by Addison Cole
“Face my fears. Do you mean with sharks or with Dane?” Lacy asked.
“That’s for you to decide. My gut says both,” Danica answered.
“Maybe you’re right. I don’t know,” Lacy said.
The man who had been walking sat in the sand, looking out at the water. She went to the edge of the railing and looked more closely. Her pulse sped up. She sat back in the chair and whispered into the phone. “He’s here.”
“Who?” Danica whispered back.
“Dane. He’s here, on the beach. He’s sitting in front of the house.” Lacy peeked at him through the slats in the railing.
“Are you sure?” Danica asked.
“Totally sure. Creepy or romantic?” Lacy asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe he saw you on the phone and decided to wait until you were off. Where’d he come from?”
“I don’t know.” Lacy put her hand around her mouth to keep the sound from carrying. “Is he a stalker?” Yeah right. It’s my heart that I don’t trust.
“You’re so weird. No, Dane Braden is not a stalker.” Danica laughed. “Go out and say hello.”
“Okay, thanks, Danica. I’ll call you later.” Lacy held the phone by her side and walked tentatively down each step to the sand below, then approached him. Dane leaned back, supported by his palms, his feet outstretched before him, crossed at the ankles. Her hands sweat despite the cool breeze coming off the water.
“Hi, Lacy,” he said.
“Hi.” Goose bumps raced up her arms.
Dane cocked his chin to the side, and the sweet look in his eyes softened her nerves. “Want to sit down for a sec?” Dane asked.
Yes! Lacy contemplated Danica’s advice. Keep all of your worries in the forefront of your mind. She still felt pressured to be there, but as she looked back at the cottage and then at Dane, she couldn’t maintain her anger.
Dane stood. He was wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and a thick cardigan sweater. He reached for her, then pulled his hands back. “Lace,” he said. His eyes caressed her; his voice soothed her. “I’m sorry that I’ve upset you. I just couldn’t let us go that easily.”
Us.
“I’m not here tonight to pressure you any further. I tried to call you several times, and when you didn’t return my calls, I thought I’d just come over and make sure you got in okay.”
“I…I’ve been on with Danica for a while, and before that I was showering, getting groceries. Sorry I missed your call.” She chided herself for not checking her voicemail.
“No worries. Did you find the grocery store okay? Do you need anything?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” She looked away, trying to ignore the pull in her stomach that was drawing her toward him. He’d forced this situation on her, and she struggled to remember that, to use it as a crutch to lean on when she felt herself being wooed by him.
“I know you’re probably mad at me for pulling the whole thing with your boss, Lace, but I couldn’t think of any other way to get you to even talk to me. You ignored all of my attempts to reach you, and I don’t blame you. I mean, I know you’re worried about the panic attack, and I know you’re worried about what I said about other women.”
Lacy’s legs became weak. Fear crept up her limbs. “I don’t want to talk about them.”
“I know, but I do.”
No, no, no.
“Can we sit? Please?” Dane motioned to the sand.
Lacy’s heart was beating so fast that it stole her ability to think. She lowered herself to the sand and wrapped her arms around her legs.
“Lacy, if I were a woman and met a guy like me, I’d probably run the other way. I know I look like a player. Maybe I was one. I don’t know. But I never thought of myself that way. I’m a guy who couldn’t settle down. I’ve never had any interest in settling down. But things have been changing over the last few years. I’ve been changing. And when I met you, it was like I ran face-first into a brick wall. For the first time in my life, I stepped back and took a good look at my life. And I wanted to change, Lace. Because of you.”
“I don’t know what to say to that.” In an effort to keep herself from falling into his arms and kissing him until she couldn’t breathe, she said, “It seems rather convenient.”
“Convenient?” He laughed. “Nothing about our relationship has been convenient. Look, I guess you’ll either accept me for who I am…as a friend…or you won’t. I was that guy. The keyword being was,” Dane said.
“What does that even mean?” Lacy asked.
