Chapter Six
Chapter Six
I OPENED THE DOOR TOfind Amelia standing there looking more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Something in my chest tightened, and I was reminded once again I had never in my life been so attracted to a woman.
“You look…beautiful.”
Her eyes seemed to sparkle at my compliment, and she blushed. “Thank you.”
I loved that she wore little-to-no makeup, and hadn’t dolled herself up, but was simply herself. That was the one thing that had originally attracted me to Amelia in the first place.
“Come on in and I’ll grab the basket for our breakfast.”
“Did you make it yourself?” she asked as she followed me in.
Laughing, I said, “No, I wish I could take the credit for it. Grayson works at the restaurant here at the hotel, and he asked one of the waitresses to put it together for me. She loves doing it, and wants to one day open up her own business doing custom baskets.”
“What a great idea!”
Smiling, I nodded. “I thought so too. I’ve never seen anything like it before, so I think she’d do pretty good from what I saw when I peeked into the basket.”
“Anything you need me to get?”
I motioned with my chin toward the blanket I had on the sofa. “If you can grab the blanket, we’ll be on our way.”
As we walked down the path toward the area of the island that most of the guests stayed away from, Amelia and I fell into an easy conversation. Amelia told me where she was going to be working, and how nervous she was.
When we stepped out onto the beach, she drew in a sharp breath. “This is beautiful.”
I nodded and started toward a spot where a beach umbrella was stuck in the sand. I was going to owe Ghuck big time for helping me set this all up.
“Is that umbrella always there?”
Laughing, I shook my head as I put the basket down and took the blanket from her.
“I had some help this morning.”
She smiled and helped me put the blanket out, then settled down on it as I took everything out of the basket.
We quickly fell into a conversation as we ate. It was so easy talking to Amelia, and I found myself not wanting the moment to end, but I knew it would at some point.
“What are your plans today with Lori and Parker?”
“It was a planned pool day. To Lori and Parker, vacation means sitting at the pool or on the beach during the day, then having fun at night.”
“Do you want to see more tourist stuff today?”
A wide smile appeared on her face. “Are you offering to be my tour guide?”
“I am.”
She glanced down at the basket, then back at me, and I couldn’t help but stare at her mouth. I wanted to kiss her more than I wanted my next breath.
“I’d love to spend the day with you.”
When she licked her lips, I lost the will to hold back. Pushing everything out of the way, I made my way to her and cupped her face in my hands.
“I want to kiss you, Mel.”
Her breathing had increased, and when her eyes darted down to my mouth and then back up, she softly said, “What are you waiting for?”
What had started out as a soft kiss quickly turned passionate, with me laying Amelia back onto the blanket and deepening the kiss. Before things got out of hand, I drew back and rested my forehead against hers.
Each of us drew in deep breaths until Amelia whispered my name and I slowly stood.
“I’m sorry, Mel.”
She took my offered hand and smiled as I helped her stand. “Don’t say that. I’m not sorry we kissed, only sorry we needed to stop.”
With her words, I glanced around and was relieved to see we were still alone. She wore the same look of relief.
“How about we pack all this up and I start playing tour guide? My mom ended up making plans for today.”
The twinkle in her eyes told me she wanted to play a different kind of game, but she nodded in agreement.
We spent the rest of the day with me showing her around some of my favorite places in the Keys. We ate, laughed, ate some more, and in between shared a few kisses. It was the most amazing day of my life. Unfortunately, it was cut short with my mother sending me a text asking me to join her for dinner.
“What are you ladies going to do for dinner on this Fourth of July?” I asked as we sat next to one another on the boat trip back to the island.
“I texted Lori and Parker earlier. They’re exhausted after their day on the beach and want to get room service to rest up before the fireworks show tonight.”
“Would you like to join me and my mother?”
For the briefest of moments I thought I saw a bit of panic in her eyes before she smiled. “I would, but I haven’t seen Lori and Parker hardly at all, and I feel a bit bad for ditching them today. But we are meeting up for the fireworks, right? After all, you did say you had a special place to view them.”
Winking at her, I replied, “I do, indeed, and please feel free to invite Lori and Parker.”
“I will!” she said with excitement in her voice. “I’ve loved fireworks since I was a little girl. We would always pack a little picnic and go and watch them at my grandmother’s house. She didn’t live far from where the city of Austin would do their annual fireworks show. We got to avoid the crowds and sit on her front porch and watch the show. It was always so much fun.”
I tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear as I said, “I’m glad you have fond memories of it.”
She frowned. “You don’t?”
Letting out a humorless laugh, I shook my head. “My father was never one for doing things like going and seeing fireworks, or visiting Disney World. He spent nearly every waking moment in his office, even on the Fourth of July.”
“Lynn didn’t take you to see them?”
“No, she usually threw a party and had all her friends over. A couple of years she hired some people to do a few fireworks, but nothing that held the attention of a young boy and his little sister. The older we got, the more we tried to stay away and spend the night at a friend’s house.”
She took my hand in hers. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said as I kissed the tip of her nose. “I never wanted for anything, which is more than a lot of kids can say.”
“You still deserved a fun childhood.”
I shrugged and stood to take her hand. The boat had docked and it was time to part ways. I tried like hell to ignore the way that made my chest ache. We walked in silence down the dock until we reached the end.
“I’ll call you after dinner is over.”
Reaching up onto her toes, she kissed me gently on the mouth. “I look forward to it.”
She turned and headed down the path toward the guest cottages. I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, not leaving until I could no longer see her.
I pushed my hand through my hair and headed toward my own cottage. I only had a few more days with Amelia for me to decide what in the hell I was going to do.
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