My throat burns and I swallow hard. “Why did you bring me here?”
He looks away from the tree and catches my eye. It seems like he’s about to say something, but he looks back down, clears his throat and shuffles his feet.
It’s hard for him to say things, I realize. It’s hard for him to show how he really feels.
Finally, he speaks, his words coming slow but sure. “It’s a big part of who I am. I wanted you to see it.”
“To understand where you come from.”
He looks at me, and there’s relief on his face. “Yes.”
“To see why you are who you are.”
He hesitates again, and his Adam’s apple bobs up and down. “Yes.”
I nod and reach out to run my fingertips over the bark. They trail along the top of one of the boards, then down its side. Simon reaches out and grazes his fingertips over the top of my hand.
He takes a step forward and I half close my eyes. His familiar scent wraps around me like a warm and safe cocoon.
He speaks, the sound waves traveling into my body and pushing their way into my heart. “There have been plenty of other women in my life since my mother.” His voice rasps slightly. “But none who were really important.”
I slowly look up and into his deep blue eyes. “Are you trying to tell me something?” I ask.
Because if you are, that’s all I need. One statement straight from your heart to make nothing else that’s happened between us matter anymore.
He blinks heavily but doesn’t break eye contact. “I want to tell you something,” he whispers.
I find his hand near my hip and wind my fingers through it. “But it’s hard?”
He nods.
I take in a slow breath, wanting desperately to take the plunge but also being scared senseless. “This has been so up and down,” I say. “From the first day, I thought you hated me.”
He grimaces. “I thought I did too. For a while, I thought I hated everyone… I was in a bad place.”
I slowly shake my head. “What changed?”
The hand not grasping mine comes up to cup my cheek. “Me. I started to change because of you. No matter how hard I pushed against you, you never backed down. And yet… I got the feeling that you cared for me, even though I didn’t deserve it.”
My bottom lip trembles. “I didn’t want to care for you. I didn’t want to spend every single day and night thinking about you; wondering about you.”
“I know, and I was bad to you.” His thumb rubs lightly across my jaw. “You demanded I treat you like a person, and for the first time in my life, I realized I’ve been doing anything but that with people.”
My breath catches. “What have you been doing?”
He grimaces. “Anything and everything that involves not letting them get close.”
I lightly shake my head. “I can’t take the drama, Simon. I don’t want to force you to change.”
He guffaws. “Don’t you get it, Sydney? I’ve already changed. You being in my life, that’s all it took. I didn’t know what was happening at first, but spending the whole week alone at that beach house gave me time to think. I love you, and I don’t want to be without you.”
The sky and earth spin around us as his words sink into my heart and soul.
“I love you too,” I say, nearly choking on the words. “I can’t believe I’m saying this.”
He smiles. “I know. Neither can I. It came out of nowhere, didn’t it?”
Nodding, I gasp as tears blur my vision. A second later, all I can do is laugh though. I laugh as my vision swims and Simon presses his forehead against mine.
I don’t stop laughing until his lips meet mine and his fingers thread through my hair. I relinquish control of all thoughts, slipping away into the sweetness of his touch. Our tongues move across each other, dancing like they were made to meet in a moment as perfect as this.
He pulls me closer to him, wrapping his arms around my back and holding me so tight I couldn’t escape if I tried.
Not that I ever want to. Everything I need is right here.
I grab the front of his shirt, my breath coming out ragged in between our kisses. My body aches all over, begging to be touched by him without the hindrance of clothes between us.
“Take me inside,” I murmur into his mouth.
He sighs against my lips, low and long. When he speaks, the words vibrate against my skin. “I can take you right here.”
Before I can react, he turns me around and presses my back against the base of the tree where there are no boards. One arm goes up to rest against the bark and the other trails slowly down my side. Our kiss is slow and deep — the kiss of a love that can take its time, knowing there is no rush.