Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Chloe’s mind raced as she and Davin dished up plates from long tables bursting with food and talked to various friends from church and town. Normally she’d bring something to the potluck dinner that was held every month but she’d forgotten about it completely.
Rain clouds still threatened to the east and the west, but the sun was out momentarily. Everything felt new, green, and sparkling—including her relationship with Davin.
She glanced at him, and he smiled at her. Her hopes were sky-high.
They were going to talk. He’d claimed they were ‘a thing’ to Adam.
They ate outside with the slight chill of a magical May day surrounding them, the sun glittering in the ocean to the east. The storm had broken. Her island, or rather heaven above, was watching out for them.
Chloe tried a variety of casseroles and salads. Most were good, but some she pushed to the side. Davin’s fingers brushed her hand or arm a few times and tingles exploded within her. He was incredible and seemed to be interested in her.
Robinette glowered at them from a table nearby.
Chloe vindictively wanted to celebrate, but she tried to find grace.
Why did Robinette only seem to want men who were dating someone else?
Pity filled her. Robinette’s home life was awful; her mom was controlling, her dad a beaten-down shell, and her brother Dallas a terrifying jerk.
After they ate, they helped with the cleanup. Davin took several trash bags to the dumpster on the far side of the parking lot, and Chloe watched him as she combined half-empty bags of homemade rolls.
“Nice, girlie. The hot author and you? Nice work.” Her friend Theresa sauntered toward her with her chubby nine-month-old Travis on her hip.
“Hello, handsome.” Chloe stole the baby and ignored his mom. “Aren’t you the cutest and fattest baby in the world?”
“Hey, we prefer Travis the Tank.” Theresa grinned. “My milk is cream. What can I say?”
“Disgusting,” Chloe shot back. She blew raspberries on the baby’s neck. He giggled, clapping his hands on her cheeks and babbling something. “He’s too adorable. I can’t handle all this cuteness.”
“I know, right?” Theresa grinned. “He gets it from his father.”
They both cracked up. Theresa’s husband Wyatt was the older brother to Chloe and Jaxon’s friend Smith Johnson. Wyatt was a tough rancher, hard bodied and sharp featured. There was nothing cute or chubby about him, but he was one of the best guys around.
“Author Davin? He is cu-ute.” Theresa whistled, tilting her head toward the parking lot, but her eyes remained on Chloe, gauging her reaction.
Chloe rested the baby on her hip and glanced to where Davin was returning from the dumpster.
Robinette stepped out from behind a van and grabbed him, pressing herself against him and sliding her hands around his neck.
“Ah!” Chloe cried out.
“What?” Theresa spun and harrumphed. “That woman is out of control.”
Davin extracted himself from Robinette’s arms. Instead of running to Chloe, he let Robinette tug him behind the van.
Chloe’s stomach turned over.
“What is he doing with her?” Theresa demanded.
“I don’t know. He doesn’t … he says he doesn’t like her.”
“We’ve heard that one before. What is it with her stealing all of your men?”
“And Cassie’s, among others,” she reminded her friend, tilting her head toward Adam who was stacking chairs.
“True.” She rolled her eyes. “Give me my fat baby. I’m going home to nurse him and then make-out with my handsome husband while this angel naps.” She took the baby and kissed his cheek. He grinned and babbled.
“You do that,” Chloe said. “Only you could make a tough guy like Wyatt soft.”
“That’s right. He’s mush for me and Trav. Right, sweet pea?” She rubbed her nose against Travis’s neck, and he giggled.
“Did Wyatt have to work today?” Chloe had noticed Smith and his parents at church, though none of them had stayed for the potluck.
“The storm took down some fence, and he was still repairing it when we left. I told him to ask Smith or his dad for help, but … rancher male pride is apparently worse than normal male pride.” She rolled her eyes.
“That’s no good.” Chloe was trying to concentrate on her friend and simultaneously peer through the windows of the van.
“Wyatt wears it well.”
Chloe laughed.
Robinette appeared on the other side of the van and took off at a clipped walk toward her car. Alone. Chloe let out a relieved breath, but she was chafing to know what was said and praying she could trust Davin and he wasn’t playing her.
“Do you think he’s into Robinette?” she whispered to Theresa.
