Double Dare(130)

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” remarked Stone. “Plus, there’s this,” he said, fingers flying over a remote.

And I watched, stunned, as the drapes drew back on motorized wheels to reveal floor to ceiling windows, showing off the manicured grounds behind the house as well as the infinity pool, the blue water glowing with interior lights, almost too beautiful to swim in.

But Stone was having none of it.

“Come on,” he said, opening the patio door and pulling me outside. “We might as well sit by the pool as we chat, it’s gorgeous and honey, you look delectable in that swimsuit,” he remarked, throwing another grin my way.

I flushed.

“We’re talking business,” I admonished, trying to keep things kosher. “Strictly business,” I reminded.

And the big man shot me a broad smile before sitting down on a lounger, gesturing for me to do the same.

“Of course,” he said, eyebrow quirked. “I wouldn’t think otherwise. Now what did you want to talk about?” he said innocently.

And I exhaled with impatience.

“Stone,” I said, exasperated suddenly. “Let’s start with the obvious. Where have you been? Why did you disappear without a word? Especially after- after,” and here I choked, “after you took my virginity?”

The big man was serious then, his blue eyes darkening into a stormy grey, looking at me with feeling, with fervor.

“Honey,” he said quietly. “I wanted to do what was best for us and leaving was best,” he stated. “I know it was sudden, that I gave you no advance warning but trust me, the less contact we had, the better.”

I shook my head, disagreeing.

“Whatever your reasons, they couldn’t have justified leaving me like that,” I said slowly. “Who does that? Who takes a girl’s virginity and then beats feet out of town?”

Stone sighed.

“I know this is going to be tough to understand, but I was doing it for you, Evie,” he said gently. “When you came over for dinner, suddenly I realized we’d entered new territory and the stakes were high. Real high.”

I still didn’t get it.

“Like they weren’t high before?” I asked, shaking my head. “I mean, we were fucking on an air mattress in an empty classroom, if we’d been caught, it would have been disaster for your career.”

And Stone nodded slowly.

“That’s true, but I wasn’t thinking about my career,” he chose his words carefully. “I was thinking about my heart.”

Suddenly my pulse was pounding, the beating in my chest so thunderous my hearing was muffled, the world spinning on its axis.

And Stone turned to me, his blue eyes full of feeling.

“Baby,” he said quietly. “When you came over for dinner I realized this wasn’t some lunchtime fuck, this wasn’t some dalliance that I was going to shrug off with no emotions. You were so amazing, so gorgeous, so perfect, I wanted to bury myself in you, keep you with me, make you mine, and that shook me to my core. It shouldn’t have, but it did.”

I was so overwhelmed by his words that I just stared at him with wide eyes. I was perfect? Gorgeous? Stone wanted to make me his? Oh god, it was beyond my wildest dreams, I could hardly believe my ears. I’d thought Stone was going to offer some lame excuses like “I was really busy” or even “my grandmother died,” but instead he was declaring himself. Stone Phillips was speaking words that I’d never heard a man say before and my heart jumped into my mouth.

But something still didn’t jive and I was cautious after a year apart.

“Stone,” I said slowly, “if I meant all that to you, then your actions make even less sense. If that was true, that I should have been the first person you told when you left town, the first person you reached out to. Why would you ghost someone you loved?”

And finally the words were said, they were out in the open. I half-expected Stone to deny that he loved me, that that was an overstatement, but the big man didn’t fight it. He just nodded soberly, blue eyes clear, acknowledging the truth, the rightness of my words.

“I know honey,” he said quietly. “It makes no sense, but trust me, I did it for you,” he said softly.

“For me?” I repeated, dumbfounded, my cheeks coloring. “Don’t turn this around,” I warned. “There was nothing worse than realizing you’d left town without a word. Do you know how depressed I was, how miserable, how I’ve been walking around in a fog for an entire year?”

And the big man reached a hand out, taking my small palm in his, his fingers square and warm around mine.