CHAPTER 24
It was still early afternoon on the West Coast when Ares plane landed in San Diego.
They all stood out on the tarmac saying their thank-you and good-byes. Ares had hired a car to take Tyler, Kathy, and their mother
back to Modesto. The twins intended to stay for the evening and return to San Diego later that night.
“It was so good getting to know you better.” Kelsey gave Tessa a heartfelt hug. Then the twins.
Ares hug for his siblings was easy. He clapped Tyler on the back and actually placed a little kiss on the top of Kathy head. It was so
darn adorable, Kelsey’s heart felt a huge tug. But Tessa? Kelsey had witnessed their conversation in the dining room, and though she
hadn’t been able to hear it, she’d known instinctively that it was a start. And now Ares hugged Tessa, though their arms were wide,
as if to keep contact to the bare minimum. But Kelsey wasn’t about to get picky on the kind of hug, because at least there was one.
Shoulder to shoulder, they waved as the car carrying his siblings and mother pulled away.
So what now?
Her heart was screaming to know.
They’d made beautiful love over and over at the hotel. But she’d promised herself she wouldn’t be a pushy female who kept asking,
When will you call? And most of all, When will you finally realize you love me too? She hadn’t clung to him, hadn’t tried to lay
claim to him in front of his family, hadn’t pressured. In fact, she’d tried almost too hard, to the point of practically ignoring him from
the moment they’d arrived at Sally and George’s until now. But she also hadn’t missed a single one of the looks he sent her, looks
that told her he wanted to touch her, kiss her too.
But was that enough?
She’d laid her heart on the line last night. She hadn’t expected him to say he loved her back. In fact, she would have been shocked if
he had. But there was a part of her deep inside that had hoped. And that was terrified of having her heart trampled if Ares never came
around. If he couldn’t let go of his fears or his past enough to actually figure out that they were meant to be together for more than a
night. For more than lovemaking. She wanted a lifetime.
“Well,” he said in the deep voice that always made her feel hot all over. “That went just fine.” He smiled when she shot him a look.
“I know. You hate that word.” And finally, he laced his fingers through hers. “I was wondering if you’ve got the next few hours free.”
Her heart soared off into the sky. “I do.”
“Then let’s take another flight.” He turned, leading her back onto the plane.
“Another flight? Where are we going?”
He helped her into the seat she’d occupied on the way back from Chicago. “It’s a surprise.” He put a finger to her lips as she opened
her mouth to ask more questions. Taking the seat beside her, he said, “I want to do something special for you after all you’ve done to
help me.”
“You don’t need to do anything for me.”
“I do.” He poured more champagne. “Last night was beautiful. But I need to do something just for you. I want to do something for
you. Take you to a very special place.”
She wanted to cry. She wanted to throw herself at him. She wanted to forget every single one of the worries that had been running
through her mind all morning. He wasn’t saying he loved her. But he was giving her something wonderful—a few more precious
hours with him.
They landed in Mishka, only half an hour’s flight time from San Diego. She smiled, laughter lacing her words. “What are we doing
here?”
“Hush,” he said, his finger on her lips again, as if he needed an excuse to touch her. “Let me surprise you. Let me give you
something for all you’ve done.”
Then he ushered her into a waiting limousine, sitting close, her hand clasped in his.
Her heart was fluttery with emotion, with need. She wanted to cup his cheek, turn his face to hers, and kiss him until he couldn’t
deny that what he felt for her was as momentous as her own feelings. And yet she wanted simply this, her hand in his, a surprise
awaiting her.
After leaving the airport, they headed south on Highway 1. The weather was gorgeous, the sun bright, the sky clear, and the
temperature in the low sixties. January could be a rainy month, broken up by gloriously sunny, relatively warm days. Vastly different
than Chicago, though that certainly had its own appeal too. South of Carmel, their driver took a private road out to the coastline.
“What are you planning?” Her smile bubbled through.
“Something you’ve always said you wanted to do.”
The limo stopped at the end of the road, and Ares took her hand as she climbed out. The driver came around the hood and handed
him a small package. “Per your instructions, sir.”
Ares smiled his thanks, then said, “Down here,” pulling her through a couple of fence posts and out onto a dirt path they followed to
the cliff edge.
“What is this place?”
Hand in hand, they descended a few steps cut into the rock until they reached a bench on a small plateau to the left of the path. “A
friend of mine owns the land.” He waved south. “There’s a cottage over there.” Then he pointed down to the ocean below. “And
these stairs lead down to a private beach.”