“It means just what you think it means. I was the guy who powered a boat into a new port, found a ready, willing, and able woman for a day or two, and then never looked back until the next trip. I can’t change what happened in my past. I can only try to be the person I want to be moving forward,” Dane said.
“I didn’t know you were like that when we were talking for all those months. I wondered, but I didn’t really know.” As much as she thought she was past being hurt by that, once again she felt sick just thinking about him and other women. What is wrong with me? Let it go! She didn’t want to have this conversation, and now she was stuck in it, and her frustration came out in her words. “That’s just gross. How could you be like that?” Lacy asked.
“I don’t know. I just was. But, Lacy, the last few months as we were getting closer, things changed,” he said. “I’m not proud of what I did, but if we’re going to move forward, even as friends, you have to accept all of me, the dirt along with the shine. I’m not that man anymore, Lacy, and had I met you ten years ago, I probably never would have been that man. You’re the only woman who has ever had this effect on me. But this is me, Lace.” He drew her chin up so she was looking into his eyes again. “The man who wants nothing more than to explore what’s between us—even if we’ve agreed not to fall in love. I’m still the guy you talked to all those months. I’m the one who sang to you in an off-key voice when you didn’t feel well and the guy who laughed with you while we watched Young Frankenstein on your television together on Skype.”
Lacy dropped her eyes. Everything he said made her want to embrace him. She needed to forget about those other women. She cared about what she and Dane had, and what they had was turning out to be too big for her to walk away from.
“Look at me, Lacy. Please.”
She met his gaze.
“It’s me, Lace. I’m the same guy.”
He was pouring out his heart and soul, and it dawned on Lacy that what he was doing wasn’t easy. He looked at her with tenderness, and all those months of falling for him, phone call after intimate phone call, came rushing back and gripped her heart.
THE LOOK ON Lacy’s face stopped Dane cold. She furrowed her brow, and her mouth was stuck in a half smile, half worried upturned line.
“That’s who I was, Lace. Then I met you, and then those other nights, well, they became few and far between,” Dane said.
“Okay. Can we change the subject?” Lacy asked.
“Yeah, I didn’t come here to make you feel uncomfortable. I can go.” He pushed to his feet again.
She looked up at him. “No, you don’t have to go. I just don’t want to talk about you and other women. Even if we’re agreeing not to fall in love with each other, I don’t want to be the friend that you tell about your…trysts.” The pain in her eyes was palpable, and she shivered against the cold.
He slipped off his sweater and draped it around her shoulders. “Fair enough,” Dane said. “I just want to be honest.”
“Thank you,” she said, pulling the sweater around her.
“Want to go inside to warm up?” he asked.
“Not really. I like it out here, but maybe we can move to the deck. A glass of wine might be nice. I bought some earlier,” Lacy said.
They made their way up the deck, where they filled their glasses and settled onto the deck chairs. Dane felt like he was doing a balancing act. He’d restrain his desires to hold her, to touch her hand, or stroke her face if that’s what it to
ok to spend time with her, but there was no way he wouldn’t try to get her to look past who he had been and see him for the man he was now, or the man he intended to be in the future.
“You know, you made a big mistake bringing me here. I’m not going to watch you catch sharks,” Lacy said.
The defiance in her voice startled Dane, until he caught sight of the tease in her eyes.
“If you’d looked at the itinerary, you’d have seen that there is no shark catching on it. Tomorrow we’re going to the library,” he said.
Lacy finished her wine and Dane refilled her glass. “You’re not getting me drunk, either. At least not drunk enough to do anything I’ll regret tomorrow.”
Dane’s stomach sank. “You regret being with me?” he asked. He expected a lot of things, but regret for their evening together was not one of them. “Lacy, maybe I made a mistake bringing you here. I never imagined that you felt that way.”
She tucked her feet beneath her on the chair. “I don’t regret that evening,” she said. “I’m just not going to jump into bed with you again.”
