We went to the north end of Wrightsville. Apparently there was more chance to catch shrimp there, and if you were fishing, this was the spot to hit.

We passed a few people fishing, and Ryan took me to a spot where we could hang out by ourselves. It being late afternoon helped because most people came in the morning and midday.

“I can’t believe you can’t swim,” Ryan chided, stepping into the water. It swished around his calves, soaking the hem of his jeans even though he’d rolled them up.

“No, I don’t swim.”

“And you won’t come in the water with me?”

I shook my head. The seashore was beautiful, screensaver beautiful with its clear water and golden sand. I could only imagine what the actual water looked like, but I couldn’t go in.

The memory of watching Jaws with Jayce came to mind, and I knew I couldn’t do it. I didn’t know these waters. Anything could be lurking within the depths and we wouldn’t know.

“So how am I going to talk to you?” He smirked.

“I’ll just watch you from the beach.”

He stared at me like I’d just said something ridiculous.

“What?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. Then, before I could take my next breath, he rushed me football style. I screamed when he picked me up and hoisted me over his shoulder.

“Ryan, you’d better put me down now before I scream bloody murder.”

He laughed. “Go ahead—no one will hear you. You could try calling the cops too.”

I smacked him on his shoulders but he answered by proceeding into the sea with me.

I, of course, started to freak out.

“Ryan, I’m going to drown!” I yelped.

He walked out until he was waist deep. With the water on my legs and my hair hanging forward, I shuffled around him so I was on his back.

“I can’t believe you brought me out here. Jesus Christ, take me back.” The water soaked my shorts and slapped up my back. I squealed from the coldness on my skin.

“Can’t take you back now, Brooke.”

“Why?”

“Well, I gave you three chances to tell me what’s bugging you, and you sidestepped me every time.”

He had. I still wasn’t ready to talk about Sally though. I would now, however, if it meant he’d take me back to shore, which now seemed so very far away.

“I’ll tell you now,” I pleaded.

“Too late—you’re in my class now. I noticed your attendance has been very poor, but you can start making up the time now. Welcome to Ryan 101. In my world, water is my element. The only thing I would have done in life other than becoming a cop was join the Navy.”

I circled my arms around his neck, and he looked back at me and smiled.

It was so hard to be annoyed at him when he smiled at me like that.

And that smile…I could have gotten lost in it forever.

“The Navy?”

“Yeah. My dad was a cop, and so were my grandpa and my great-grandpa. Me though…I kind of wanted to break away from the goody-two-shoes trait the men in my family were known for. So, at first I became a rebel, then I wanted to join the Navy.”

“Why didn’t you do it?” Sounded like he’d really wanted to.

“The summer I was supposed to sign up was when I found out about Aria, and things just kept happening to stop me from going.”

“Like what?”

“My wife was very sick, and I didn’t trust anyone to take care of her better than me.”

My heart melted just a little more when he said that.

“That’s really sweet. I’m sorry you didn’t get to go to the Navy.”

“It’s cool. Being a cop’s great, except for when things get crazy. I think that was more my calling in life. Plus, I can still enjoy the sea whenever I want. It’s one of the things I love about this town.” He ran his finger over my forearm. “Brooke, look down.”

Instead of looking, I squeezed my eyes shut for fear there would be a shark swimming around us. “Oh God, is there a shark?”

“Nope. Is that why you don’t swim?”

“Blame my brother for traumatizing me. He made me watch the Jaws movies, all of them. The first was what terrified me the most.” My breathing stilled and I yelped when a wave rushed over us.

“The sharks don’t tend to come down to these parts.”

“They don’t tend to? That doesn’t help me. They could decide they want to come down here at any time—then what?”

“Trust me, look down. It’s beautiful. You have to see this.” He exhaled slowly, now stroking my arm.

The gentle caress of his fingers coaxed my eyes open, and I decided to trust him and look.

I sucked in a breath when I beheld a school of brightly colored fish swimming around us. They weren’t even disturbed by our presence. They just swam as if we were part of their world.

Bright flashes of pink, blue, and yellow zipped around Ryan’s legs. I gasped and found that I couldn’t stop looking. The beauty was astonishing and something I’d never seen before.

“What are they?”

“The yellow ones are a type of pufferfish, and the other two are angelfish. They come in different colors. If we were to go farther out or by the pier, you’d see the catfish and marlin. That’s where the big boys swim, but this little part is paradise. I’ll take you to see the coral reef one day.”

