The minute my feet hit it, I stopped to let it run through my toes before sitting in the sand. It was like no other sand I’d ever felt, pink in color, and silky smooth. I knew I had to look like a little kid, but I couldn’t help it. “I want to take some of this home with us.”
Axel sat down next to me. “That would be cool. But it’s illegal. We can come back whenever you like.”
When he said things like that, it gave me hope. He made it sound like we were a real thing, and I had to work on believing him. Not allowing my past to determine my future.
“Maybe we can take swim lessons next spring before we go to London.” There he went again. “I’ll hire someone to teach us in my pool.”
Live in the moment, Luca.“Let’s go. I want to see how warm the water is.”
Standing, I pulled him up and led the way into the blue water, where we sat waist-deep, watching the sun go down. Axel pulled me between his massive hockey thighs and wrapped his arms around me as he rested his chin on my shoulder. This moment embodied everything I ever wanted. Not the luxuries, even though they were nice, but someone of my own. My heart called out to his, and I’d never felt more secure or happy than when I was with him.
The lower the sun dropped, the stronger the breeze became, causing a shiver to ripple through me. Axel kissed my cheek, then whispered in my ear. “Let’s go shower and find dinner.”
After showering, we slipped into preppy shorts and polo shirts to head into town. We walked hand in hand as we made our way to the restaurant he’d chosen. We sat at a table on the deck, close to the fireplace, sipping a rum drink and enjoying every kind of seafood imaginable.
“Which one is your favorite?” he asked, smiling at me over the candlelight.
“I love it all. I don’t think I could choose only one.”
He reached for my hand. “Try. Which one?”
I looked down at what was left. “The spiny lobster.”
“Excellent choice.”
When we returned to the house, we went out to the deck with a pile of blankets and pillows for the double lounger. Axel looped a finger into my belt loop and pulled me back to his chest. “Dance with me,” he whispered into my ear.
My face heated with embarrassment. It was one more thing I didn’t know how to do. “I don’t know how, and there’s no music.”
Axel cupped the side of my jaw and eased my nerves. “Then hold onto me as if you’ll never let me go. I’ll do the rest.”
I wanted that more than anything. “I can do that.”
We swayed in the bright moonlight to the rhythmic sound of soft waves lapping at the shore. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been this happy and content with my life. Axel changed everything.
“Ready for bed, love?” His eyes swept across my face.
My pulse thrummed, not from being nervous, but with confidence. The smell of his cologne and the salt air had worked their magic on me. Axel was everything I wanted, and what better time to show him? Leaning back, I wanted him to see my face.
“You have never pressured me for more than I could give. You’ve taken the time to make me comfortable in my own skinwhen it would have been reasonable for you to issue ultimatums. But you didn’t. I see you for the man you are. The one who is a little banged up by life, who has the biggest heart, but oozes kindness from behind his mask. You are imperfect, Axel Hughes, but you’re perfect for me. Prove to me that waiting for you was the best decision of my life. And in return, I want to give you the only thing I have to give. Me.”
He waited to respond, but stared as if he were processing my words. For the first time since I’d met him months ago, he sounded unsure. “Is that really how you see me?”
“Yes,” I whispered, taking his face into my hands. “You hide behind your painful past, just like I do. But not here. In this beautiful hideaway from the world, where there’s only you and me, I want to stop hiding, and I want to let you in for however long we last.”
His brow furrowed, but I distracted him with a kiss. I knew what he would say. But this Luca was going to live in the moment with the best person I’d ever known. The man I was in love with.
Axel ran his hands under my thighs and lifted me. I wrapped my legs around him as he kissed me with so much reverence I felt it in my core. Our hearts were talking forever, and my head wanted to believe it as he carried me to the room and onto our bed, never breaking the kiss.
His weight on me was the anchor I needed. His erection along mine sent shivers down my spine. I needed to breathe, but didn’t want to stop. Axel took charge of my heart and soul, and I willingly turned it over to him. Pulling away, he never let go as he quietly looked down into my eyes, as the curtains billowed in the breeze and the moonlight illuminated our world. “Are you sure, love? You can say no, and it changes nothing.”
“It changes everything, Axel.” I swallowed because the words were bubbling up from my unguarded heart. If it was a mistake, then so be it. But how could loving someone ever be wrong?“You can read me like a book, and if you haven’t figured it out, I am in love with you. I’ve tried not to fall. Tried to put distance between us, but you kept coming. And somewhere along the way, I stopped fighting, because it’s impossible not to love you.”
His eyes welled as he gazed down at me. Again, he said nothing, and if I’d ruined us, at least he knew he was loved. He blinked away the tears and came back to me. “I love you, Luca Vaughn. I thought I was incapable of giving my heart to anyone, but you proved me wrong. You see beyond my walls, and you love me anyway.”
I smiled. “I do. And I’d really like to experience that love with you.”
He lowered his mouth to mine and drank me in. “I need your skin on mine,” I whispered. “I need to feel all of you.”
