23. Romeo
Saturdays were my easy days. I worked until two at the shop and then I went home and found something to do. Some days it was fishing. Some days it was a boat ride out on the lake. All days it ended with me relaxed and ready to enjoy my upcoming Sunday, the only day of the week I reserved for zero work.
Today, however, I’d made a detour on my way home.
And before you ask— yes, Goldyn had everything to do with it.
She’d been keeping her distance from her shop since construction started and that meant she wasn’t around to have lunch with me on the regular. I only saw her for dinner if I made it home in time. That was what I wanted.
So why had I damn near caused an accident when I saw her van in the library parking lot?
Why had I swerved through two lanes of traffic in the opposite direction to get here?
Why was I walking in the building I had only visited once to get my library card last year?
I didn’t know. But I did know breathing came easier when I found her tucked away in the back corner of the reference section, typing away at the new laptop Sin had to force her to accept.
The woman was determined to do all her business from that ancient iPhone 8 and he’d finally worn her down enough to accept the computer as a gift.
Her fingers flew over the keys, her head cocked as she stared at the screen in concentration.
I waited until her hands stilled and she took a break to pop her neck before announcing my arrival.
“G.”
Her head snapped up at the sound of my voice and her face split in a smile. “Romeo! What are you doing here?”
She was speaking in a loud whisper, watching me with barely contained excitement as I slid in the seat adjacent to her. I winced when I was seated on the wood chair. It was uncomfortable as fuck. How did she sit here for hours every day?
“Saw your van and stopped by,” I replied, giving nothing away. But Goldyn’s brows wiggled on her forehead before she narrowed her eyes and leaned into me.
She smelled like a different flower every time I saw her, and I didn’t know how that was possible.
“Did you just admit to visiting a place because you knew I would be there?”
“When did you hear me say that? Maybe I wanted to get some books.” That was a lie. I used my library card to check out ebooks and audiobooks online because I had enough herbal medicine books to constitute a small library and didn’t need to add to the chaos on my bookshelves.
Goldyn popped her tongue and closed her laptop with a soft thud, giving me her undivided attention.
“ You said it when you said you saw my van and came in this library to see about me.” A self-satisfied smile took up residence on her lips. And what was I gonna do? Tell her she was wrong? So I said nothing.
I stared at her, my face unaffected but I knew my eyes gave me away when she giggled and covered her face to hide her smile.
I would do a lot to keep that smile right there forever. She deserved all the happiness and smiles. And knowing I’d given her one made my heart skip a few beats.
“Romeo Wilde, it’s okay to admit you like me.”
A scowl claimed my features so fast she howled out a laugh, before covering her mouth with wide eyes and looking around to make sure a librarian wasn’t coming to tell us to shut up.
“How long before we can go home?”
“As soon as you tell me you like me.” She folded her arms across her chest. “We’re friends and you like being around me. Say it.”
She was wrong. I didn’t like her. It was something deeper than that. Something worse that I would never say aloud.
“Fine, stay here on these uncomfortable ass chairs. I thought you wanted to learn how to wakeboard but I can teach you another time.” The coolness in my voice belied my erratic pulse as I stood to leave.
“Wait!” Goldyn scrambled to grab her things and stuff them in her floppy tote bag. “I do wanna learn. Rome, wait for me. Please!” She hissed when I was back at the periodicals, using my long gait to my advantage. I slowed down when I reached the entrance and smirked when she caught up to me, out of breath.
We fell in step, walking out the entrance and back into the late-July sun.
“Don’t I need special gear to wear before I can get in the water with you?”
“Already got it.” I’d ordered a new board and two different life vests in her size last Friday, the day she saw me and Enzo come back from a session and asked how hard it was to learn. I’d known the second those doe eyes swelled in interest I would be the one teaching her.
“Is there anything you aren’t prepared for?”
Just you.
Nothing could have prepared me for Goldyn.
We made it to the driver’s side of her van and I tried to keep my face neutral. Knowing she drove this thing around the narrow cliff roads leading to our house fucked with me.
“I’ll be right behind you,” I told her, yanking her door open.
Goldyn tossed her bag inside and looked up at me, her eyes fixating on my mouth.
“How many of these do you have?” She pointed at my grill, her finger skimming over my chin before she lowered her hand.
Jaw flexing, I gripped her door tighter. “Lost count.”
Her eyes hadn’t strayed from my bottom lip since she discovered I only had in bottoms today. I focused my attention on the messy bun sitting at the top of her head. I couldn’t look at her looking at me. I would lose my shit. Matter of fact, I knew I already had.
And if her hand came anywhere near my mouth again, my self control would snap and the kiss I’d dreamed up in my head too many times would be painted across those perfect fucking lips.