It had been windy up on the cliff, but the bench they sat on was sheltered in the cleft of the rocks, and the heat of the sun warmed her
through her jacket. Ares warmed her hands. And her heart.
“It’s beautiful. And peaceful.” The sun sparkled on the ocean, and the sound of the waves drifted up to them. Seagulls squawked
overhead, diving down to the beachhead below.
“I knew you’d like it.”
“It’s perfect, Ares. Thank you.”
He unwrapped the package the driver had handed him. She was stunned to see a pair of binoculars.
“You always said you wanted to go whale watching. But you never have. And this is the perfect time of year. The gray whales are
heading down to Mexico to calve.”
“Oh my God, Ares.” Without the aid of the binoculars, she stared out to sea. Then she saw it, a spout of water high into the air. Then another and another, like the bursts of a string of steam engines cruising by. “Look! They’re out there.” She could make out their dark shapes in the ocean, beyond the waves.
“Try the glasses.”
She could barely suppress her eagerness as she grabbed the binoculars from his hand. The ocean was the deepest blue-green, the
whales like a cavalcade through the waves. “Oh Ares, this is so amazing. They’re gorgeous. And so mighty. So powerful and
perfect.” They seemed close enough to touch through the lenses.
“We’ll come again toward the end of February, when they’re heading north again with their calves. They swim much closer to shore
then to protect their young from the sharks, and they’re slower too, because of the babies.”
“Yes, oh yes. We have to.” She hugged the binoculars to her chest, watching the procession with the naked eye, overcome by the
beauty of nature right before her. “This is so much better than being on a boat with a bunch of strangers. We’ve got our own private
overlook.”
Then she looked at him and felt the immensity of what he’d done for her, the tenderness in his gaze, the joy of having his body so
close to hers, sharing this moment with her. “Thank you so much. You didn’t need to do this for me, but I’m so glad you did.”
“I needed to do something for you, just you. Remember that special we watched on PBS? You said you’d never made it down here to
watch the migration, but that it was just as good to watch it on TV.”
“I was wrong. It is so much more magnificent out here.” When had they watched that show? It had to have been years ago. Maybe
three or four. Yet again he’d been listening to her, storing up her likes and preferences. “You couldn’t have given me anything
better.” In a way, it was like telling her he loved her. Just without the words. And it renewed all her hope that he could eventually say
them.
“Here.” She shoved the glasses at him. “You have to look too.”
They sat there for an hour, maybe more, exclaiming every time there was a huge spout, pointing out new sights to each other. “Oh
look,” she cried out. “There’s a school of dolphins too.” She had never felt so special. Or so appreciated.
“Are you hungry?”
“Not if I have to miss a moment of this.” A moment of sitting here beside him, sharing this special event he’d planned just for her.
He laughed. “You can have both.” Fishing his cell phone out, he made a call.
Minutes later, their driver, carrying a big basket, passed their little nook in the rocks. He disappeared down toward the beach below
them.
“What have you arranged now?” Her heart raced just contemplating his next revelation.
“Another surprise.”
She adored his surprises.
He’d gone to so much trouble. And when had he organized it all? Yes, she’d seen him on the phone during the flight, but she’d
thought that was work. She didn’t ask, though. It was somehow more special to simply accept that he’d been thinking of her all day.
On the way back up, the limo driver saluted them.
“It’s all ready.” Taking her hand, Ares helped her down the rock steps cut into the cliff face.
Down on the beach, it was cooler and slightly windier. She was glad she’d worn jeans and her jacket. A blanket was spread out on
the sand, its corners anchored. A bottle of champagne chilled in a bucket, and the basket sat in the middle along with two extra
blankets. The waves crashed on the shore, the sun heated the sand, birds flew overhead, and the whales frolicked with dolphins out in
the ocean. It was perfection.
“You’re amazing.”
“I thought the whales were the most amazing thing.”
She grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him quickly. Then she flopped down beside the basket. “What have we got here?”
He sat beside her, spreading one of the blankets over her legs. “To keep you warm.” He uncorked the champagne, poured some into
two crystal glasses, and handed her one. Then he clinked with her. “To making sure you don’t get thirsty.” Finally, he opened the
basket. “Brie and crackers. And spring rolls. And this tub looks like spinach dip.” He moved things around in the basket. “And cold,
roasted chicken. Along with fruit.”
