I don’t know if I ever felt like this for my ex. Derek is awakening things inside me that I thought were long buried. And after only a few weeks?
It should scare me, but it doesn’t.
Because it’s Derek.
“Sutton?”
“Hmm?”
Derek stops near one of the barrels and sets his wine down before pulling me close.
“You’ve zoned out on me.”
“Thinking.” I wrap my arm around his shoulders, taking a small sip of the cool wine.
“About?” A smile curls Derek’s lips. There’s the barest hint of a five o’clock shadow there.
“You.”
A full-blown smile erupts across his face. “I like hearing that.”
I press closer to him, feeling the heat coming off him in waves. “You know I like you, Derek, right?”
He nods, picking up his glass and taking the last sip of his wine. “I do, but it’s nice to hear you say it.”
Setting my own glass down, I link my fingers behind his neck. “I do, Derek. You’re making me feel…alive, for the first time in a long time. And I like it.”
It’s true. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt like this. So much of my life is dedicated to Lydia and work. It’s hard to have my own life sometimes. Being with Derek makes it feel possible.
Like I can have it all.
Derek leans in, giving me another sweet kiss. “Mmm. Delicious.” Derek’s lips are cool from the wine.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of kissing this man.
The kiss is too short. I wish it could be longer, but Derek steers us off toward more stalls to sample. As the afternoon goes on, it gets more and more crowded.
Filling our glasses once again, Derek links his hand with mine and tugs me toward the path down to the beach. “C’mon. Let’s go.”
“Are we allowed to have our drinks out here?”
Looking both ways, we step over the rope that separates the festival from the beach.
“As long as we don’t get caught.” He winks at me.
“You’re a bad influence.” I laugh, kicking off my sandals. My feet sink into the sand as I follow him down the beach to where the waves are kissing the shore. The sun is starting to sink closer to the horizon.
I see children running on the beach as a few older teens fly kites nearby, and blankets and umbrellas litter the stretch of sand around us.
“There’s other people coming down here too.” Derekpoints back to where we came from as others make their way down the beach holding their wine glasses. “We’re fine.”
“If you get us in trouble…”
“You’ll what?” Derek drops down onto the sand and pulls me next to him. “Hmm?”
“I don’t know. Not kiss you.” There’s not a chance in hell I could hold myself to that. Not with the way Derek is staring at me right now.
It has my heart fluttering in my chest.
