Chapter Fourteen #2
Her face was only inches away as she cradled her chin in her hands while her elbows continued to rest on the bar. Charlie wanted to kiss her for the umpteenth time in the last twenty-four hours. Somehow, she resisted again.
“Good,” Harper whispered before straightening and standing tall. “Now, what can I get you this evening?”
A knock sounded at Charlie’s door at three fifty-two p.m. She wasn’t surprised that Harper was early, but she also wasn’t exactly ready. As in, she was still in a robe. A terry cloth robe that covered a lot more than her yoga clothes did, but a robe nonetheless.
Was this a real date? Charlie wanted it to be, but Harper could be so hard to read that she simply couldn’t be sure. At least not until—unless—Harper made a move.
Or until Charlie tossed caution to the wind and admitted how she was feeling.
Which was scary. What if she was completely misreading the situation?
What if Harper iced her out again? She’d realized when Harper had been avoiding her just how much she’d come to rely on her connection to her and Franky. She didn’t want to ruin that.
“Sorry I’m a little early,” Harper said, her eyes wide as she took in Charlie’s robe. “Franky wasn’t in the mood to walk, so I just came over without thinking about the time.” Her words spilled out in rapid succession.
Charlie chuckled, and it sounded nervous. Shit. “No problem,” she said and let Harper in. “I’m running a little behind, as you can see, but I’ll only be a couple of minutes. I’m mostly ready. Please have a seat. Do you want something to drink?”
“No, no. I could just run back to my place and wait until the actual agreed upon time.”
Charlie scoffed. “Don’t be silly. You’ll just confuse Franky. I’ll only be a minute.”
And she would be. She’d been agonizing because she didn’t know where they were going, other than to see the sunset, and she probably should have asked what Harper was planning to wear.
But now that she’d seen her, she knew it was casual, given Harper’s navy hiking shorts and tan sleeveless shirt, in addition to the picnic backpack she was carrying.
She was pretty sure picnics were always casual.
She grabbed a pair of olive green khaki shorts and a racer back tank top and pulled them on. She also remembered to grab a headband to keep her hair off her face in case it was breezy, a frequent occurrence down here.
Harper turned from the painting she’d been examining when Charlie emerged from her bedroom. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
Charlie laughed. “Oh really?”
“Yeah, this is a really pretty painting of the sunset.”
“It came with the place. I haven’t had much time to decorate, but my landlord has pretty good taste. That is a gorgeous painting.” She smiled but wondered what Harper was really thinking, given Charlie hadn’t changed a single decoration or added even one personal item. It felt a little pathetic.
Harper looked her up and down. “I can assure you, your landlord has excellent taste.”
Charlie licked her lips as all the moisture fled her mouth. “So does her tenant,” she whispered. Heat flooded the area between her thighs. Charlie wasn’t sure how to take Harper’s sudden shift in reactions toward her, but she liked it and hoped it stayed.
Charlie watched Harper watching her for a few breaths before Harper finally said, “We’d better go, or we’re going to miss sunset. Well, we might not miss it, but we might not have time to get to the perfect part of the park and get set up. Are you up for a bike ride?”
“You have a bike?” Charlie said, a little confused.
“I do, yes. It’s the best way to get around the island. So are you up for a ride?”
Charlie’s mind flashed to the ride she’d like to take with Harper, which did not involve any vehicles at all, but pushed the thought away. It wasn’t the time, but with the way Harper had been looking at her, she hoped it could become real. “Of course.”
As they rode, Charlie suspected she knew where they were headed and was excited to explore the Fort Zachary Taylor State Park more.
She’d been there a few times but only as a quick pit stop.
She hadn’t walked any of the trails. Her suspicions were confirmed when they turned in.
Harper handled their entrance fees. It was just a couple dollars, but it was still sweet that she wouldn’t let Charlie pay for her own ticket.
Once they’d parked and locked their bikes, Harper took Charlie’s hand and led her, not down to the beach where Charlie had gone before, but in a different direction. Did the hand holding mean it was, in fact, a date? Or was that just for efficiency?
She wanted to ask but didn’t have the courage, so instead she said, “We aren’t heading to the beach?”