All her favorite picnic things. He’d thought of everything.
“Look at this.” He flourished a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries. “Where do you want to start?”
With him feeding her the strawberries. Her licking the chocolate off his fingers. Then he could lick it off her lips.
But as much as she wanted his touch and his kiss, this was too perfect to rush into anything physical. Just as it wasn’t the time to talk
about his mother or his siblings or Keira or his past.
She didn’t want anything bad or difficult to intrude in this special place. Only good things. Only the romance of being here with him.
Only love.
“First a spring roll. Then some brie.”
He served her on china packed in the lid of the basket, with cloth napkins to wipe their fingers. She dipped a chocolate-covered
strawberry in her champagne, relishing the fizz. They ate all the food out of order, talking, laughing, jumping up when they saw a
whale spout above the waves. Everything was delicious.
Just being with Ares was delicious.
“So I want to know more about the crazy things you and the Baddricks did when you were teenagers. I loved hearing Sally and
George’s stories this weekend.”
Ares dipped a bit of French bread in the scrumptious spinach dip and handed her the piece, their fingers brushing with a zing of
sensual awareness. “I wouldn’t call us crazy. We were…boisterous.” He cleaned a bit of dip from the side of her mouth and licked it
off his finger. Just as if he were licking her.
She laughed to cover the surge of heat through her body. “Come on. Spill.”
“Well, there was the time we were hot-rodding in Darius souped-up Chevy. The cop barely caught us.”
“Oh no.” She put a hand over her mouth. “Don’t tell me you got arrested.”
“Not with Argus in the backseat. The glib SOB told the officer we’d just spent a year fixing up this baby, and we’d gotten carried
away with our triumph. If anyone else said a word, the cop would probably have hauled us off to the pokey, but Argus had noticed
the look in his eye. And the policeman simply ran his hand over the paint, said, ‘Good job, boys. I had one of these beauties when I
was sixteen. But slow it down, ya hear?’ And he let us go.”
Kelsey shook her head, laughing. It was so like Argus to figure out exactly the right thing to say to get them off the hook. “More,”
she said, wanting everything from him. All the good things. He gave her a sliver of melt-in-your-mouth chicken. “The food is
delicious, but I meant more stories.”
“Have you ever tried peppermint schnapps?” His lips curving in a smile, he caressed her cheek, pushing a stray lock of hair behind
her ear.
She almost purred into his touch. “Can’t say I have.”
“Well, you won’t ever get the chance if you’re around a Baddrick.”
She pushed his shoulder. “What did you all do?”
“Perseus got hold of a bottle, and we all got drunk. The next morning all I could smell was peppermint. And even now, put some peppermint schnapps in front of me, in front of any of us, and we all get a little queasy.”
“I bet Sally thought overindulgence was the best cure.”
“Of course.” He stood, held out his hand. “Come on, let’s got for a walk. We can finish the strawberries when we get back.”
She let him pull her to her feet, holding his hand as they strolled, the sun warming half of her, his body warming the rest.
“And we can’t forget Hector. He had the hots for this girl who lived a couple of blocks over. So we boosted him up her fire escape to
get to her window.”
“Like in West Side Story?”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “Sally made us watch that musical too. But Hector never got inside her window. Someone saw him out there
and called the cops, thinking he was a peeping Tom. We had to head off the patrol car and keep them busy so he could climb down
before they saw him.”
She hugged his arm, wishing she’d known him then. Parts of his life had been so terrible. But he had so many good memories too.
Sally and George had given him that. Thank God they had rescued him.
She wanted to remind him of something good they had shared too. “Do you remember how we used to sneak into the library after it
was closed?”
He laughed. “Most college students would be sneaking a joint. But we had to sneak into the library.”
“Yes, but all those books.” She made a happy sound of remembered delight. But it had been about more than just the books. It had
been about being with him. “We had to read by flashlight.”
“And the security guard almost caught us.”
“Right. We had to keep scurrying down different aisles to avoid him.”
She’d fallen irrevocably in love with him on all those stolen nights.
He stuck his hand in his pocket, his other still firmly clasped around hers, and went silent. Against her side, she felt him tense. But
just when she was expecting him to tell her a bad story about his mom or his dad, he pulled something out, holding it in the palm of
his hand.
A small plastic dinosaur. A T-Rex.