“Get in the car, Goldy.”
“I can’t tell if you’re being bossy or chivalrous,” she mumbled, climbing in. When I heard her seatbelt click, I shut the door and jogged to my car.
It was going to be a long afternoon.
We’d been on the water for two hours already and Goldy still hadn’t stood up on the board. Every time she got close, she panicked and asked one of us to pull her out of the water.
And we did, every single time.
She’d watched me and Sincere get up out of the water and ride over and over again. And when she said she was ready, one of us made sure her bindings were tied right, gave her the handle, and dropped her in the water while Lorenzo idled the boat.
When Sin rode, I explained everything he was doing and how to mimic him when she got back in. Every time, she nodded and said she could do it. Until it was time to do it and she froze.
I fell into a squat at the back of the boat, squinting against the sun. “All you have to do is get up, Goldy. It’s all in your head.”
“I feel like I’m going to fall.”
“You’re attached to the board. Where you going, G?”
She huffed out a quiet laugh and looked at the water. Sincere and Lorenzo were at the front of the boat, talking about something we couldn’t hear.
“I’m wasting everybody’s time. We should just go home. I know y’all are tire?—”
“We aren’t tired of anything,” I interrupted and her eyes flickered to mine. “We all started as beginners at some point. Nobody is rushing you. Take your time and it’ll come.”
“What if I don’t get it?”
“Then we’ll try again tomorrow. If you don’t get it tomorrow, we’ll try again next weekend.”
Goldyn blinked against some of the water still clinging to her lashes. Tucking her bottom lip into her mouth, she looked at me. “Okay. I wanna try again.”
“Sin!” I called over my shoulder.
We got her back in the water and stood there waiting for her to do her thing.
“Remember to hold the handle still,” I coached.
Sin chimed in beside me. “Wait until you feel tension and keep it right in the middle of the board, love.”
She nodded, her body disappearing under the water as she brought her knees to her chest.
“That’s it, keep your knees just like that until the boat is moving away from you. Then let your body roll forward.”
Goldyn absorbed everything we said, nervous concentration furrowing her brow before we gave Lorenzo the go ahead to speed up.
My eyes didn’t leave her. I stood in place, where she could see me and waited for the ripple of blue water around her to expand.
She held tight to the handle but didn’t pull it to her and I smiled at the determination lining her face. She wasn’t fucking around and something told me this time would be the time she got it right. Sincere was at my side, biting his thumb nail and crossing his arms across his chest. She got farther and farther away, growing smaller until the line connected to her handle was straight instead of sagging in the water.
“Come on, Goldy. This shit is cake, you got this.” She couldn’t hear me, but it didn’t stop me from hyping her up either. I knew she could do this shit, and I couldn’t wait to see her face when she did it.
Time moved in slow motion when Goldy followed the tension and let her body roll forward. Her eyes were fixed on the handle in front of her. The water rippled in an expanding circle around her and the board slowly appeared from its resting place under the water.
Now was the time she usually caved and asked for a rescue. This time she didn’t. She got up, shifted her left hip toward the handle and rode the fucking wake.
“She fucking did it,” I muttered to myself.
Sincere’s celebration was more vocal. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted her praises until a big smile took over Goldyn’s face.
She fucking did it.
And she rode for a full minute before throwing up three fingers to signal she was done.
Goldyn had wakeboarded for a full minute. Pride crowded my chest as I pulled in her line then tugged her out of the water by the shoulders of her life vest.
When I got her out of her bindings, she jumped into Sincere’s open arms, soaking up his praise. “You’re fucking amazing, love.”
When they kissed, I busied myself with getting the board on the back of the boat so Lorenzo could steer us back to the dock. I kept my eyes off Goldyn until I felt her in my bubble.
“You did great, G,” I mumbled without looking up.
“No, you’re a great teacher. Thank you, Rome.”
“Any time.” I finally looked at her and smiled.
She let her eyes dance over my face, from my eyes to my lips and back to my eyes before she bit her lip and went back to sit on Sin’s lap.
I obsessed over that look the entire ride home, dissecting every detail until it was branded in my memory as if I caught it on film.
And then after that, when we got home and everybody went their separate ways to get cleaned up before the takeout we ordered arrived, I got in the shower and stroked one out to the memory of her smile and the light in her eyes.
I was never coming back from this woman. She owned me in ways that didn’t make sense for someone I’d never even kissed, never even hugged. She’d burrowed herself so deep into my existence I couldn’t remember what it was like to not want her.
Her name left my lips on a sigh, barely audible over the spray of water as cum shot out against my fingers and dripped to the shower floor.