“I hope not. He seems too with it and handsome. Not that looks make a man faithful, except for my hottie.” Theresa shrugged. “Let’s catch up soon. Love ya.”
Chloe got a hug from Theresa and one more kiss of Travis’s squishy cheeks before they hurried off.
Davin returned with a tight smile, but people were all around so she couldn’t ask what had happened between him and Robinette.
The drive to her parents’ house was too quick to ask.
Adam followed them and thankfully parked down the street and didn’t insist on coming in to check the house.
Her parents were still worried about who might have hurt her; they did not need to know about a drug dealer with a vendetta against Davin who seemed to be closing in, and attacking people, according to each report.
They hung out inside as the storm returned and rain fell. They played board games and made cookies. Davin kept pinching the dough and Chloe kept grabbing his arm and trying to keep him away, savoring the teasing and the feel of his firm arm under her fingertips.
They helped her mom make dinner together. Cassie even video called during the meal and met Davin. They all teased and laughed. Davin was close by, fun and helpful with her parents, and he seemed to take every opportunity to brush her arm or take her hand.
If it wasn’t for Robinette, Garcia, and the uneasiness inside Chloe, it would be a perfect Sunday.
After dinner, the storm cleared. As they drove to Davin’s house, a rainbow appeared to the east. It was a sign from heaven. He wouldn’t flood the earth, or Chloe’s life with misery, again.
The view was gorgeous with the low-lying dark clouds to the east and the west, the ocean still rolling with white-capped swells, the sun coming out, water clinging to the greenery, and everything sparkling. Her island was magical.
They talked about her family as they drove.
She was chafing to ask him about Robinette, but she told herself to wait until they got home.
Parking out front, they stayed in the car while Adam checked the house and then reappeared on the front porch.
Davin came around and got her door, and they walked up to meet Adam.
“I’ll be out here making sure you’re safe if you need anything.” Adam grinned at them.
“Can we go on a walk on the beach?” Chloe asked. “‘See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me.’”
Davin smiled, but she didn’t know if he’d watched Moana. He said no cartoons for him. She’d love to rectify that.
Adam chuckled. “Let me clear it with the sheriff. I wouldn’t mind moving too, after sitting through church and outside your parents’ house.” He tilted his head to Chloe. “If only your sis would’ve shown up for dinner. I would’ve stormed the house.”
Chloe laughed. “Good luck with that one.”
Adam lifted his eyebrows but looked discouraged, which wasn’t like him.
“We’ll be right back,” Davin said.
He put his hand on her back and escorted her into the house.
The space between them seem to glitter as fresh and beautiful as her island and the ocean after the storm.
Had the storm passed? She prayed he’d told Robinette to leave him alone, in no uncertain terms, but she didn’t know if that was the case.
Garcia was still a threat, and she had no idea who’d hurt her.
The giant hole in her memory sat in her mind like something her body couldn’t digest.
Looking out her window, she realized they probably only had an hour or less before the storm moved in again. She shivered and hurried into her room to change into sweats and walking shoes.
Davin was waiting outside her room. He offered her a smile and his hand.
She placed her hand in his, feeling the rightness of their connection clear through as they walked down the stairs and out of the house together. They crossed the wet grass and descended the wooden staircase to the beach.
Chloe usually walked down the sidewalk on Main Street to the beach by the pier. This view of the beach and ocean felt new and thrilling. Even more so with her hand in Davin’s, the lingering charge of electricity in the air from the storm, and the anticipation of growing closer to Davin.
The sand was packed tighter today with all the rain. They walked slowly. Adam gave them some space to talk but stayed close enough to see them.
“Thank you for a great day,” Davin said, squeezing her hand.
“Thanks for spending it with me.” Chloe loved that they were holding hands. It was thrilling and comfortable. “Since you had no choice but to stay with me.”
“‘There’s nowhere I’d rather be but right here, with you.’”
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
Lightning flashed to the east, near the California coastline, and thunder rumbled across the ocean. A wind gust swirled the sand, and Chloe edged closer to Davin.
“Do you want to head back?” he asked.
“No. I want you to tell me that there’s nowhere else you’d rather be again.” She grinned and gestured with her hand. The island was magical, and with them together, it was the happiest place on earth. Disney had nothing on this moment.