“That’s fair. We’re not heading that way anyway. No falling in love, remember? And I don’t sleep around anymore, so…” Dane said with a smile.
“I have to admit, I did miss talking to you last night,” Lacy said. When she looked up at Dane, the moonlight caught her big baby blues.
“I did, too.” He needed a safer topic to talk about. Talking about missing each other and jumping in bed together made his body crave her. He needed to talk about something that didn’t make him think about what her lips tasted like or the way her eyes fluttered closed in the throes of passion. “Fred seems like he’s a pretty nice boss.”
“Yeah. He’s great.” Lacy laughed under her breath. “He’s so smart, but really nerdy in that endearing sort of way. I can’t believe you were able to rope him into sending me on a vacation.”
“Oh, is that what you think this is? A vacation? You, my dear, are mistaken. This trip is to immerse you in the life of a Brave Foundation employee. This trip is to show you what we do, so you can sell us to the world.” And hopefully you’ll find me irresistible along the way.
Lacy emptied the remaining wine into their glasses. “Really? I had you pegged all wrong,” she said with a smile.
“I doubt that. You probably had me pegged pretty close,” Dane said. Unfortunately.
Lacy rested her head back on her chair and closed her eyes. Dane had the urge to pick her up and carry her inside, tuck her into bed, and let her fall asleep in his arms, safe and warm. Instead he pushed to his feet.
“I think I’d better go,” he said.
Lacy sat up. “You don’t have to go.”
“I do. I promised you that I wouldn’t fall in love with you, and spending too much time with you isn’t going to help me keep that promise.” Dane took her hand and helped her to her feet. Her body swayed with fatigue, and when she settled herself on her legs, her lips were inches from his. Dane inhaled the clean, fresh scent of her shampoo. His hands ached to touch her hips and pull her close, to draw her chest against his, his mouth to her lips. She looked up at him with wanting eyes, a look that was seared into his memory from their night on the dunes.
“I have to go,” he whispered.
She licked her lower lip.
Dane stifled a groan. Walk away. “It was nice to”—Man, I want to kiss you—“see you.” He shoved his shaking hands into the pockets of his jeans and took a step back through the doors that led from the deck into the house. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lacy.”
She arched a brow. “Tomorrow,” she said.
“Sleep tight.” He walked backward through the living room, knocking into a chair and stumbling over it. Lacy raced to his side, catching his arm. They stood at the same time, measured movements, each watching the other. Need flashed in her eyes. I’m not blowing this.
“Thank you,” he managed, then turned and headed for the door. “Tomorrow. Eight o’clock. See you then.”
THE SECOND THE door closed, Lacy groaned aloud, then threw herself onto the couch.
“Shoot. Shootshootshoot.” She rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow. What am I going to do? Go get him! She ran to the front door and peered out the sidelight window, but he was gone. She leaned her back against the door and sank down to her heels. She’d wanted to kiss him so badly that she could practically taste the sweet wine on his breath.
Her phone vibrated. She read the text from Dane. Good night, Lace.
He was doing exactly what he promised. No pressure. She wanted to tell him to come back, but she sat frozen, staring at the text. Should she tell him to come back? Tell him she didn’t want that promise?
After several painful minutes, she finally replied with a simple, Good night.
She stood in the center of the living room, waiting for another text. After ten silent minutes, she threw her phone on the couch. Then, spotting Dane’s sweater on the chair out on the deck, she went to retrieve it.
The cool breeze felt good against her skin, which had become far too warm in anticipation of his touch. She lay back on the lounge chair and brought his sweater to her nose, inhaling deeply. She moaned at the delicious reminder, then inhaled his scent again. She settled his sweater over her chest and spread it out so it covered her whole torso. He’s so big. The thought sent a shiver down low, and her mind conjured the image of him, his chest a wall of muscle as he lay perched above her. Naked. She lay there now, under the cover of the night, her mind playing with thoughts of the man she swore she’d never kiss again and wondering what tomorrow might bring.
