She stepped toward him and leaned her head on his chest.
Julian wrapped his arms around her and breathed in the scent of love, for that’s what she was.
Love.
His love.
“What can I do?”he asked.
“This helps a lot.”
He had no idea how long they stood there holding each other while he fell deeper into something from which he’d never recover.She pulled back quite some time later to look up at him with those bottomless eyes that saw all the way through him.“I’m okay.We can go.”
Relieved to hear her say she was okay, he put an arm around her, escorted her to the SUV and helped her up into the passenger seat.
He reached for her hand the second the vehicle was moving.“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t think so, other than to say it was nice to meet the rest of his family and to have the chance to say goodbye.It’s just so very sad.”
“Yes, it sure is.”
“What did you do?”
“Went out to the beach.”
“Would you take me there?”
He didn’t want to because of seeing his parents there, but he’d do it for her.He’d do anything for her.“Of course.”
A short time later, seated on the very bench he’d occupied before, holding her hand as they soaked up the warm sunshine, he wanted so badly to tell her what he’d seen there earlier.But he couldn’t throw his shit on top of her already intense day.
“This is a beautiful beach.Have you been here before?”
“A couple of times, a long time ago.My mother bought her house up here when I was in college.I haven’t spent a lot of time here.”
“It’s such a pretty town.I love the Spanish architecture and the rugged coastline.”
Julian nodded in agreement as the turmoil within threatened to boil over.He couldn’t do that to her.Not today.
“What’s wrong, Julian?You’re so tense.”
“Am I?”
“Yes, did something happen?Other than, well…”
He knew she meant the decision they’d made together to stop this thing while they still could.How funny that seemed now that he understood there was no stopping destiny.“A couple of things happened, actually.”So much for not dumping on her today of all days.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Desperately, but today is your day.You’ve got enough to deal with.”
“Please give me something else to think about.”She released his hand and put hers on his leg, branding him with her heat as she moved closer to him.“Talk to me.”
Part of his job was knowing when all was lost in a situation, when he had to advise his client to take the best deal they were going to get and walk away with their dignity intact.In many ways, this reminded him of that as he threw up the white flag in surrender to the inevitable.
“I was sitting here before, watching the surfers, enjoying the day, and it occurred to me that I love you.”
She gasped.“What?”
