I’m walking through the parking lot toward the eye doctor, my hand held protectively inside Rex’s much bigger one. Yes. We’re walking. But I feel like I’m floating ten thousand feet in the air, twirling through the clouds. I’m so content, I don’t know what to do with myself. A bunch of songs are crammed in my head—all of them extremely cheesy and involving wedding chapels. Who cares, though?

Rex doesn’t think I’m a weirdo like everyone else. I’ve been living with confusing fantasies in my head since puberty. They never involved my own father—ever—just a faceless authority figure. A man who would discipline me and love me unconditionally at the same time. He’s not faceless anymore. It’s Rex who gives me that. My fantasies are no longer these moving images I have to lock away. They’re shared. I get to act them out.

Speaking of acting them out…I’m not sure I want to save our games just for when we touch. I’m not sure I can. Having Rex hold my hand to bring me to a doctor’s appointment is almost as satisfying as having him inside me. I’m being cared for. He saw a problem with my vision no one else had addressed and handled it. Like a man. The man I’ve needed all along.

“You got something on your mind, girl?”

Rex’s gruff voice sends pleasure shivering down my back. “I was wondering what will happen after we leave here.” I glance up at him. “You know, when you’re done hunting.”

He scoffs. “Only hunting I’ve been doing is under your skirt.”

My face heats, along with other parts of me. God, I love the way he talks. It’s crude and honest and I never want him to be any other way. “After the trip, then. When we have to go back to real life.”

We’re almost to the entrance, but Rex pulls me to a stop. He looks around for a second, before leading me around the shaded side of the building. With a hard knuckle, he tips up my chin. “You’re coming with me, Clara. Going to set you up in my place, make you real comfortable and happy. That’s as far as I’ve gotten.” He grunts, face moving into a frown. “Can’t even think about letting you go. Idea of it scares me. I need my girl.”

“I need you, too,” I whisper, shaken by the euphoria that fills me. “I’ve needed you forever.”

“I’m here now.” He looks right to left, over his shoulder, then takes my breasts in his large hands, massaging them with a groan. Something about the action bothers me, but I’m too distracted to dwell. “Can’t keep my fucking hands off you.”

“You don’t have to.” My head tips back, my breath shuddering out. “Kiss me?”

“Yeah. Hell yeah.” Rex crowds me into the wall, leading with his hips, that jutting part of him. “Listen up. You’re going to suck and fuck this thing later.” He gives a rough thrust, grinding himself against my belly. “I’m going to film myself sinking in between your legs. All that slapping and squelching. Going to film my come dripping out of your bare pussy, so I can jerk to it on the boat.”

“Yes.” My panties are already soaked in my anticipation. But with a hard swallow, I shake my head. “You’re not going away yet, though, are you?”

“No, little girl,” he says soothingly, bringing his mouth to mine, chafing my chin and cheeks with his beard. “Not until the fall. We got damn near a year before crabbing season. Until then, I’ll only work during the day.”

I try to look brave. “Okay.”

He makes a comforting sound, turning the edges of my worry fuzzy with a long kiss, his tongue rubbing against mine. Over and over and over. “Come on,” he rasps, taking my hand. “Let’s go get you some glasses.”

Just like before, I’m hovering in mid-air as Rex leads me through the glass door into the crowded optometrist. I forgot how different Rex and I are—physically. But every customer in the place regards us with interest and it’s hard to ignore. He’s older and much bigger. Rugged where I’m fragile. If Rex’s irritated expression is any indication, he doesn’t like the attention. And I get another bothersome twitch in my chest, just like the one I had outside when he checked for witnesses before touching me. But I tell myself to stop borrowing trouble. I’m holding Rex’s hand in public and he’s keeping me and life could not be better.

Rex made an appointment earlier over the phone, so after giving my name to the receptionist, we’re directed to a seating area. Only one seat is available and it’s natural as breathing for Rex to sit down and pat his knee. I perch on the hard surface of it, sighing over the flex under my butt. His hand comes to rest on my thigh and I turn into his chest. Fluid movements neither one of seem able to help. Only a few breaths later, his attention lands on my mouth and I shiver, my nipples tightening.

When they call my name, I stand up to find all eyes on us. And they’re not just interested anymore. No, they seem kind of…wary. Disapproving.

A curl of Rex’s upper lip makes them all turn away, go back to their own business. But I walk into the examination room feeling uneasy. Not because I give a rat’s behind what other people think…but because I don’t think Rex is cool with it. At all. He’s stoic as the woman examines my eyes, his big arms crossed. What is he thinking about?

“Have you heard of anisometropia?” asks the doctor, interrupting my worry. “You have different refractive power in each eye, Mrs. Bates.”

I ignore the fact that she referred to me as Mrs. “Is that…bad?”

“Well, it can cause poor depth perception.” Her gaze travels down to my bruised knees. “Cause trips and falls…”

“That’s me,” I breathe, reaching out to hold Rex’s hand. He takes it, bringing my palm to his mouth as the doctor watches. “Can you fix it?”

“Yes. Glasses, corrective lenses. We just need to give your eyes the same refractive power.” The doctor stands and picks up a device that looks like spectacles on steroids, twisting two small, black wheels. She walks back over and holds it in front of my eyes. “Look through here. This is how the world will appear through glasses.”

I take the device in my own hands and immediately turn to Rex, seeing him even more clearly than usual. Oh. Oh wow. When he sees what I’m doing, he coughs and glances away, then back at me. As if waiting for a verdict. “You’re even more handsome now.” I whisper the truth, my loins tightening and wetting the material of my panties. “I love the gray in your beard.”