“We are, but not the beach you’re thinking of,” she said. “Every beach in the Keys that I’ve ever been to has been beautiful, but the ones here are my favorites, and there’s another on the north side of the park that we can hike to that’s better for sunsets.”
Charlie could see that they were heading for the water, but on an island, no matter what direction you headed in, you were always heading toward water.
She suppressed a giggle at her newly found philosopher persona.
When they reached the water, they turned right.
It was oddly peaceful and quiet. “I like this part of the park. I haven’t seen anything this secluded since I moved here. ”
“Did you really have a lot of secluded places in New York?” Harper’s tone was a little incredulous.
Charlie chuckled. “Point taken. And it’s not like I got out of the city much to go hiking upstate or anything.”
“So what you’re really saying is that you haven’t been somewhere this secluded in a long time?” Harper arched an eyebrow as she looked at her.
“Yeah, I guess that’s accurate. A really long time.” And why did Harper have to look so attractive doing that eyebrow thing? It wasn’t fair. “And I can see the shades of your attorney past again, for the record.”
“Sorry, but no one searches for technicalities like an attorney.” She smiled sweetly and shrugged.
“Well, luckily, you’re pretty cute, so I’ll let it slide, but don’t expect this regularly.” She gave Harper a half-smile so she’d know she was joking. Mostly.
They walked for a little while, still hand in hand, before Harper said, “How’s the yoga teaching going? When should I come to class again?”
“I feel like I’m settling in and don’t feel as nervous every time.
And the timing depends. Do you want to take a class I’m teaching, or do you want to go to class together and practice side by side?
” She wasn’t sure what she wanted Harper’s answer to be.
Taking class together sounded sexy as hell, but having Harper at her mercy was also an appealing idea.
Harper tilted her head from side to side in what Charlie had started to think of as the physical manifestation of her weighing both sides of an issue. “Hmm. I like the idea of both. Why don’t we try it both ways and see what we like better?”
Charlie pressed her lips together to keep from smiling at the thought of all the things she’d like to try both ways with Harper but didn’t want to shatter the delicate foundation of whatever it was that they were building. “Is that also your attorney brain mediating the issue?”
Harper squeezed her hand as they headed down a small path that was steeper than the rest of the trail but appeared to be taking them right to the water. “Unsurprisingly, yes. Especially in the type of law I practiced, we were always looking for middle ground when we could.”
Charlie’s response about attorneys being happy to negotiate to increase their billable hours died on her lips as she realized that Harper had taken them to a small but secluded stretch of beach that would have a perfect view of the sunset, though the sun still looked quite high in the sky.
And unlike the section they’d just been walking along, there was actually beach here rather than a rocky slope. “This is great.”
“I thought you’d like it.” Harper dropped her hand as she set the bag on the sand. Charlie felt the loss of contact even as she knew there was no way Harper could unpack anything with only one hand.
“Is there anything I can help with?” she asked.
“Do you want to spread out this blanket? It’s a little small, but it should do the trick for today.” She handed Charlie a soft, deep purple blanket that Charlie unfolded and sat on to keep it from being blown away in the breeze.
Harper pulled out two baguettes wrapped in wax paper, two bags of kettle chips, a small container of what looked like hummus, and a small container of carrot sticks and placed them on the blanket.
She then opened a smaller compartment on the front of the bag and pulled out two plastic goblets and dug their bases into the powdery white sand.
“Technically, this isn’t allowed,” she said as she pulled a bottle of sparkling wine out of another compartment.
“But it just feels right to have something to toast the sunset with. And my supplier dropped this bottle off for me to sample. I think it’s probably a little too high-end for my establishment, but think about that as you’re drinking it, okay? ”
“My pleasure,” Charlie said just as Harper popped the cork like the expert she was.
She poured them both glasses of the bubbly and handed Charlie hers with a soft smile. “Here’s to trying new things,” she said as she gently brought her cup to Charlie’s.
“To new things. Cheers.” Charlie hoped with all her heart that they were starting something new between them, but she wasn’t sure if Harper meant it that way.
Harper handed her one of the baguettes. “I got the marinated veggie and mozzarella sandwiches. I hope you like all the veggies. I guess I should have asked first.”