Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THREE WEEKS LATER
“Everything feels so normal; it's as though everything has fallen into the right place. But I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Today is the grand opening of Goose and Anchor, and if I said I wasn’t freaking out, that would be a lie. It also marks a decade since you’ve been gone,” I tell the waves, knowing they’ll take my words on their whitecaps and deliver them to my mom and now dad.
The sun had barely risen before I made my way down to the shore.
My toe drew on the sand, waiting for the swash to come and clear it away, a blank slate for a new drawing, just like Bohdi and I got.
“I’m in love with Bohdi Westmore. I’ve been in love with him; it’s never changed, even all those years away, my heart and body yearned for him.
I still feel like I’m putting distance between us, and I hate that.
I want to be all in. I need to be all in. ”
“I am all in.” Bohdi’s voice comes up from behind me, making me turn around. He’s standing about five feet away from me, just watching me.
Closing the gap between us, he steals my lips before finally freeing them. “Today’s the day.” He smiles at me, showing his straight teeth, before kissing the tip of my nose.
With one swift motion, I turn over the open sign on the bakery door, spinning around, taking in my new home away from home. Officially open for business.
It’s bright and airy, with coastal vibes that welcome both visitors and locals, incorporating Driftwood Bay perfectly.
Walking to the glass display case, I look at all the cookies and cupcakes I’ve made over the last few days. Ten different varieties of cookies and four flavors of cupcakes. I was scared to go overboard because of the what if’s that have been trying to plague me.
The door chimes announcing my first customer. Taking a deep breath, I turn around and stop when I see Bohdi standing at the entrance, holding a bundle of pink Beach Roses. My smile upturns my cheeks, making the tears in my eyes fall over the edge of my waterline.
“I’d like one cookie, please.” Bohdi strides to me.
Pursing my lips, I ask, “One?”
He kisses me. “I just wanted to be your first customer.”
I take the flowers and give him another kiss before leading him to the counter.
“What one would you like, Sir?”
I watch his eyebrow raise. “I like that. Can you call me that tonight?”
Laughing, “Maybe.” I throw him a wink and walk to the display case, knowing exactly which cookie he wanted.
Bay’s Bonfire has been a hit with all of them.
Obsessing over the mixture of cookie dough, graham cracker, and marshmallow.
I’ve made it for Baylee twice late at night because she craves them.
I now freeze extra dough at my cottage to make them, so Kai can drive and pick them up.
Handing Bohdi a cookie, he passes me twenty dollars. “Keep the change.” He smiles at me and I can’t help but chuckle.
I look at the door and see Baylee scurrying in. “You ass! I told you I wanted to be the first customer.” She saddles up to Bohdi, slapping his arm.
“Ouch! I’m still healing.” He winces.
I see Baylee’s face turn red, kind of matching her hair. “Oh, no. I’m sorry, Bohdi, I forgot.”
I glare at him behind the counter.
“I’m fucking with you. I’m okay. But I was the first customer, and you can take the picture holding up her first payment.”
“Ugh.” He bob swishes as she walks to me, and her phone is already out.
I couldn’t have dreamed of my grand opening going any better. I ended up selling out, so we just used this time as a get-together, enjoying everyone coming and going.
I got my first two orders for birthday cookies, to my surprise.
Finishing my glass of wine, I sit it on the counter. My eyes roam over the now empty bakery; only Bohdi and I are left. I watch him pick up cups, throw them in the trash, and clean his way to the counter where I stand.
Smiling at me, I watch him drop the trash bag and capture my hand. “Come with me.”
Drawing my eyebrows up, “We have to clean?”
His other hand pulls a tie from behind his back. “Trust me.”
Looking from the tie to him, “Okay.”
The silk fabric slides over my eyes, blocking any light and sight out. Swallowing hard, I feel his lips on mine, making me jump, but I press into them. He kisses me hard and fast, leaving me panting and feeling off kilter.
“I’ll tell you when to step off or when to stop.” His voice sounds deeper now that my vision is obscured.
“Don’t let me fall.”
“Never.” I feel his hand cup mine, pulling me slightly, and I timidly step until I feel the air hitting my now slick face.
“Step down and then don’t move.” He instructs me.
Standing on the quiet main street, I jump and let out a small yell when his motorcycle starts, revving right next to me. “Damn it, Bohdi.”
His chuckling makes me want to roll my eyes, but it’s no use.
Instructing me on how to get onto his bike, I’m finally seated, arms wrapped around his waist, squeezing.
The ride is something. Having no sight but feeling my body move with the slow curves of the road, hearing the wind whip by us. It’s unexplainable and invigorating. Trusting Bohdi with my whole being and my safety.
