“I lov—”
His hand covered my mouth. “Remember what I said.”
A tingle went through my limbs and settled low in my stomach. I remembered what he’d said. Every word. Nodding, I held his wrist.
Slow, he dropped his hand, but not his gaze. His eyes staying on mine, his attention so consuming and dominant, I felt his intensity all the way to my soul. I didn’t know how I had survived ten years without this man, but I didn’t want to spend another day without him ever again.
As if reading my thoughts, he lifted his chin. Then he put the SUV in gear and backed out of the parking space. With the same confidence and ease that had made my heart flutter all those years ago, he handled the large vehicle as if it was second nature and drove us out of the garage and onto the darkened streets of downtown Miami.
The wind howled around us, and the traffic lights swayed, but Ronan kept the heavy vehicle steady. With the terrible weather keeping people in, it was as if we were alone in the world, and the thought made me smile.
His hand landed on my thigh. “What are you thinking?”
A memory surfaced. “You know, I never did learn to drive.”
His eyebrows drew together. “I taught you.”
I laughed. “You tried to teach me.” He’d been patient and kind and never once made me feel nervous, but all the other cars on the road were a different story. “You let me freak out behind the wheel while a million other cars drove around us honking and giving unkind hand gestures while I drove slower than my grandmother.” I shook my head at the memory.
“You knew how to drive. You just lacked confidence at the time.”
“Oh, I lacked a whole lot besides just confidence,” I admitted with humor. I was a terrible driver. “Besides, I’m still waiting to drive for when I buy a boat. Like I said back then, and I still say now, there’s a lot less traffic on the ocean.”
His expression shut down. “You said you wanted to live on the water.”
I smiled. “I remember. On a big boat with shiny white decks and sleek lines and air conditioning.” I laughed. “I liked to dream big back then.” Watching the empty street blur by, I realized how much I’d missed this. Simple things like car rides and no entourage of security and handlers and my assistants.
“Do you have a home?” he asked, interrupting my thoughts
My smiled faded. “I do not. I don’t even own my grandmother’s house anymore.” I looked out the window at the violently swaying palm fronds and wondered where he lived. “It became impractical. I was living on the road, and I wouldn’t have been able to go back there anyway. Do you still have your mother’s house?” I missed the freedom of not having fans or paparazzi follow me.
“No. Vance sold it.”
“Shame.” It was a nice house. Small, but tidy and cute. “Where do you live now?” I couldn’t picture him in an apartment or condo, but Miami Beach was expensive, and he wasn’t driving inland, he was heading toward the water.
“We’re almost there,” he evaded, turning toward the marina.
I glanced at some of the high-rises skirting the gated entrance to the docks, and my stomach churned with nerves. “You said no elevators.”
“I did.” He pulled up to a gated parking area and lowered the window to enter a code into a keypad.
Wind whipped into the SUV, and I shivered.
The gate lifted as he put the window back up and pulled into the parking area, taking a spot next to an identical SUV.
Turning the engine off, he clipped out a command. “Wait until I come get you.” He was out of the vehicle before I could reply.
The heavily tinted front passenger window of the other car went down, and Ty appeared. While Ronan spoke to him, I glanced at the high-rises behind us. No elevators would mean only a few flights, and while I was relieved, I was also suddenly so tired, I didn’t want to think about climbing stairs.
Before I set in to a proper pout, the back opened, and Ronan grabbed my bag and purse. A moment later he was opening my door and holding his hand out.
I glanced warily around the parking lot and then across the way to the closest high-rise. “I don’t usually walk this far without a security team anymore.”
“It’s not far, and you’re safe. No one followed us in or out of Luna and Associates.”
“Okay.” I took his hand and stepped down.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, he pulled me close.
But then he didn’t lead me toward the condominiums.
He led me toward another gate. In front of a dock. Then he dropped my hand and punched in another code.
Wind whipping my hair around, small insistent waves beating against boat hulls, the air heavy with atmospheric pressure, I looked up at him. “Ronan?”
Pulling the gate open, he held it for me. “Almost there.”
My heart racing as fast as the wind, I stepped through, but then I took a moment.
We weren’t merely on a dock at a marina. We were at the marina. The one we’d snuck into as teens to look at all the boats. But they weren’t boats. They were yachts. Big, giant, fancy, expensive yachts.
Yes, I had money. I had a lot of money. So much, I wasn’t even exactly sure how much. But I was still the girl who grew up in Trinidad with no food. I was the woman who avoided looking at the price tags on the clothes my assistants brought me to wear. I was a famous singer with wealth that made me uncomfortable.
But I was also that teen that envied these beautiful boats.
His hand back grasping mine, pulling me down the dock, Ronan led us to a gleaming white and dark charcoal gray yacht that looked like it’d been built yesterday.
Tossing my bags onto the deck, he turned to me.
“Ronan.” My voice broke and then I was speechless because I saw the name on the back of the boat in big, beautiful, bold script.
Songbird.
Tears spilled over, and I threw my arms around him. Then I was sobbing, from joy, from heartache, from so many missed years and from my own stupid, stupid mistake a decade ago. “You bought a boat. You bought the boat.” This looked almost identical to the one I’d said was my favorite, but this one was newer and prettier and oh my God. “I can’t believe this.”
His arms tight around me, his face against my neck, his lips touched my ear. “Believe it.” He kissed me once. “Hold on.” Standing to his full height, he lifted me off the ground and gracefully, effortlessly stepped onto the yacht.
She spun around in a circle with her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe it.” She traced the edge of the quartz countertop in the galley. “This is beautiful.” She looked back at me. “So beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful.” I grabbed her bag and took her hand and headed down the few steps to the cabin. “Come.”
She gasped when she saw the room. “This is a full-sized bedroom.” She took in everything like she’d never been on a boat. “This is bigger than your room growing up.”
Internally, I snorted. “Much.” Twice as big.
She scanned the cabin again. “I can’t believe you live here.” Her eyes met mine again. “This must have been expensive.”
I stiffened at her implication. “I have money, Sanaa.” I’d saved every damn cent when I was active duty, and the first year working for Luna, I took all the hours I could get and invested my earnings. I didn’t have near what she had, but the boat was paid for.