Chapter 30
Noah
One month later
The surf at Zuma Beach was rough today, cold and choppy. I fell more than once, getting chilled through my wet suit, getting salt water in my hair. But I got on my board again and again, determined to conquer the waves.
And I’ll admit it: I was determined to impress the woman sitting on the shore.
I probably didn’t need to impress her. She was here in California because of me, and I’d be going home with her tonight. To the house that had started out as mine and now was ours.
I probably could fall, and she still would have come home with me.
Still, I tried to appear heroic. As you do when you know your woman is watching you.
Eventually I caught a good wave, and I rode it long enough to be pretty impressive. I decided to quit while I was ahead after that. Besides, I was lonely, and Emma looked beautiful, sitting on her chair on the beach.
She looked up from her book as I paddled back to shore. That sexy red hair was twisted up in a bun, away from the salt and the wind. She wore a coverup and a ton of sunscreen, even though it was a cloudy day. The bag next to her chair contained a bunch of toiletries I didn’t understand, a change of clothes, and a Thermos with ice-cold margarita mixed in it. My girl definitely knew how to have a good day at the beach.
In one of the pockets of her bag was her phone, turned to silent. It was Saturday, and we weren’t working. Honestly, I had no idea where my phone was at this minute. I might have left it at home. I sometimes did that when the only person I actually wanted to talk to was right next to me.
There was a second chair, empty, in the sand next to Emma’s. Katie had come out for a while, sitting next to Emma and talking. Now Emma was sitting alone again, her sandaled toes dug into the sand. She was pretending not to watch me from behind her sunglasses, but I knew better.
She hadn’t left Executive Ranks. Instead, she’d expanded it. She’d put Natalie in charge of the New York office and had opened a second office here in L.A. She’d gone back to Catharine Knowles and started networking her contacts to build a client list. It was in the beginning stages, but Executive Ranks now had an east coast and a west coast office.
She estimated it would take two years to build the west coast office to where it needed to be, so that was our plan. Two years here, and then we’d re-evaluate.
Maybe we’d go back to New York.
Maybe we’d adopt some kids and move to the back woods of Vermont.
Maybe we’d stay here in the home we loved.
The future wasn’t set, but whatever we did, we would do it together.
I unzipped the top half of my wet suit as I approached Emma on the sand. She stared appreciatively, then pretended to look back down at her book.
I leaned over her chair, bracing my hands on the arms and deliberately dripping salt water onto her pages. “Hey,” she said.
When she looked up, I leaned in and kissed her. Just enough to warm her up. Not enough to get her all the way hot. Not yet.
“Did you enjoy watching me surf?” I asked her.
“Oh, that.” Emma waved a dismissive hand. “I suppose I saw some of it. Mostly you falling off.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I never fell off.”
“Oh no?” She smiled. “Katie says you won’t take lessons.”
“I don’t need lessons,” I scoffed. “I’m already badass.”
“No, you’re already on your ass. That’s different.”
I sighed. “You’re very bad for my ego, do you know that?”
“You may have said it once or twice.” She put the book down. “I admit to checking my phone once. Ava and Dane sent more pictures.”
That made me smile. Ava had given birth to a baby girl named Charlotte, and ever since it had happened, the pictures had come nonstop. “I could barely make Dane put two words together for a decade, and now he won’t shut up.”
“She’s very cute,” Emma said.
I felt my eyebrows go up. “Does it give you ideas?”
“I always have ideas.” She pressed her lips together in thought. Then she pressed her fingertip to my bare clavicle and let it trail halfway down my chest. “Whatever I decide, mister, I want you to be on board with it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
That made her smile. Emma was bossy, but I could make her do what I wanted. I had my ways.
Some of my ways involved silk ties and blindfolds. It was all part of the job.
“Have I told you I love you today?” I asked her. “Because I do.”
That made her visibly melt. Emma could never resist it when I told her that. Her gaze went soft behind the sunglasses and her finger trailed back up my chest, like she was just happy to be touching me. “I love you, too,” she said quietly.
And there it was—that feeling. I got it every fucking time she said it. This woman was my whole world.
I leaned down and kissed her, because I couldn’t not do it.
“Good,” I said when I’d finished. “Let’s go home.”