I recognize the rubble under his tires, knowing he just turned onto my driveway, confused, I don’t ask anything until we’re stopped and the motorcycle is turned off, greeted by the crashing waves and… “Is that music?” I ask him, confused.
Bohdi helps me off the bike and leads me up the few steps to the front porch. In seconds, his hands are around me, and I’m lifted. “Bohdi!”
His laughing caresses my ears. “I got you.”
I hear the stairs creak underneath us, so I know he’s going down to the shore. I trust him, so I lay my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat that is going so fast.
“Mmmm,” I moan out when his lips touch mine, feeling his tongue slide over them, opening up for him, before he sits me on my feet.
“August.” He whispers my name before I feel the silk fabric glide across my eyes, revealing him and the “Oh.” My hand goes to my mouth.
My eyes scan the sand behind him. Tea-light candles dance under the stars.
I look at Bohdi, who stands, smiling at me, the moonlight casting on his dirty blond hair. His eyes are shining.
Swallowing, Tears blur my vision as I realize that Far Away by Nickelback filters from a speaker behind him.
My hand flies to my mouth in disbelief as I watch him get on his knee, taking my hand.
His finger rubs my skin back and forth as I look down at him; I see the nervousness radiating from him, knowing I’m showing the same.
“August Graft, the day you came back into town, I knew my life would forever change. With you came my future and my forever. You showed me what I truly wanted in this life, and it was you. And I can’t be in this world if you’re not by my side through it. I want and need you for forever.”
I stand there nodding my head repeatedly when he opens his hand.
My seashell sits in his palm with a pearl ring with two diamonds on the side that glint at me from the tea light.
“Will you marry me? I went and got it just for you.” He smiles up at me, tears rolling down his cheeks.
It’s not the same ring I once had, and Baylee now wears; it’s a pearl that I know he went and found for me.
I drop to my knees, the sand cocooning them, my hands cupping his face, bringing him to me. “I will marry you. Yes!” I cry out before kissing him.
My hand shakes as I hold it out to him, and I notice his shaking too when he places the ring on my finger.
Standing up, he brings me with him, turning us to look at the ocean. “She said yes!”
I look at him, confused, but when he smiles at me, I know who he’s talking to.
Pulling me to his chest, he kisses me, all while pulling my dress above my head, and I let him, until his hands fumble with my panties and I help him take them off. Now standing naked in the sand.
I watch him hurriedly undress himself, smiling at him the whole time, while my thumb rubs the pearl over and over again, not believing he just proposed to me.
We stand there and stare at each other before he closes the space between us, picking me up and I immediately wrap my legs around his waist.
Kissing me, he pulls back, “To be all in, you need to overcome the one thing you haven’t yet.” His eyes travel behind me, my heart rate picks up, knowing he’s talking about getting all the way in the ocean and our conversation from this morning.
“Bohdi, I don’t think I can.” I trip over my words.
He squeezes me tighter. “With me, you can.”
Tears come to my eyes, and I let them fall, nodding my head at him.
I watch the sand turn into water as he moves farther from the shoreline. My breathing becomes labored as panic flows through me, squeezing him tighter.
“Breathe, August. I got you.” He kisses my lips
I close my eyes when I feel the water touch my butt. Opening them when Bohdi and I are all the way in up to his shoulders.
With a gentle kiss, he praises me. “Look at you. Look how far you're out, August.”
I tighten my hold on him, scared to let loose, but look behind him, seeing the flicker of the tealights, like lightning bugs.
“Lean back, baby. Lay your head in the water,” Bohdi instructs me.
I want to say no, but this August does things that scare her. Look how far we’ve come.
My legs squeeze around Bohdi’s waist, interlocking my feet. He slowly guides me onto my back, my head on the surface of the water, and he holds me there.
Looking up at the full moon, I let the grief of my parents float away. I’ll forever miss them and want them, but I’m giving it to the waves to take out to sea.
“Bohdi.” His name sounds so good on my lips. “Make love to me.” It comes out like a beg.
Grabbing my arm, he pulls me up to him, immediately capturing my lips. Our kisses are mixed with saltwater and need.
He easily guides his dick to my entrance, and with a wave, he pushes himself in. “Bohdi,” I scream his name as I stretch around him.
With another wave, we get drawn back closer to the shore; still connected.
Finally, he carries me out of the water and to the sand, laying me down and fucks me. Hard, but full of love and need.
“Everything about you is my favorite thing. You are my favorite person, August,” he pants down at me.
“This life is only bearable with you in it.” Bending his head down, he kisses me.
This kiss differs from the sex we're having. Where he’s fast and hard, his kiss is soft and gentle. Full of promises and love.
We both come with each other’s names on the other’s lips, breathing hard, heart pounding in sync, and sand stuck to our bodies.
“The ocean always brings lost things home,” I whisper to him before he captures my mouth, making me his…for forever.