“It’s true.” His smile faded. “I also wanted you to know that I told Robinette I can’t work with her as a realtor any longer and she is enjoined from coming to my home or touching me again.”
“Thank you,” she breathed out. “I think. What does enjoined mean?”
He smiled. “Enjoined is an awesome contranym. It means to prohibit someone from performing an action.”
“Oh good, but please say you didn’t use that word with her. She might think it meant joined together.”
“I didn’t.” Lighting lit up the darkening sky. He squinted at the California coastline and then turned back to her. “Thank you, Chloe. You opened my eyes to realize she wants more than a realtor and client relationship.”
“You think?” She rolled her eyes.
He chuckled. “I’m not adroit at relationships with women, especially romantic relationships.”
Stopping in the sand, she turned to face him. “Is that the truth, Davin? You don’t have a girlfriend at every place you research?”
He pushed out a half laugh and rubbed at his neck with his free hand. “Chloe, I don’t have a girlfriend … anywhere.” He stared deep into her eyes, his own eyes more blue than gray. “Unless you’d be interested in taking on that moniker?”
Her heart raced and her stomach leaped at the same time. She eased closer. “So you don’t do research for romance with anyone else?”
“No.” He chuckled but turned at the sound of footsteps.
Adam stopped a few feet back. “You two all right?”
“Yes. We … need a moment alone,” Davin said.
Adam peered out at the ocean and the gathering clouds. Lightning struck again at the opposite coastline. Thunder sounded closer than ever. “Maybe one moment. We don’t want to get caught in the storm.”
“Back off, Adam. We want to get caught in the storm.” She winked to show she was teasing, kind of.
“Well, all right then.” Adam laughed. “I’ll give you two some space. Please don’t get me too drenched.”
“We won’t,” Davin promised.
Adam saluted them and backtracked. He went a hundred yards down the beach and turned his back, giving them some semblance of privacy.
Davin released her hand and framed her face with his hands.
“Chloe, the research wasn’t for my book.
I am horrific with women and relationships.
I haven’t dated anyone since college ten years ago.
” He looked away as if embarrassed, but then he focused back on her, his eyes growing determined.
“The research was only an excuse to grow closer to you.”
Chloe blinked up at him and then smiled. “It was brilliant and terribly romantic. I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but I’m grateful you aren’t proficient at romance.”
“First of all,” he said, grinning.
She laughed.
“I’m not sorry,” he continued, “as long as this works out.” He tilted his head to her, trailing his thumbs along her cheeks and brushing dangerously close to her lips.
“Valid point.” The wind whipped at her hair. The air felt alive and electric. Was that the storm coming or what was between them?
“Second of all,” he said in a deep voice that thrilled her. “I don’t regret that I haven’t tried romance with anyone since college, because I only want to have a romance with you.”
“That was cheesy, Davin Ambrose.”
“I know.” He laughed and shook his head.
“I loved it.”
“Third of all,” he said, smiling tenderly and dipping his head toward hers, “I don’t just want a kiss or romance with you, Chloe. I want a relationship—a lasting one.”
“‘You’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you?’” she asked, quoting The Graduate.
He chuckled. “I want to kiss you but not seduce you.”
She quivered and chose a line from Anyone But You next. “‘So you gonna kiss me now?’”
“Deeply,” he said in a husky voice that shot thrills through her.
Chloe arched up as he bent down, and their lips met.
The wind swirled around them. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed and it all added to the electricity of their kiss.
Her island would protect them, and it added to the thrill of this moment.
Chloe had never been so swept away, so invested, so warm, so tingly, so in love.
That thought had her pulling back slightly. Love? She felt they knew each other well, and she loved everything about him, but they couldn’t be in love yet. They were certainly racing that direction though.
A rain drop plunked on her nose.
“We’d better get back to the house,” he said.
“Only if we can continue this by your fireplace.”
“‘You should be kissed, and often, by someone who knows how.’”
“You know how?” she asked.
His eyes widened.
“Teasing. That kiss was perfect, Davin.”
“Thank you.” He took her hand.
Loud voices carried to them from the north, even louder than the storm. Six young men lurched their direction, shouting and laughing.
Fear traced through Chloe. The storm lit up the evening sky, and this time it wasn’t comforting.
Something was wrong, and these men weren’t in their right minds. She could feel it as strongly as the electricity in the air.