“Close your eyes.”

Ellie stares at me, hair soft and flowing around her shoulders, make up light and fuckin’ beautiful, dressed like a damned angel for our date.

“I don’t like scary surprises, Slater Knight...”

She scrunches up her pretty nose, and I laugh, leaning down and slamming my shoulder into her belly. Then I launch her up and over mine. She squeals, and laughs, and then starts slamming her little fists onto my back.

“You put me down right now, Slater Knight, I won’t have it!”

I chuckle. “You make things hard for me, woman, then I have to take matters into my own hands.”

She squeals as I carry her towards my truck and open the door, flopping her down onto the seat. I buckle her in, and then go around to the driver’s side. “Now, you can close your eyes,” I say as I get in, “Or I can make you close your eyes...”

Her mouth opens, and then closes, and she huffs before closing her eyes.

I grin.

“Ready?” I ask.

“No.”

I chuckle.

We start driving. It takes less than twenty minutes to get to the large lake on the outskirts of town. I hired a boat for a day, a fuckin’ expensive, fuckin’ nice sail boat, with lunch included. I don’t even know if she likes boats, so I’m hopin’ this doesn’t come back and bite me in the ass.

“Keep your eyes closed,” I say as I get out of the truck, and walk around to her side.

She still has her eyes closed, even if she is scowling, which only makes her look fuckin’ cuter. I lean in, and press a kiss to her nose. She startles, and then her cheeks burn red.

“W-w-w-what was that for?”

“For bein’ so fuckin’ beautiful.”

I help her out, and I don’t miss her smile and rosy cheeks as we walk down towards the boat. The man driving it, waves, but doesn’t say anything.

“I hear water,” Ellie says.

“Yeah, you’re goin’ to walk up a ramp, don’t trip.”

“Is it a boat? Are we going on a boat?”

Her voice turns into an excited squeal, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank fuck.

I lean in once we’re up the ramp and onto the deck. “Open your eyes.”

She opens her eyes and looks around, and excitement and awe fills them. “Oh, this is amazing. Slater....”

“You’re welcome. Ellie, this is Charlie. Charlie, this is my girl, Ellie.”

Her face goes red again, and fucked if it doesn’t feel good to see.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am. We’ll set off now, if you’d like to sit on the seats, and enjoy the view as I take you around the lake.”

Ellie claps happily, and we take a seat on the plush, luxury deck chairs. Charlie disappears, and comes back out with a beer for me, and wine for Ellie, even though she’s technically not meant to drink, I twisted it a little so she can enjoy a glass on the deck. Though, it does give me a strong reminder than she’s only eighteen. I forget so often, because she’s so...different. So grown up. So strong. So beautiful.

“Thank you,” Ellie smiles up at Charlie.

He disappears again, and she looks to me.

“You don’t look like the romantic type, but here we are...”

I grin at her. “Looks can be deceiving. Just don’t tell anyone about it.”

She laughs. “I’ve already text Damon.”

She wiggles her brows teasingly.

I chuckle.

“Cheers,” I say, and we clink our drinks.

For the first ten minutes, we just enjoy the scenery, and the sounds of the water hitting the boat, and the birds in the trees, and everything else that comes with this fuckin’ perfect day. Then Ellie turns to me, and she says, “Tell me something about yourself, Slater Knight. Something nobody else knows.”

I glance at her, and hold her eyes.

Trust her. So fuckin’ much it’s overwhelming.

“I miss my mom every fuckin’ day, so much it hurts. Even now.”

Her face grows soft. “Yeah, yeah, I know. What was she like?”

“Fuckin’ amazing. To have and raise four boys, and my dad...she was so strong, and yet she had a soft side about her. Something so fuckin’ pure it was incredible. How she could balance both sides. She didn’t take any shit from us boys, but at the same time, she loved us so hard.”

“She sounds like an incredible woman. Was your dad...was he always the way he is now?”

I shake my head. “Nah, before she died, he was a great dad. It’s why we still take so much from him. When she died...he broke. It was like our glue kind of dissolved and we all fell apart.”

“I’m really sorry that happened,” she says, her voice soft.

“You know, since you’ve been here, I’ve seen just a touch of what it used to be like. You make us laugh. You keep us together. Strong. We need you more than you think, Ellie, and I don’t think any of us were prepared for that.”

She blinks at me, then whispers, “Me? How?”

“You’re just there. For each and every one of us, in a different way. You come in, and you cook, you flutter around like a little fairy, bossing us around and doing things for us. It’s almost as if she sent you to us, because from the moment you arrived, you’ve never been afraid of what we are. You just came in, and that was that.”

“Why would I ever be afraid of what you are?”

“Because, we’re broken, Ellie.”

She looks at me, and then without warning gets out of her chair and climbs over onto mine, sliding onto my lap and wrapping her legs around my hips, and her arms around my neck. I’m shocked, and so fuckin’ turned on it burns. Her scent just about knocks me off my chair, and it takes everything, and I mean fuckin’ everything, not to lift her into my arms and find somewhere that I can take her, slow and deep.

Fuck.

“Broken doesn’t scare me, Slater Knight. All the best people are broken. It’s what makes them strong. It’s what makes them who they are. Without broken, they’d just simply be too...too...”

“Whole?” I grin.

She giggles. “Well, yeah, I guess that about covers it.”

My eyes search hers, looking for something, I don’t know what.

“I told myself I’d stay away from you,” I murmur. “I swore it. You’re too young and-”

“Oh shush,” she says, and then leans forward, pressing her lips to mine.

And everything else just disappears. I let her kiss me, and fuck do I kiss her back. Starts out slow, her hands move to my hair and she parts her lips just a little, letting the tips of our tongues flutter past one another every few seconds. My hands slide up her back, pressing her closer, and then I deepen the kiss, and she gasps when I do. Her little pants become breathy moans as our hands start roaming a little too far, and our mouths start getting a little to frantic.

I pull her back.

“We don’t slow that down, I won’t be able to stop, darlin’.”

“Maybe I don’t want you to.”

I press a kiss to her nose. “Slowly, remember?”

She leans back on my lap, and crosses her arms. “Are you changing the rules up on me, Slater Knight?”

I grin at her.

“Baby, you made the rules, remember?”

She laughs.

And it’s the fuckin’ best day of my life.

Hands down.