FAITH

Mom and Darrell came back outside after loading up. My mother’s eyes warmed once again watching Aaron hold Delaney’s sleeping body.

“It’s early, but I think someone’s ready for bed,” I whispered to my mom.

Aaron’s voice was soft too as he insisted, “I can lay her down inside. You both can stay a while. She doesn’t have to leave.”

God, hearing those words and seeing how serious his face was did wild things to me. It intensified the thunder in my chest, gripped my lungs, and embraced parts of me that may have never been touched.

Aaron didn’t want us to go.

He didn’t mind that Delaney was there or if she stayed, but I did.

I wanted to jump the shit out of him, and I couldn’t take it anymore.

The way he kissed me in the kitchen. The heat in his eyes as he looked at me all day. Being around him relaxed me. Maybe it was the four icy glasses of Sunny’s Blue Pool Water cocktail, but I wasn’t worried about my bikini or the laundry list of things I had to do at home anymore. Because the way he was holding my passed out, beach towel burrito of a baby girl, her tiny hand on his chest, cradled by just one of his big arms as he wore an expression that strongly argued how much he didn’t mind she was there at all—well, it flipped all the switches inside me.

Why did he have to do that with my heart watching?

I wanted to be in those arms. I wanted his chest crushed against mine.

It had been a long, long time since I’d been with anyone, but I needed to be with him. It had to be that night. So Delaney was going home with Gramma and Big D—final decision.

“It’s been a long day and she’s tired.” I nudged her leg, but she didn’t even stir. “Madame can’t hang.”

His lips puckered and he nodded a surrender, but there was something eager in his eyes. Something that affirmed he wanted what I did.

“I could probably stay though.”

Darrell coughed and his eyes grew big behind Aaron, but my mom fired a look at him that set him straight, almost on the spot.

At a spontaneously un-hushed volume, Aaron said, “Do you ...” Then he adjusted for sleeping Delaney. “You’ll stay?”

I played it cool to the best of my ability. “Yeah.” Mom was grinning from ear to ear, but I asked anyway. “Can Del go home with you guys? And I’ll pick her up later?”

“Shoot.” She snapped her fingers, remembering something. “You know what? Darrell and I are going to drive over to Chatham tomorrow morning, look around at a few shops. Maybe hit a farmer’s market. She might as well just stay the night and go with us.”

Thank Heaven above for closed diners on Mondays.

Aaron patiently waited for me to answer. There wasn’t any pressure, but I loved the discreet excitement in his eyes. 

I wasn’t one to pawn my kid off on my mother. I didn’t enjoy feeling like I was shirking my responsibilities, but Delaney would have fun going with them, and she was probably passed out for the night. After playing that hard all day, she’d sleep well. Darrell and Mom wouldn’t have to do much.

I adjusted the towel around my waist. “Her pjs...” I began.

“We have some clean ones at our place.”

“Her cup...”

“We have those, too. Faith. Honey, we’ve got anything she needs, and I still have a key to the house if we don’t,” Mom reminded me.

Oh God, did I want to stay. “Okay.”

“I’ll take her,” Darrell offered and stepped around Aaron for an easy hand-off. She didn’t even wake up. “Big D’s got you, baby girl.” He spoke quietly into her hair and kissed her sweaty forehead.

Aaron’s hand ran down her back as she left his care.

My mom threw a quick arm around my neck and gave me a hug. “Have some fun, would you?” She kissed my cheek and then she patted Darrell’s arm and they headed inside to leave through the front door.

I followed, but Aaron hung back. I helped them out and watched as Darrell got into the passenger side of his truck, not bothering putting Delaney down. They only had about a block to drive, so I didn’t say anything when she wasn’t put into a car seat or seat belt. She was safe, but I watched as they did a U-turn and pulled down the road anyway.

Excitement swam around inside me. This could be it, and I’d waited a lifetime.

I spied Aaron through the French doors at the back of the house. He was walking around, straightening things up, so I went to the bathroom down the hall.

Although I’d reapplied sunblock to Del’s skin nothing short of three times, mine was pink from the day in the sun and my skin was hot to the touch. My cheeks were rosy and my forehead golden. I had a tan line under my top, but my lower half hadn’t changed much, being in the water most of the day.

As I took stock of myself, for whatever the reason, I realized I felt good.