Chapter Fourteen
THE NEXT MORNING, Dane popped out of bed with renewed energy. He moved through the plush cabin of Treat’s forty-two-foot sailboat and into the galley, where he brewed a pot of coffee. Then he showered and called Rob. He raised an eyebrow when it went to voicemail.
“You lazy dog, asleep at seven. Enjoy your day off and call me if you want to talk. I’ve been thinking about you and Sheila, and I wonder if you shouldn’t just take a day or two and go to her parents’ house. Talk to her. Clear the air of whatever’s going on. Anyway, man, I’m around. I’m here if you want to talk.”
Dane’s next phone call was to Lacy. He pushed her speed dial number on his cell phone, whistling as it rang. Then he hung up quickly. He didn’t want to seem like he was hounding her. He hadn’t been able to resist stopping by the evening before, and leaving was about the toughest thing he’d ever had to do. But a promise was a promise, and there was no way he’d be the one to break it. He had to prove himself to her, and he wanted to help her through her fear of sharks. He wondered if Hugh had been right and that her fear was really the crux of what was keeping her from accepting him back into her life. At least last night was a start. He loved Lacy, and he hated knowing that anything could steal her confidence. Sharks and the oceans had always been his passion, but what he felt for Lacy was far stronger than the love he felt for anything else. He was the perfect person to help her through this, and in the end, maybe Lacy would finally see him for the man he was trying to be. The man I am.
His phone vibrated with a text from Lacy. Dane smiled as he scrolled to read it.
Did you just call?
He laughed and texted back. I called, then remembered ur not supposed 2 fall in love w/me so…
He drank his coffee on the deck and stretched out in the morning sun. When his phone vibrated again, a thrill ran through him.
A hang-up will def keep me from falling in luv w/u. See u in 20 mins.
Dane watched Lacy walking toward the dock. Her blond curls hung thick and wild around her nicely tanned face. Her hips swayed as she walked in a short white skirt, and the navy sleeveless blouse and white sneakers she wore gave her a nautical look. Dane smiled. Every time he saw her, she looked even prettier than she had the time before.
She looked at the itinerary he’d given her, on which he’d written, I’ll be in the third slip from the le
ft. She wrinkled her nose, looked to the left, then to the right, then checked the paper again and scanned the boats one more time. She was so stinkin’ cute that he was tempted to watch her for a few more minutes as she figured things out, but the urge to be closer to her was greater than his desire to watch her.
Dane stood and waved. “Lace!”
She waved and approached the boat with a smile. “This is like the boat we were on in Wellfleet.”
“Sort of. It’s much smaller. Treat has great taste,” Dane said.
“You stayed here? Why am I not surprised?” she asked.
He kissed her cheek. “Friends greet that way, so that’s within my rights,” he teased. He reached for her hand to help her aboard.
“I’m not going out with you to hunt for sharks,” she said.
“I know. There are no sharks in coffee, and I don’t think there are many sharks at the library, so we should be safe.” He helped her onto the boat. “Home away from home,” he said. “Coffee?”
“No, thanks,” Lacy said, eyeing the cabin. Her cheeks flushed.
“Don’t even think about it. I’m not going down in that cabin with you. The last time I did, you took advantage of me.” He winked and was relieved when she smiled.
“Does the library open this early?” she asked.
“No, but I thought we might go to the fish pier, then maybe take a walk through town, and by the time the library opens, we’ll be right there.”
“Don’t you have to work?” she asked.
“We tagged a big one Sunday, and yeah, I have to work, but I’ve reprioritized my duties, and I’ve dedicated the next few days to ensuring that you get a proper education on all things Brave.” Dane finished his coffee and went belowdecks to wash his coffee cup while Lacy relaxed in the sun.
“Ready?” he asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose,” she said.
A few minutes later, they climbed into Dane’s car and drove down to the Chatham fish pier. It was too early to see the fishermen bringing in their loads for the day, but Dane had already spoken to the pier manager and he had something else in store for Lacy.