“Oh no, honey. I’m just getting started.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, letting his lips linger long enough to make her breath hitch. Then, pulling back, he gave her a wicked grin. “I’m thinking daily deliveries for the next two months to make up for lost time.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s not necessary.“
“No guarantees. Now, where’s your jacket?”
Beth wordlessly pointed to the counter where her purse and coat were draped. Bryce grabbed them, handed them to her, and winked. “You look beautiful, by the way. Ready to go?”
Not long into the drive, Beth gave up trying to figure out their destination and instead relaxed into the heated leather seat. Bryce was a vault when he wanted to be, and she didn’t have the combination—yet.
“Tell me about your brother,” she asked, breaking the comfortable silence. “Brent, is it?”
“Brock,” Bryce corrected, with a chuckle. “What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know. What does he do? Is he married? Are you guys close?”
Beth sipped the coffee she’d brought and turned slightly in her seat, watching Bryce as he carefully considered his answer. He wasn’t the type to blurt things out without thinking. She liked that about him.
“We used to be really close. He’s just a year younger than me, so we grew up pretty inseparable. We both got football scholarships to the same college—UC Santa Barbara—so we played together for a while. We even lived in an off-campus apartment two blocks from the beach. Brock got into surfing pretty fast and started competing.”
“That was all in the past tense,” Beth noted. “You’re not close anymore?”
Bryce exhaled. “When I walked away from God, I kind of walked away from my family too. Their faith is a big part of their lives, and being around them just reminded me of everything I’d turned my back on.”
“Have you told Brock that you rededicated your life to the Lord?”
“Not yet.”
“What do you think he’ll say?
“Something like ‘About time you got your head out of your butt. What miracle finally smacked you upside the head?’”
Beth let out a laugh. “Wow. Rude.”
Bryce grinned, feeling unexpectedly warm at her defense. He wasn’t used to anyone standing up for him.
Then again, he hadn’t exactly let anyone in close enough to want to.
“He will want to meet you,” Bryce added. “He’ll ask for us to visit.”
“So, he’ll want to meet me but won’t want to come here?”
“He’s in Santa Barbara. This is the start of his busiest season, so he can’t travel. He’s one of the pastors for FCA—Fellowship of Christian Athletes—and runs surfing camps.”
Beth’s brows lifted. “No way. Kim worked with a pastor in Belize who ran FCA surf camps before moving there. I wonder if Brock knows him?”
“What’s his name?”
“David Lambert.”
Bryce blinked in surprise. “Yeah, I know him too. He’s the guy who got Brock into surfing. We met him at an FCA banquet in college. Brock was so impressed that he and a friend went out and bought surfboards the next day. Lambert actually taught them to surf.”
Beth shook her head in amazement. “Wow. Small world.”
“It is.” Bryce exhaled, his voice quieter now. “Unfortunately, I spent years trying to erase every trace of my past faith. Looking back, I can’t believe what an idiot I was.”
He pulled off the road, put the car in park, and turned toward her. His usual confidence was shadowed by regret, his warm brown eyes clouded with something deeper.
Beth swallowed, unsure how to comfort him.