He’d only kissed me once all day, and I wondered if he was just being respectful since our families had been there. However, he hadn’t neglected me either. Offering to get me another drink when he was out of the pool. Handing me my towel each time I got out. Touching me somewhere every time he passed. My arm. My back. A quick graze across my leg as we ate on the two-person glider on his patio, leaving the table and chairs for others.

He’d made the day comfortable, which was a strange way to act sexy, but it had worked. Not just worked, but it had driven me crazy with need. 

After using his restroom and washing up, I padded barefoot through his house.

Aaron had done some fast work in the few short minutes I’d been gone. He’d hung the towels over the privacy fence to dry. Straightened the chairs. Piled the pool things off to one side of the patio near a chest where I supposed he stored them. He’d lit citronella candles on tables, here and there, and one on the ground at the edge of the water. Beside it were what looked like fresh drinks. For me a plastic mug of the frozen blue drink I’d had and a Bay Brew next to it for him.

It was his first drink of the day.

The sun was setting, and the sky was orange and purple and pink, like the last time we’d been together in his backyard. He’d turned the radio down, but not off and it played a Chris Stapleton song I loved. His patio and pool had been loud and full of laughter and talking all day. Now it seemed calm, peaceful, and maybe even romantic. Then again, I’d never been romanced, so how the hell would I know? Whatever the case, it felt like a fantasy.

He rose up from the water at the edge of his pool, looking like a dream. A very, very wet one. Water ran down his face, and he shook it off the end of his nose when he leaned on his forearms atop the concrete in front of him. His tongue ran along his lips.

The sun had kissed his skin all day—lucky sun—and his chest and arms were dark. The deep, golden tint highlighted every cord in his shoulders, every peak and valley.

He appeared handsome and content.

Over the past few years, I’d grown accustomed to seeing his brow tensed. His jaw locked. A stiffness in his wide shoulders. I guessed there was something about the sunset, the water, and the candles that relaxed him too, because his face was slack except for the half-grin dimpling his right cheek.

His large hand tapped the patio’s edge before me.

I didn’t take my towel off as I sat. It had been one thing to wear the two-piece suit that day, but now he’d be able to get a closer look. Suddenly I felt a tad more self-conscious, bare and vulnerable. Like I was more naked than I had been all day.

I rocked side to side, making the towel slack so I could pull it up and over my belly.

Aaron watched but didn’t say anything. He took a step back as I slipped my feet into the water. 

“Today was great.” My legs kicked slowly, back and forth. The pool felt warmer than it had all day because the temperature was dropping with the sun.

He dipped and waved his arms through the clear water. “It was a good day.” Then his grin spread across his whole face instead of just half. “And you look dangerous in that bathing suit.”

I liked what he’d said and the look in his eyes as he said it, but it struck me as odd. “Dangerous?”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah, but I’m a firefighter, Fay. I love danger.” His fists floated between us, and when he squeezed them streams of water sprayed my knees.

Sweet Jesus, he was flirting.

I ate it up.

His eyes were daring me. There was this pull between us, a chemistry that tethered us together, even though we weren’t touching.

I un-knotted the towel and spread it out to my sides. He rewarded me by stepping closer and reaching for my legs. His fingers were long enough to wrap around my ankles, and then they slid up my calves.

There were so many things I was compelled to tell him: You’re great with Delaney. It feels so good being around you again. You’re nothing like Chad. But I didn’t want to talk about my child, my feelings, or my ex. I wanted to enjoy the moment while I was living it.

Aaron wasn’t a jerk, but all too soon he might realize my life was messy and complicated and busy and that it would be so much easier to find a woman who liked him and didn’t have so much baggage.

I fought to be in the moment because it might not come again.

The sensation of him rubbing my legs, enjoying the simple pleasure of it, had me leaning back on one hand and with the other I lifted the drink he’d made me, sipping it through the straw.

Evening summer drinks by the pool with the man of my dreams. Like make-believe, yet it was real.

“This is too good,” I confessed between drinks.

Before I could set it aside, he leaned up between my legs and opened his mouth. My pulse raced. Seeing him down there, looking at me like that, loosened imaginary laces in my stomach.

“Want a taste?” I steered the pink bendy straw to his lips.

Aaron stared down into the drink and pulled the icy drink from my cup to his mouth. His lashes covered his cheeks, and I became fascinated with his hairline, the tops of his ears, and the muscular ravine that parted the muscles on his thick, strong back. He wasn’t shy, and drank and drank between my legs. His head was near my chest and my lonely nipples tightened against the fabric of my suit, trying to reach him.

