By the time she finally made it down all three flights, Pierce was already pushing through the side door that led out toward the stretch of beach behind the restaurant.
“Pierce, wait.”
The words came out breathless, but either he didn’t hear her or his head wasn’t in the right place to listen. Charley reached the door and stepped through, the cooler air off the water rushing against her bare arms. Ahead, the beach opened up, the moonlight guiding her towards the shoreline where the water rolled in.
Pierce was already crossing the sand, nearing the water.
She stopped long enough to kick off her heels, fingers fumbling with them as her toes sank into the sand. She started after him again, her breath catching when he finally came to a stop near the waterline.
He stood there with his back to her, shoulders broad and rigid beneath his button-down, his head bowed slightly as waves rolled up the shore and retreated.
Charley slowed several feet behind him, her heels dangling from one hand, her purse clutched in the other. All she could think was that an hour ago she had been smiling across a candlelit table, thinking this night might turn into something she would remember for all the right reasons.
Now her throat felt tight, and dread sat like a stone in her chest.
Maybe this was it. Maybe she had asked the one question she never should have, and whatever had been building between them all evening had cracked wide open because of it. Standing there with the surf rumbling softly in the distance and Pierce’s silence stretching between them, Charley could do little more than stare at the man she was quickly falling for and wonder if she had just ruined everything before it ever really had the chance to begin.
???
Pierce barely felt the sand under his shoes. He had walked straight out of the restaurant patio and onto the beach without really seeing any of it. His mind was still trapped back upstairs, up on the rooftop. Only now, standing a few yards from the water with the surf rolling in under a dark sky, did the cool rush of the evening air start to cut through the storm inside his head. He dragged a hand over his face and bowed his head, his chest tight enough it hurt.
Fucking Brittany. Even thinking her name made something bitter twist low in his gut.
One second, he had been sitting across from Charley, thinking how he had never had a better night in his life. Next, he had looked past her shoulder and seen a face he hadn’t wanted to see again for as long as he lived.
Brittany had been seated on the other side of the terrace with her husband and their daughter between them. Pierce had only needed that one glance. One goddamn glance. His ex-wife. The man she had left him for and their kid. And then Charley’s question had landed right on top of it all—soft, innocent, asking how he felt about kids and whether he had ever wanted any of his own, and it had been like getting hit in the chest with a sledgehammer.
The answer to her question had been yes. Hell yes, he wanted kids. At one time, he thought he was getting one. He had even once stood in a baby aisle staring at tiny socks and a stupid stuffed giraffe with the kind of grin that came from a man who thought his whole life was finally falling into place. Then Brittany had ripped that future apart with one brutal truth, leaving him holding the pieces.
Pierce swore under his breath and looked out at the black water, his pulse still hammering too hard. He hated that he had reacted at all. But most of all, he hated the timing of it. Charley hadn’t done a damn thing wrong. She had asked a simplequestion during what had been the best date of his life, and he had responded by bolting out of the restaurant like a coward.
The thought hit him hard enough that he went still.Fuck! Charley! Jesus Christ!
His head snapped up. The haze he had been stuck in cleared just enough for panic to barrel in. He turned fast, already looking back toward the restaurant, cursing himself for being so deep in his own goddamn head that he had forgotten the woman he had come here with. He had just left her at the table with no explanation.
He took two quick steps and then saw her. She stood several yards away in the moonlight, her heels dangling from one hand, her purse clutched in the other. The wind tugged at the loose tendrils of blonde hair framing her face, the rest still pinned up in that pretty style she had clearly put effort into. Even with the distance between them, he could see the sadness and the worry in her expression. But there was something else that made his chest ache—hurt.
“Charley.” Her name came out rough.
She started toward him at the same time he moved toward her, both of them closing the gap across the sand. Pierce didn’t trust himself to speak. Not yet, not when everything inside him was still too raw and jagged. So, the second he reached her, he pulled her into him. He wrapped both arms around her and held on like she was the only solid thing in the world. For one awful second, he worried she would pull away. But then her purse and shoes dropped into the sand beside them, and her arms slid around his waist.
The breath he let out shook on the way out.
They stood there like that for several long seconds, the waves hissing up the shore and retreating again. Her cheek pressed against his chest. His chin brushed the top of her head. Andslowly, piece by piece, the chaos inside him eased enough for words to come back.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low against her hair. “Jesus, Charley. I’m so damn sorry.”
Her arms tightened a little around him, but she didn’t speak.
Pierce swallowed hard and forced himself to keep going. “That was a hell of a way to react, and you didn’t deserve it. I feel horrible about how I just handled that.”
She leaned back just enough to look up at him, though her hands stayed at his waist. In the moonlight, her eyes were soft and uncertain. “Well,” she said, her voice a little shaky but trying hard for light, “for a minute there I thought I had managed to destroy our first date with one badly timed question, so at least now I know I have a real gift.”
The words were so very Charley. They were sweet, nervous, and trying to rescue him from his own mess. A laugh escaped him before he could stop it.
Her mouth curved just a little when she heard it.
Pierce shook his head. “No, sweetheart.” He brushed a thumb lightly along her cheekbone. “You didn’t screw up anything. This…” His gaze searched hers, willing her to hear him. “This has been the best date I’ve ever been on.”