I liked that he planned on doing that.

“Doesn’t that require some level of me being able to swim?”

“Sure does, and lucky for you, swimming lessons just became part of the curriculum. I’ll have you swimming in the next eight months.”

I was in awe of the suggestion and shocked at myself for feeling that way.

I’d never met anyone who’d made me feel crazy enough to want to contemplate pushing aside my fears to learn to swim, and there I was wondering when I’d have my first lesson.

But would I still be here? I was being pulled from my assignment. By the weekend, I could be back in LA.

“That’s a nice thought.” I decided to say because it was.

We spent some time in the water just like that until we saw a good spot to cast the net for shrimp. He took me back to shore, but I lingered by the water line, listening to him as he spoke about what he liked doing.

I learned a lot about him, and by the end I thought I could safely say I was fully up to speed on my Ryan 101 lessons.

I wanted to learn more.

By the time the sun started to set, we’d brought in over twenty full-sized shrimp and cooked them over the fire pit area set up for bonfires. It was amazing.

The last time I’d done anything like it was many years before, when Dad was still alive. He taken Jayce and me camping on the beach, and we’d roasted marshmallows.

This was like that.

The shrimp was delicious, hard on the outside and soft on the inside with a smoky taste. I was certain I had more than Ryan.

We sat together afterwards, side by side on the soft sand of the beach, watching the waves roll in and out. He’d pulled on a t-shirt and gave me a jacket he’d packed in his bag.

It was dark, and the only light came from the fire we’d made, which was kind of dying down.

“Last chance to tell me what’s going on with you, or I swear I’ll bring up last night every chance I get.” He looked over at me and smiled. The flames from the fire flickered over his profile, making a show of his chiseled features.

I looked at him and hugged my knees to my chest. I didn’t know where I should start.

“I think I may lose my job.” There, that was the worst-case scenario.

He twisted so he could face me, concern filling his handsome face. “What happened?”

My throat tightened every time I thought of what had occurred, and it dried up as I attempted to talk. I swallowed hard past the lump that had formed and tried not to get too choked up as I explained everything in full.

“Sally just didn’t like me. Everything I did was the wrong thing—everything. Everything I said, everything I suggested. I never actually did anything to her.”

“And your boss didn’t want to hear your side?”

“No, my side doesn’t matter. The thing is, I don’t get it. It was like she didn’t want to do the article. I came up with some ideas that were great, but she just shot me down.”

“And you said you think she was sick?”

I shrugged. It had looked that way with the coughing and the blood, but I wouldn’t say it was a certainty. She might have just coughed so hard it irritated her throat.

“I don’t know what’s up with her. It was…” My voice trailed away when I took a moment to think about what it meant for me to do the exclusive. “It wasn’t just about the exclusive. Sure, it would put me on the map and help my accomplish my goal of being senior features editor, but there was more.”

“Like what?” He narrowed his gaze. “That pretty much sounds like the jackpot if that’s your goal.”

“It was. My mom…left when I was ten. My parents had a terrible divorce. It was definitely what people call acrimonious, because my father tried everything he could to fix things with my mom, but she wanted nothing to do with us. She wanted to leave and start a new life, and she did just that, even got remarried to some guy who promised her riches.” I pulled in a breath and tried to act like I wasn’t crushed by my past. I’d gotten the act down pat so no one would guess the whole occurrence had affected me to no end. It still did, though, even now.

It was hard to have a mother somewhere in the world who treated you like little more than a pen pal. A card on my birthday and one at Christmas, that was it, nothing more. Jayce got the same. Mom had never been a real mother and she saw us as more of a burden. The cards was probably her thinking she was doing her part.

Ryan straightened up, looking quite shocked. “Your mom did that?”

“Yeah.” I couldn’t help the sadness in my voice.

My father and mother got together in high school. He was more into her than she was him. That was even clear to me and it shouldn’t have been. When Dad was away there were always strange men at the house. My earliest memory of Mom cheating was when I was seven . I caught her and who I thought was the gardener kissing. I actually told Dad and nothing became of it. He never confronted her about it.

The strange men going in and out of our home when Dad was away continued and as time went by my eyes were opened to the person my mother was.

She’d always ask Jayce to watch me, or take me to the park. She told us the men were dad’s friends but we weren’t stupid or naïve.

Dad howver chose to be naïve. He never saw the woman she was, and he never chose to see that she didn’t love any of us.

