“I have a pickup for work down in San Diego.”
“Of course you do.”
“I’ll be bringing the truck up here.” I didn’t mention it cost almost as much as the Tesla. Maybe I could trade the shiny gas-guzzler in on an older used pickup.
“We can see once you do have the truck here. Someone once told me teaching a person to drive was a great test of your relationship. If you didn’t end up screaming and wanting to kill each other, you were made to last.”
“If that’s the deciding factor, I think we’d be fine.”
“Yeah, we don’t do screaming, do we?”
“Thank God.” I backed out, reversed, and picked up speed. “My grandparents did yelling. A lot.”More at me than each other, of course.“You’d think that would’ve made me immune, but it didn’t.” Rob had been a demonstrative guy, and we’d had a couple of fights that almost made me run, till he realized I took getting shouted at a lot more seriously than he did. Shane wasn’t like that. I ran my fingertips over the back of his hand.
Shane turned his hand to clasp mine. “No screaming. Got it. I’m not a fan either.”
The sun came out and the waves in the bay glittered as we drove the shore road around to the point. The last couple of miles took us out of town and through the edge of Willis Woods with the water on our left. I sighed. “I like this. I miss almost nothing about my childhood, but I do miss the countryside, the open air, and the quiet.”
“You lived on the vineyard, right? I bet it was pretty.”
“It had its moments. Oh. There. The lighthouse.” Objectively, the small white tower wasn’t that exciting, and I’d seen the place across the water a hundred times. I still found myself thrilled to drive there, knowing I’d climb to the top. One more forbidden moment of my childhood that I’d get to set free.
A cozy-looking house sat at the base of the lighthouse, and as I pulled up outside and got out of the car, the front door opened. To my surprise, Wynn came over to us. “Hey, you made it.”
“What are you doing here?”
He blinked, then laughed. “I own the property. Didn’t Shane tell you?”
“No.” I turned a fake glare on Shane. “I thought you had to jump through all kinds of hoops to get us here.”
Shane grinned. “I did have to Google ‘Who owns the Willis Point Lighthouse?’ After that, it got easier.”
A hot, young, blond guy came out of the house and ambled over to Wynn, who put an arm around him. “Hey, guys,” Wynn said, “this is my husband, Lance. Lance, this is Theo, one of my clients, and his friend, Shane.”
“Boyfriend,” I said, since clearly we didn’t have to worry about these two.
Shane looked at me, then slung his arm around me in a mirror of Wynn’s pose. “Yep. Wynn said we could climb the lighthouse. It looks cool.”
“The view’s well worth the climb,” Lance told him.
“Do you guys want the ten-cent tour,” Wynn asked, “Or do you just want to head on up?”
Shane let me go and tilted his head, giving me time to answer. I was curious about whatever stories the place held, but… in my childhood fantasies, I’d been alone, silently climbing an unending staircase to the sky. I wanted that with Shane now. “Maybe the tour later?”
“Sure. Come on this way. Just promise me you won’t fall down the stairs or climb the railing. Our insurance carrier would kill me.”
I told Wynn, “We’ll be careful.”
“Pinky swear.” Shane grinned. “We’ve got no desire to fuck with gravity.”
Wynn chuckled and led us to the base of the lighthouse, where he unlocked the door. “It’s all automated and the controls are locked away. Just go on up— take the stairs all the way to the top, ignore any doors along the way. Then you have to climb a ladder to reach the light room and from there, go out to the gallery.”
“Meaning the balcony?” Shane asked.
“Yeah. Have fun, but watch your step.”
The moment we’d walked inside and the door had closed, Shane grabbed my hand, hauling me close for a kiss. Then he glanced up over his shoulder. “Fuck, that’s a lot of steep stairs. You sure you want to go up there?” Before I could back down to please him, and say no, he nudged my shoulder. “I’m kidding. Legs day. Come on.”
I followed Shane’s ass through the curved room at ground level and up the circular staircase. That appetizing view was compensation for the burn in my thighs as we neared the top. I been slacking off on my workout since he’d moved in. Maybe we could work out together, with Shane in jogging shorts…
