
His hand did that thing, sliding behind my neck, pulling me into him. The move was so sexy, and I bit my bottom lip.
“I fucking want you.” He hovered before kissing me.