I was ten when she left and Dad was crushed. Completely crushed to the point where he had to take long term leave to sort himself out.

I always thought it was crazy. He’d been in a war zone for God knew how long, lived , and experienced many terrible things. But his wife leaving him was the worst thing that could happen to him.

And, she didn’t just leave either like a normal person might. The woman woke up one day, drove Jayce and I to Grams house and left us there, and left.

That was it.

Dad searched for her everywhere for months. He even hired a private investigator and everything. Eventually he found her shacked up in Malibu with some rich guy who could give her all she wanted. At least he agreed to a divorce. But that was another stab in his heart.

They were my examples of love and I knew well enough to know that I didn’t want that to happen to me.

“Do you see her at all?”

Ryan’s voice brought me out of my thoughts. I shook my head. “I haven’t seen her in years, and I don’t have an address. She sends letters to my grandparents, who forward them on. She didn’t even come for Dad’s funeral.”

It would have broken Dad’s heart to know that, and I knew that day he must have wept in heaven when he saw that the woman he loved so much didn’t bother to show up at something so significant.

“God.”

“Yeah, anyway…I followed Sally’s accomplishments from the time she started competing seriously. The ’92 Olympics were it for me. I was only seven years old, but I saw her as a role model. She was seventeen and acted like she owned the world. I was terrible at track and anything athletic, but she inspired me in other ways. I always knew I wanted to write, and most of my passion definitely came from something she said about training with the sun, sun up till sun down. Then she started training well before training season even began. I did things like that in school. The year after Mom left was the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta. My dad took me, and I watched Sally carry the flag at the opening ceremony. That was perhaps the most significant memory for me, because I remembered how she looked, like that was her proudest moment—that part. It kind of helped me to be strong during that time and not fall apart.” That wasn’t the only time Sally showed strength. It was just one example, and it was significant to me because I saw her for myself.

“Brooke…” Ryan said my name on the edge of a breath. “It sounds like she’s trying to avoid something. I don’t think the problem is you.”

“But she doesn’t want me to do the exclusive.”

“Maybe it’s the whole thing.”

“I don’t know if anything can be done. My boss pulled me from the assignment.”

He smiled at me as the last traces of the embers burned out. “I might not have known you for long, but you don’t strike me as the kind of person to accept defeat.”

“I’m not.”

“Then do something about it.” He gave me a one shouldered shrug.

“Like what?” I didn’t know what to do.

“Go ask her what her problem is, but be real with her. Be you, not like you’re working, the same way you stood up to me when we first met and you practically told me to go fuck myself.”

My mouth dropped open. He laughed.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You were going to, though. Noah saved you.”

“You thought I was on drugs.”

“I still think you’re on drugs.” He grinned. “It’s the mood change. I’m not convinced yet that you aren’t.”

I frowned. “What do you mean? I’m not on drugs.”

“Okay Brooke.” He stood up and started packing. “Perhaps when I finish Brooke 101 I’ll be able to make a better judgment.”

He had to be kidding.

“What about the other stuff—are you going to forget it?”

That sexy grin appeared again as he zipped up his bag. “Night’s not over yet. We’re still on the beach. I’ll let you know when we get back. Come on, it’s going to get colder. Don’t want you catching a cold.”

The temperature had already dropped significantly. I stood up and hugged his jacket closer to my chest to keep warm. My legs were cold, but I warmed up when we started walking.

At first we walked in silence, and then we started talking about where was better to be, a big city like LA or a small port town like Wilmington.

That conversation took us right to my door, and I didn’t fail to notice that he’d walked me there. We stopped just outside it and I turned to him with the question still on my mind.

Talking to him helped a lot, and I almost felt like I had some form of hope to hang on to. I decided I wouldn’t speak to Perry until I talked to Sally again.

Other than being told I was going to lose my job, the worst thing had already happened, so I didn’t have anything further to lose—except maybe my pride.

“So, we’re at my door. That signals the night being over.” I pointed out.

“God, that’s harsh. Aren’t you even going to invite me in for a drink of water?”

I chuckled. “Did you want some water?”

“Not now. Now it would be pity water.” His brows knitted together.

“No, this isn’t fair. I have stuff on my mind. I wouldn’t have thought to ask if you want water, especially since I can see your house from here.” I pointed across the path.

“Okay,” came his simple reply.