He shifts in his boots, giving another cough. Trying to be casual, but I can see the relief and pleasure he’s trying to hide. “Good thing, cause I ain’t dyeing it.”

The doctor chuckles and takes back the device. “You’ll need to wear glasses or lenses at all times. Surgery is the only way to repair your eyes for good. Without them, you’re still at risk for falls.”

“Give her both,” Rex says, taking a credit card out of his wallet and handing it to the doctor. “Whatever keeps her from getting hurt.”

“Perfect. The glasses will be a short wait, but we can get your contact lenses ready to go now.” The doctor sends a smile over her shoulder as she walks toward the exam room door. “Let’s go look at some frames while my colleague gets your lenses from the stock room.”

“Great.” I slide off the chair into Rex’s waiting arms. “I never would have known. Not without you.”

He frames my jaw in one hand, lowering his head for a slow kiss. “Going to take care of you so damn good.”

“Going to take care of you, too.” I go up on my toes, gasping when his hands slide down and grip my bottom. “So good.”

The doctor sticks her head back in through the door, clearing her throat. “I’m, uh…ready for you up front, Mrs. Bates.”

“Oh. Okay.” Blushing to the roots of my hair, I unplaster myself from Rex’s body and we hold hands, walking out of the examination room together. The doctor is whispering to one of her associates when we approach, but stops talking when we arrive at the glass case. She has already laid out several pairs of glasses in a felt-lined box, square frames, more circular, different colors. But I know before trying on any of them, I want the pink frames. They’re perfect.

Rex laughs when I pick them up and I elbow him. Putting them on confirms what I already know. I’ve found my glasses.

I face Rex and cock my hip, catching my breath over the affection he’s showing me. “What do you think, Daddy?” It just slips out. Rex’s easy demeanor stiffens, his smile collapsing. And everyone in the store seems to hear, turning to look at us like bugs under a microscope. “I-I mean—”

“Daddy?” I cringe at the outrage in the doctor’s voice. “I thought she was your wife, sir. You’ve been…I saw you—”

“Forget the glasses. Just charge me for the goddamn contact lenses,” Rex snaps. “Hand them over so we can get out of here.”

“Gladly,” sneers the doctor, sailing toward the back of the store.

The silence that falls is deafening. All I can hear is my pulse pounding in my head. Not to mention, the crash and burn of my earlier optimism. “Please…” I murmur, moving closer to the safety of Rex.

But he steps back, thrusting his car keys in my hand. “Go wait in the truck.”

A piece of my heart chips off. “No.”

His jaw is poised to shatter. “Clara.”

It’s a standoff between us, but thankfully the doctor returns, holding out a plastic bag for me to take. Rex signs the receipt and gets his credit card back, allowing us to leave the store, which remains at a total standstill. Before we even climb into the truck, I know I was naïve to think we could work. This will never work. Rex might not treat me like I’m the weird girl in private, but in public he’s the same as everyone else. Making me feel odd. Different. He wants us to pretend we’re something else for other people’s sake—but after coming so close to what I’ve always needed, doing that will only hurt. I need Rex to be one hundred percent on board with our unique relationship…or…or what?

Rex starts the truck with a vicious twist of his fist and peels out of the parking lot. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“It was an accident,” I say, before squaring my shoulders. “But I’m not sorry.”

The steering wheel groans under his hands. “You should be.”

“Why? Because we offended some strangers?” A shout builds in my throat and I don’t try to calm myself down. “I don’t care.”

“I care,” he bites out. “I care about everyone in the goddamn store staring at you like some kind of freak.”

My vision blurs with tears. “That’s how you were looking at me.”

Rex does a double take. “The hell I was, girl. I just wanted to get you out of there before one of them men said something and I fractured their skull.”

“Are you going to do that every time? Because this will probably happen again. Even before I called you…” The title sticks in my throat and that alone makes me sad. “They were already staring. From the second we walked inside. Are you planning to keep me locked inside forever?”

It’s obvious he considers it for a few beats—until I screech in my throat. “Not going to keep you locked inside,” he says, finally. “We just need a few ground rules.”

“Like what?”

“Like when we’re in public, we don’t touch. Don’t kiss or hold hands. We’re uncle and niece. And that’s it.”

Another section of my heart loosens and drops. “But it’s a lie.”

“No, it ain’t, Clara.” He bashes his fist on the dashboard. “You and me are wrong. That shit back there? It was your proof. First damn time we go out in public and we might as well be wearing a sign. I’m putting my cock somewhere it don’t belong and they could smell it on us.”

“Wrong?” I whisper, dazed. “But holding hands was one of my favorite parts.”

He slides me a troubled look. “That’s…too bad.” His Adam’s apple bobs. “Can’t do it no more.”

We’re silent for the rest of the ride back to the rental cabin. Every half mile, I sense Rex watching me and can tell he wants to say more. There’s nothing left to say, though. I don’t feel safe with him now. Oh, I know he would never let anyone hurt me. But my mental safety…the safety of my heart…I put those things in his keeping and he let me down. It’s as if I parachuted out of a plane this morning and soared, soared so high, only to have my harness cut. The parachute is floating above me out of reach now while I plummet to earth.

Finally, we reach the cabin and he parks alongside the trucks belonging to Rudy and Hank. We sit in silence for a moment after he puts the vehicle in park. “Clara…”

Hope wells in my chest. “Yes?”

Seconds tick by. “Nothing.” He takes a cigar from the sun visor, shoving open the driver’s side and getting out. “See you inside,” he mutters, walking away in a cloud of smoke.

I wait until he’s been inside a full minute before grabbing my backpack, throwing it over my shoulder and climbing out. But I don’t follow Rex into the cabin. I take the broken pieces of my heart and jog toward my rental bike.