CHAPTER TEN #3
I nodded. “I’ll tell Mabel when she gets home.” Scratching my jaw, I glanced up at the canopy of mixed evergreens and deciduous leaves. “What exactly do I tell her? What are you going to tell Austin and Honor?”
“I dunno. Probably that you and I get along well. We like spending time together, and we’re going to see how things go.
That we’re taking it slow, going to hang out, go on some dates, and see if our feelings grow deeper.
I’m going to keep it really casual. If I get too intense about it, then they’ll think something is up. ”
“Yeah … yeah, that’s a good idea. Though Mabel has a tendency to take casual things and make them intense. She’s going to ask sixteen thousand questions, and I need to be prepared to answer all of them.”
We reached the beach, and the sun burned my eyes, forcing me to shield myself with my hand.
God, this place was beautiful. The water glimmered, the birds soared, and the breeze was the temperature of the perfect hug.
She beamed at me as she stepped up onto a worn log, then with her arms out like eagle wings, she walked across it. “Come on, Ox!”
She didn’t have to tell me twice.
I caught up with her and looped my arms around her waist. She spun to face me, and the sun made the yellow flecks in her eyes shimmer like gold leaf. “I’ve never had this,” I said. “I’ve never felt like this.”
“Me either.” She looped her arms around my neck. “So … we’re dating?”
“I would like to if you would.”
Her gaze turned serious. “I can’t breathe again.”
For a split second, I thought she was being serious, but when she smiled, all I could do was take her mouth with mine.
I’d never really kissed anybody like this before. Kyla and I didn’t kiss. So I guess, Naomi was technically my first kiss.
And I would remember every kiss with Naomi. I would remember every little whimper and moan she made. I would remember the way she liked to gently bite my bottom lip, then suck on it. I’d remember the way her neck tasted. I’d remember all of it.
An eagle screeched above us—we were always getting disrupted by birds—and she was the first to break the kiss. “You’re making it hard to go slow,” she murmured before stepping back out of my arms and continuing on down the logs.
The stiff column in my jeans agreed.
“Can I ask you something?” she said, not stopping as she made her way down toward the lapping waves.
She glanced back and me, and I nodded. “I know Florida is severely lacking in the sex-ed department, but you had to know that what Kyla was doing was wrong. What stopped you from coming forward? From reporting her?”
“What stopped you from coming forward about your abusive ex? Why did it take him beating Austin for you to say it was enough?”
She frowned in thought. “I guess I was scared. I had nowhere else to go. I was worried my dad would try to find and hurt his sister. I’d also just been conditioned since I was a kid to believe that a woman’s role is to serve her husband.
And while I never really believed it, there were definitely times where he’d beat me and I’d eventually convince myself that it was my fault.
That I had riled him up. That I didn’t keep Austin quiet enough.
That I didn’t keep his dinner warm enough for him until he got home.
That if I were a better wife, things would change.
” She dropped her chin to her chest for a moment. “I was also ashamed.”
“Shame is a very powerful emotion.”
Lifting her gaze, I could see that she had grown teary-eyed again, and I quickly ate up the distance between us and used my thumbs to smooth away the tears. I held her jaw in my palms. “You were ashamed,” she said.
I nodded. “I knew what we were doing was wrong—”
“She was wrong. You were a child.”
“Right. I knew that what she was doing was wrong. But I was so embarrassed. I didn’t want anybody to know.
You hardly ever hear about boys getting abused by women.
I mean, I know it happens. Obviously, it happens.
But people are quick to make jokes. She was a pretty woman.
More than once, my basketball buddies called her a MILF.
So to them, her using me the way she did would be something to high-five. Meanwhile, all I felt was dirty.”
“I get it. The fear of making things worse is real, and it talks you out of doing what’s right.” She swallowed. “I’m sorry she’s out on parole and not dead.”
That made me laugh. “Yeah. Me too.” I laced my fingers through hers and turned us toward the rocks. “Come on. Let’s see if we can find some sea glass. Rolph and his wife said this is a really good beach for it.”
With her free hand, she rubbed my hand that held hers. “I don’t care what we do. I just want to spend time with you.”
I grinned at her as the weight of Jolene’s visit slipped off my shoulders, replaced only by the warmth of the sun and the joy this woman brought into my life.
Our first week on the island might have been a rough one, but one thing I knew for sure: Naomi Geuer was a diamond in this rough, and wherever she went, everything seemed to sparkle.