I noticed that twinkle in his eyes again. This version of himself—this was the real him, not the person I’d met nearly two weeks ago.

I supposed now that I’d seen the real him, I knew I liked him. I probably shouldn’t have because he was the kind of guy who could be likeable enough to keep seeing, but that wasn’t exactly bad. It was just that over the last few years I’d steered clear of guys I thought were likeable enough to keep seeing.

Tonight, however I couldn’t help myself. It was the temptation of him calling to me and luring me in.

“You’re looking at me weird,” he noted. “What are you thinking?”

“I’ve decided I like this version of you.”

“Yeah? The sexier version?”

An unwelcome blush crept into my cheeks. “The sexier version.”

I leaned back against the door and he came closer, resting his hand just above my head.

The closeness made me think of the kiss. The closeness made me crave the kiss…his kiss.

“You know, tomorrow when I question you about that, you can’t claim drunkenness.”

“I know.”

“And there’s only so much a guy can forget.”

“I know…”

Attraction sparked between us, coursing from me to him. I could feel it and I didn’t want to fight it, no matter any reasoning I could cook up.

“This kind of feels awfully close to last night.” He narrowed his gaze at me. “Have you thought of what parts you’d like me to forget?”

I opened my mouth to reply but found I couldn’t form the words. The answer should have been simple. I should have said all of it, since everything that had happened was so unlike me, and yet my heart screamed its own answer.

Nothing. Don’t forget any of it.

My poor heart, which felt strangely awake and alive within me, screamed out so loud it was deafening, and I couldn’t give him a response.

A wicked smile crept up the corners of his lips. “Having trouble?”

“No, I’m thinking.” I was thankful for the light amber glow of the porch lights because I knew I was blushing.

“Do you want to forget?” He looked at me like he already knew the answer.

I’d never been one to pretend to anything, particularly when I was crumbling inside from the aching pressure of desire.

It grabbed me when I least expected it and clutched me within the grasp of its claws, holding me at its will, making me see nothing past my need for him to kiss me again.

“No,” I answered breathlessly, the word barely audible over the drumming of my heart.

He leaned closer. “Good, because I’m about to kiss you again. Don’t you dare ask me to forget when tomorrow comes.”

“Kiss me.”

I smiled when he came closer and brushed his lips over mine, just like he had the previous night, touching me like a whisper, the prelude to the kiss.

The caress of his lips over mine set my body aflame, and I thought the simple touch would consume me. It shattered my calm and sent shivers of desire racing throughout my body.

When his mouth moved over mine with urgency, I was sucked into the delicious sensation, the warmth, the heat and passion. His lips became hard and searching, so much more than the previous night, so much more because I was myself, not under the influence of anything other than his passionate kisses and the spirals of ecstasy that tantalized me.

My knees weakened from it, but he knew to catch me before I fell. His hands slid around my waist and crushed me to him. A shockwave blasted through my entire being, rousing passion, possession, and something primal and hot that made me want to consume him.

But the same movement made him pull away.

No. God, I wasn’t ready for him to do that, and I hadn’t expected it either.

“I have to…stop.”

“Why?” I could barely talk. My lips…they still burned from his touch, and I wouldn’t have minded if he’d scorched them.

“The joys of being a single dad.” He pressed his lips together and a look of uncertainty washed over his face.

Aria. Oh God.

Feeling horrified, my eyes darted to his house. Shit. She could have been looking through the window, or even standing outside.

I understood the example he wanted to set for her and just then, just by kissing like that, he had gone over his threshold of what was acceptable.

“I’m sorry. I forgot.”

“She’s, um…I know she’s probably home, and it would just be like her to look through the window and see me…see us.”

“I get it, and if I asked you to come inside, that would probably be very bad.”

“You’d still want me to come in?” His lips arched into a grin that revealed his dimples.

I reached out and touched his jaw. “Mmhmmm.” I nodded.

“A guy with a sixteen-year-old daughter who goes into both cop mode and dad mode doesn’t scare you away?”

“Not so much.” I didn’t have to think about the answer. That wouldn’t be something that would scare me.

“Okay…Brooke, looks like we have a lot to talk about.”

“Looks that way.”

He smiled and did the sweetest thing by taking my hand and bringing it up to his lips to kiss my knuckles.

“Lesson’s over for today.”

He released my hand and backed away.

As I watched him go, my mind raced. A myriad of thoughts coursed through my brain all at once, but one thing stood out.

When will I see him again? And what will we do?