CHAPTER SEVENTEEN #2
Maybe this was it. Maybe she had asked the one question she never should have, and whatever had been building between them all evening had cracked wide open because of it.
Standing there with the surf rumbling softly in the distance and Pierce’s silence stretching between them, Charley could do little more than stare at the man she was quickly falling for and wonder if she had just ruined everything before it ever really had the chance to begin.
◆◆◆
Pierce barely felt the sand under his shoes.
He had walked straight out of the restaurant patio and onto the beach without really seeing any of it.
His mind was still trapped back upstairs, up on the rooftop.
Only now, standing a few yards from the water with the surf rolling in under a dark sky, did the cool rush of the evening air start to cut through the storm inside his head.
He dragged a hand over his face and bowed his head, his chest tight enough it hurt.
Fucking Brittany. Even thinking her name made something bitter twist low in his gut.
One second, he had been sitting across from Charley, thinking how he had never had a better night in his life. Next, he had looked past her shoulder and seen a face he hadn’t wanted to see again for as long as he lived.
Brittany had been seated on the other side of the terrace with her husband and their daughter between them.
Pierce had only needed that one glance. One goddamn glance.
His ex-wife. The man she had left him for and their kid.
And then Charley’s question had landed right on top of it all—soft, innocent, asking how he felt about kids and whether he had ever wanted any of his own, and it had been like getting hit in the chest with a sledgehammer.
The answer to her question had been yes.
Hell yes, he wanted kids. At one time, he thought he was getting one.
He had even once stood in a baby aisle staring at tiny socks and a stupid stuffed giraffe with the kind of grin that came from a man who thought his whole life was finally falling into place.
Then Brittany had ripped that future apart with one brutal truth, leaving him holding the pieces.
Pierce swore under his breath and looked out at the black water, his pulse still hammering too hard.
He hated that he had reacted at all. But most of all, he hated the timing of it.
Charley hadn’t done a damn thing wrong. She had asked a simple question during what had been the best date of his life, and he had responded by bolting out of the restaurant like a coward.
The thought hit him hard enough that he went still. Fuck! Charley! Jesus Christ!
His head snapped up. The haze he had been stuck in cleared just enough for panic to barrel in.
He turned fast, already looking back toward the restaurant, cursing himself for being so deep in his own goddamn head that he had forgotten the woman he had come here with.
He had just left her at the table with no explanation.
He took two quick steps and then saw her.
She stood several yards away in the moonlight, her heels dangling from one hand, her purse clutched in the other.
The wind tugged at the loose tendrils of blonde hair framing her face, the rest still pinned up in that pretty style she had clearly put effort into.
Even with the distance between them, he could see the sadness and the worry in her expression.
But there was something else that made his chest ache—hurt.
“Charley.” Her name came out rough.
She started toward him at the same time he moved toward her, both of them closing the gap across the sand.
Pierce didn’t trust himself to speak. Not yet, not when everything inside him was still too raw and jagged.
So, the second he reached her, he pulled her into him.
He wrapped both arms around her and held on like she was the only solid thing in the world.
For one awful second, he worried she would pull away.
But then her purse and shoes dropped into the sand beside them, and her arms slid around his waist.
The breath he let out shook on the way out.
They stood there like that for several long seconds, the waves hissing up the shore and retreating again. Her cheek pressed against his chest. His chin brushed the top of her head. And slowly, piece by piece, the chaos inside him eased enough for words to come back.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low against her hair. “Jesus, Charley. I’m so damn sorry.”
Her arms tightened a little around him, but she didn’t speak.
Pierce swallowed hard and forced himself to keep going. “That was a hell of a way to react, and you didn’t deserve it. I feel horrible about how I just handled that.”
She leaned back just enough to look up at him, though her hands stayed at his waist. In the moonlight, her eyes were soft and uncertain.
“Well,” she said, her voice a little shaky but trying hard for light, “for a minute there I thought I had managed to destroy our first date with one badly timed question, so at least now I know I have a real gift.”
The words were so very Charley. They were sweet, nervous, and trying to rescue him from his own mess. A laugh escaped him before he could stop it.
Her mouth curved just a little when she heard it.
Pierce shook his head. “No, sweetheart.” He brushed a thumb lightly along her cheekbone. “You didn’t screw up anything. This…” His gaze searched hers, willing her to hear him. “This has been the best date I’ve ever been on.”
She blinked, like she hadn’t expected that answer.
“It has,” he said again, more firmly. “You didn’t do a damn thing wrong.”
Some of the hurt in her expression eased, though the worry stayed.
She pulled back enough to really look at him, her brows drawing together.
“I’m not going to ask if you’re okay,” she said softly.
“Because obviously you’re not.” A tiny, sad smile touched her mouth.
“But if you want to talk about what made you take off like a ghost was chasing you, I’m a really good listener. ”
That almost undid him all over again.
Pierce stared at her for a second, then pulled her back against him, one hand sliding to the back of her head as he held her close. He rested his chin against her hair and shut his eyes.
God, he was lucky. He didn’t know what he had done to have someone like Charley standing here in the middle of his mess, worried more about him than herself after the way he had just acted.
She was warm, kind, and funny when she had every right to be upset.
She felt too good in his arms, too right.
And standing there with the tide rolling in and out a few yards away, Pierce knew with a bone-deep certainty that his answer to her question about kids hadn’t changed.
It was still yes. It would probably always be yes.
And even though they were only on their first date, even though maybe it was too soon and too much and maybe he had lost his damn mind, he knew exactly what his heart wanted.
He hoped like hell that someday it would be with her.
The thought should have scared him more than it did, maybe because his heart didn’t seem interested in caution where Charley was concerned.
It had made up its mind already. He was falling for the amazing woman in his arms, and he was falling fast.
He opened his eyes and exhaled slowly. She deserved the truth.
Pierce eased back and kissed her temple, lingering there for just a second before reaching down for her hand. His fingers closed around hers.
“I owe you an explanation,” he said quietly.
Charley nodded but didn’t interrupt. She just squeezed his hand once, like she was letting him know she was there.
Pierce looked past her toward the dark line of the water, gathering himself. “My ex-wife’s name is Brittany,” he began. “A long time ago, I thought she was it for me. We got married young, and I loved her hard. Probably too hard. I thought we were building a life together.”
He gave a humorless huff that barely qualified as a laugh.
“At one point, I honestly believed we were about to have everything I had ever wanted.” His throat tightened, but he pushed through it. “She got pregnant right before one of my deployments.”
Charley’s fingers twitched in his.
Pierce looked down at their joined hands for a second before lifting his gaze again.
“And I was happy, Charley. Happier than I can even explain. I had wanted to be a dad for a long time. The thought of coming home to a wife and a baby…” He trailed off and shook his head once.
“I can’t even describe what that felt like back then.
I thought my whole life was lining up exactly the way it was supposed to. ”
The wind shifted, carrying the scent of salt and seaweed between them.
“When I got back from deployment, things were off.” His voice roughened.
“I knew it before I wanted to admit it. Brittany was distant, defensive, and angry all the time. I kept telling myself it was stress, hormones from the pregnancy, and me being gone. Hell, pick your excuse. I used all of them.” He swallowed hard.
“Then one night we got into a big argument, and the truth came out.”
Charley’s expression tightened with sympathy, but she stayed quiet.
“She’d been sleeping with somebody else while I was training before that last deployment.” His jaw clenched. “And the baby wasn’t mine.”
The words still cut him even now. Maybe they always would.
“I’m so sorry, Pierce,” Charley whispered.