Half of my glass must have been gone before he came up, mouth full, and swallowed.

God. His neck. His throat.

Where was he ugly?

“Good?”

He nodded, sank a few inches, placed a pair of cold lips against the top of my thigh, and pushed back away from the wall. Angel wing-like wakes rippled the water behind him.

I was a puddle beside the pool, and like water instinctively flows to the deep, I placed the mug down and let the moment drink me up and slid in too.

Greedy and unsure of whether it was right or not, I wanted things to go faster. If he wanted me, I didn’t want him to question if I wanted him back. Because I did—plain and simple.

What did I need more than Aaron?

There wasn’t another man who could offer me more. He was all the good stuff. Strong. Hardworking. Kind and calm. Responsible and fun. Handsome and humble. Sexy and right in front of me.

Was I good enough?

“Aaron?” I waded toward him, loving how he stood still waiting for me with his arms widespread.

“Faith?” he returned. Then he crooked a finger for me to come even closer.

I closed the distance, and my arms floated at my sides. “Aaron, I’m kind of all used up.”

Large hands slid under my ass and my legs loosely wrapped around his waist like we’d done it thousands of times. I hovered over his bent legs, bobbing in the water.

Tenderly, his nose nuzzled my ear and against my cheek he asked, “You’re tired?”

“No. Not tired.” I gazed over his head to the sky and sank, feeling the wetness climb my back, neck, and then scalp as I thought of how to explain.

Aaron’s tone was low, but steady as he replied, “Good. Because I want you.”

He held my sides and pulled me closer, his thumbs nearly slipping under my top. I looped my arms around his neck and we began to move—back the way I came from—to the edge.

He put his lips on my chin, then pitched his head to the side and laid a kiss on my neck.

I trembled.

“All of you,” he added. My head rolled when my shoulders met the cool wall.

“I don’t know how much of me is left.”

“Fay, I don’t just want to use up certain parts of you.” His long, wet finger tapped my lips. A kiss. “I want all of them to use me.”

His mouth met mine. Slow and passionate, he took his time. Giving.

I lost myself to his generosity.

His mouth leisurely traveled to my ear. “You can tell me what you like, but I’d be glad to learn for myself.”

“I don’t know what I like,” I admitted. I was nearly twenty-five and I’d only been with Delaney’s dad—and it hadn’t been often enough, according to him.

Nothing I’d experienced had ever been like it was with Aaron. Real. Possessing. Intense, but still exciting and wonderful. He always left me wanting more.

He pulled back, and his sincere smile gave me comfort. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

He scanned the area around us, over my shoulder and through the house. Satisfied with whatever it was, he briefly brought his mouth back to mine before he lifted me out of the water. Standing at his full height, he reached over and pulled a pool mattress from under the pile of objects where he’d stacked them.

I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but I trusted him enough to wait and see.

He situated the pink air float behind me and came back to my lips.

“I’m going to find out what you like, for both of us. Is that okay?”

I didn’t want to disappoint, but I was nervous about making a mistake or doing something embarrassing. “What should I say? You know. If I don’t like something.”

His thumb smoothed over my tender cheek, and his eyes glowed in the amber dusk. “It’s okay if you don’t like something, but you won’t have to say anything. I’ll listen to your body. I’ll feel it. I’ll pay attention. I’ll know.”

His words were powerful. His tone was gentle. The combination was perfect.

Warm fingers danced over my neck, and I leaned into them, surrendering. It was so easy. They roamed up my back and pulled the strings on my top loose.

His alluring eyes didn’t leave mine, and I caught myself reminding my lungs to do their job. My lips were dry and thirsty for his, and he didn’t deny them when I leaned forward for a sip.

He removed my bikini top and set it to the side. I clung to him, our naked chests pairing for the first time.

There was no room for shame or time to point out the things I thought were flawed about myself, and when he parted our lips and put space between us, I didn’t shy away from his gaze.

I’d expected to see a hint of disappointment on his face, but instead I saw awe. Desire. Affection. Understanding. Patience. I’d never been looked at like that. Never been studied. Never been learned, and here he was, the man I’d longed for, missed, and wanted, offering to do just that.

I didn’t know what was going to happen, what he had planned, or where his hands and mouth and body would go, but I’d be safe. He’d look out for me. Protect me. Even if it was just for that wonderful little while.