“Sally gave this back to me this morning.”
Kelsey gazed up at him, waiting.
“My mom took me to The Field Museum in Chicago. I was probably six or seven. And she got me this little dinosaur.”
Her heart trembled for him. But she steeled herself for the worst.
“It was one of the best days I ever remember.”
* * *
.
Kelsey curled his fingers around the small memento. “I’m so glad you have this as a reminder.” Then she tucked the dinosaur back in his pocket. “Tell me all about that day.”
“I’d forgotten about it till Sally gave me this.” Sally had known the perfect moment to return the plastic T-Rex. And Ares suddenly needed to share his memory with Kelsey. Their afternoon together at the seaside had been so perfect. She’d loved his surprise trip. Of
all the people in the world, Kelsey would appreciate this memory the most.
“We spent hours in the museum. We saw everything. It was near to closing time, and I wanted to see one last room before we had to
go.” He remembered his excitement like a rush of adrenaline through his veins. Just one more, Mom, just one more. “I ran down the
stairs so fast she couldn’t keep up. Then all of sudden she was sliding down the banister right past me. A guard stood at the bottom,
and I was sure he was going to yell at her.” He’d actually been petrified for a moment, frozen to the spot. “But he high-fived her.
Then he let her steady me while I slid down the banister too.” The guard had winked, put a finger to his lips, and whispered, Don’t
tell.
Leaning against him as they walked, Kelsey squeezed his arm. “I love this story.”
“I do too.” He laid his hand over hers. “I remember how she looked. Happy. Even joyful. I’d forgotten all that.” There had been
joyful times with his mother. But after she’d gone, he’d pushed them all deep inside, too busy demonizing her, blaming her for
leaving him. “Sometimes we were so happy.”
He felt that happiness now. It seemed to blossom in his belly. Not everything had been bad. There had been moments of great joy.
“Thank you for reminding me of all the good things.” There was so much he was so damn grateful to this gorgeous woman for.
He’d loved her pure and simple pleasure in watching the whales. Loved the way she closed her eyes and moaned as she savored
every morsel of their meal. It had been so like her moans of pleasure as he’d made love to her.
She laid her head against his shoulder. “There are so many wonderful memories just waiting out there for us.”
Most of all, he loved that she could share this moment, this memory, and make him see that it was priceless. “Tell me one of your
best moments.”
“We had a big creek out back of our house when we were kids. And my dad hung a thick rope with a knot at the end for us to swing
on.”
Us. Kelsey and Keira. As children.
“We used to swing out over the creek as far as we could. Then we’d let go, flying into the water. It was like we were working
together. I’d push Keira and she’d push me, and we’d see how far we could get.”
“Who got the farthest?”
“I usually did. But it was like we both won because we were a team.”
In the halcyon days when there’d been no competition between them. “It sounds like fun.”
“It was,” she agreed. Then she stopped, tipping her head back to look at him. “But it was also the last really good summer for us. We
always forget the good stuff when things go bad, don’t we?”
“Yes.” Just as he’d forgotten—or buried—his mother’s joy. “But I’m so glad we’ve remembered.”
He turned her in his arms and raised her hand to his face, placing her cold fingers on his hot skin. “Your hands are freezing. I better
get you out of here.”
“I’m not cold with your arms around me.”
He hadn’t kissed her since they’d left the hotel this morning. And as much as he’d wanted to make love to her again, he hadn’t
touched her. This day, this trip, the whale watching, the picnic on the beach, even the memories, were all about her happiness. And
his need to give her something as exquisite as all she’d given him.
She couldn’t know, couldn’t possibly fathom what she’d done for him. Even today, drawing out the joy from his past. Replacing the
dark with light.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
Whether he moved or she did, their mouths touched. Her kiss was perfect for its very purity. Their breaths mingled, and her hands
warmed against his chest. He licked the seam of her lips, and she opened for him, tasting of chocolate and champagne and beautiful
woman. She gave him the sweetness of her soul in that kiss. And he gave her the depths of his.
The sea surged beyond them, crashing on the shore, and the wind surrounded them, blowing the silk of her hair across his cheeks.
His blood was high, screaming for him to pull her down to the sand with him, to show her all the fury of his desire. Yet his heart
wanted nothing more than her taste on his lips, her arms around him.
And in that kiss, he gave her everything he was, everything he couldn’t say, everything he wanted her to have.
