CHAPTER 65
Victoria
We’re bundled up in our spa bathrobes, seated at the little dinner table under the canopy.
The stars are just now beginning to pop out in the dark sky.
We’ve just polished off a bottle of champagne and opened a second.
Gone too is much of the braised sirloin tips and all the sides.
It was a seriously delicious meal, and I just learned that Cal arranged to have the chef flown in from Tahoe for this occasion.
I loosen the sash of the robe. Apparently I was starving for sex and food.
“So tell me, Cal.”
“Yes?” He pours another round of bubbly into my champagne flute. Then he reaches down and pulls my bare feet into his lap. His hands are warm against my arches.
“Everything is perfect here. It’s like a fairy tale. You went to such lengths to make all the details incredibly beautiful. But how did you manage all this?”
“Ah well, we’ve been working on it for days. It took five SEALs and an ad-hoc special delivery command to pull it off.”
“An ad-what?”
He shrugs. “That’s a fancy way of saying that we called in a bunch of favors to get all this shit out here to Sulfur Springs. Damn near half the ranch was involved in some way.”
I nod. “Gotcha. But I do wonder about something.”
“Shoot.”
“What were you going to do if I told you to get lost? I mean, if you made all this effort, flew to San Diego to stand in my doorway, what would you have done if I kicked you to the curb?”
I see one of his dark eyebrows arch. The candlelight dances in his eyes. He smiles. “Honestly, I expected it. When you didn’t answer me, I figured you wanted me gone, and I walked out.”
I cringe a little, remembering that moment. It was only hours ago but it feels like another lifetime.
“When I stepped off the elevator behind that dog walker, I pulled my phone from my pocket to tell Declan the whole thing was off. And that’s when I saw you.”
“I came after you.”
“You did.”
“I knew I was making a terrible mistake. I knew I loved you and that I couldn’t let you get away. I refused to let you go.”
He grins at me. “Tango down, baby.”
I roll my eyes, knowing something SEAL-related is about to be shared with me.
“That means your target was neutralized. You found me. You got me.”
“Did I? Really?”
“Oh, fuck yes you did. I’m yours, Victoria.”
I go over to him and sit on his lap, then place my palm along the rugged beauty of his face.
So much masculinity with such deeply expressive eyes.
I’ll never grow tired of this face, this man.
“You need to know that no one has ever made this kind of effort for me. I’ve never had a man go out of his way to make me happy the way you do. ”
He shakes his head. “Men can be incredibly stupid.”
I laugh at that unexpected bit of wisdom. “Not all men.”
“True. Not all. Not me. I’m smart enough to know what’s good for me.”
“And what’s that?” I leave a string of tender kisses across his forehead, upon each eyelid, and down his jaw.
“You are good for me, Victoria. You’re good to me. You’re a good woman.”
I kiss his lips. “You’re a good man. The best I’ve ever known.”
Cal stands with me in his arms. I tell him that he’s carrying me so much that I might forget how to walk. He asks me to grab a heavy folded blanket, and we walk down the path to the hot springs.
Cal sets me down on the deck and lights the fire. We drop our robes and climb back into the water. We end up in the same spot, what his family calls the throne. Cal sits and pulls me down on his lap, my back to his chest. We ease down until the water is just under our chins. It bubbles around us.
The night sky is purple-black and cloudless. The only time I’ve ever seen stars like this is here on the ranch. It’s an endless expanse of black velvet blanketed with pinpricks of light, swirling and blinking. We see a shooting star streak across the sky.
“Did you make a wish?” he asks me.
“There’s no point. My wish has already come true.”
We soak for a while and then sit by the fire. Cal tells me more about the hardships of his family when they founded the ranch after the Civil War. He talks more about his mother. The instruction she gave him just before she died.
My heart aches for that young boy. I finally understand the burden that was placed on Cal, what Jamie called a terrible sense of duty.
I share more about my own childhood, the hurts, large and small. How adrift I was when my mother died. I don’t share every cruel thing my father said to me when we returned to San Diego. It’s too recent and too raw. If he asks me directly, I’ll tell him, but I don’t want to spoil this night.
I also don’t want Cal to hate him more than he already does. It’s my dream that one day my father and I might heal, meet each other halfway. I know it’s unlikely, but I want to keep that door open.
After all, I believe in miracles now. I know that anything can happen.
As we walk back to the tent, Cal asks me what I’d like to do tomorrow. He says we can go fishing in the river. We can take a horseback ride. We can hike. Or we can do more soaking.
“Let’s see what the morning brings,” I suggest.
The bed is sumptuous and soft, and it isn’t long before we’re naked, skin on skin, flesh to flesh, Cal’s warm lips kissing me everywhere.
The hurried demands of earlier that day are gone.
We’re both certain the other will be here when we wake.
There’s no rush. There’s no reason to grab onto each other in desperation.
We simply enjoy each other. We make slow and languid love.
I lose count of how many times I tell him I love him and he tells me the same.
I lose track of how many times we come together during the night, bringing each other over the edge of pleasure.
The silence surrounds us; the only sounds are an owl and his coyote backup singers way off in the distance.
I fall asleep, tucked into Cal’s chest. It’s the most peaceful sleep I think I’ve ever had. I wake with the sun, so relieved to find it wasn’t a dream.