Flynn laughed. “You just knew it wasn’t my potato salad.”
“Or coleslaw.”
“Isn’t it beautiful here?” she asked as we walked from the porch to the gravel path that wound through the vineyard.
I stopped walking and pulled her into me. “You’re beautiful,” I said before kissing her. “I wanted to do that at least a hundred times while we sat at that table.”
“I did too.” She kissed me back.
We walked toward the sunset and stopped when we came to a bench.
“Wow,” Flynn gasped, taking in the view.
We sat quietly until we couldn’t see the sun any longer.
“How long are you staying?” I asked.
“Me?”
I laughed. “Yeah, you.”
“I have no idea. I thought maybe you did.”
“I didn’t even know you’d be here. I mean, I’m thrilled that you are.” I pulled her close to me when I saw chill bumps on her arms. “Let’s go back to the house and see if Burns or Sorcha know.”
“Sorcha will know,” said Flynn, laughing. “I don’t think anything happens in the world without her knowing about it.”
“There you are,” said Sorcha when we came inside. “Naughton will be here soon. Laird has brought your things.” She motioned to a small suitcase and then walked closer to me and took both my hands in hers.
“Paxon, I want you to let Stella write your story. The world deserves to know it.”
“I think she’ll write it with my permission or without it, not that it’s my story alone, to begin with.”
“It is and she won’t. Tell her you want her to, and she will.”
I studied her, not sure what to make of the formidable woman whose grasp on my hands was so tight and radiated so much warmth. It was easy to see Doc in both her and in Burns. He was the best of both of them.
“Promise me.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
Sorcha beamed. “Good.” She turned around and took Flynn’s hands like she had mine. “Laird is bringing a basket of food for you to take on your journey.”
“Thank you.” Flynn looked over at me and then at Sorcha. “Um, do you know where we’re going?”
“Only the first place. After that, it’s up to the two of you.”
“Where are we going tonight?”
She patted my cheek. “You’ll see.”
Flynn gasped when she saw the helicopter approach and land. “Are we going in that?”
“You’ll love it, I promise.”
45
Flynn
Instead of sitting in the one front passenger seat, Paxon sat next to me in the second row.
“There’s still enough light that I can show you some of the coast before we land,” said Naughton, who I’d met earlier when he picked Stella and me up from the airport and drove us to the ranch.
“I guess you know where we’re going,” Paxon joked.
“Let’s just say I know where you’re going first. After that, it’s up to the two of you.”
“Your mom said the same thing.”
“Ready?”
I grabbed both of Paxon’s hands when I felt us leaving the ground, and squeezed my eyes shut.
“Open,” I heard him say through the headset. “You don’t want to miss this.”
The helicopter didn’t go up too high, which meant we had a great view of the vineyards. “Look, there’s our bench,” I said, loosening my death grip on Paxon’s hands. “Oh my gosh,” I gasped when we went over a crest and I saw nothing but water on the horizon. My eyes filled with tears. Of course I’d seen photos, but nothing came close to the real thing. Not that it even looked real from up in the air.
“It’s breathtaking,” I said, looking over at Paxon.
He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “You are.”
“I can swing by the rock so Flynn can see it if you’d like.”
“That would be great,” Paxon responded.
“The rock?”
He smiled. “You’ll see.”
When Naughton veered to the left, my stomach sunk like I was on a roller coaster. Paxon pointed.
“What is that?”
“Morro Rock,” Naughton answered. “As I told your boyfriend, it’s a much better view from up here than it is from the ground.”
Wow. Naughton called Paxon my boyfriend. My first boyfriend. God, I loved the sound of that. “What’s on it?” I asked. I could see movement but couldn’t make out what it was.
“Seals. Thousands and thousands of seals. A little farther up the coast, you’ll see sea lions. They smell even worse than those things do.”
“I guess that’s why it’s better to see them from up here.”
“You got it.”
As we continued our tour, I studied Paxon as much as the scenery. There was something different about him since he left Colorado. If anyone asked, I wasn’t sure I could describe it. He seemed lighter, certainly happier. I wanted to ask him what had happened wherever he went, but I knew I couldn’t. The other thing was, I didn’t want to bring it up for fear I’d remind him of something that would make him sad again.
“Are you flying over the castle?” Paxon asked.
“Nope. Gotta get you to your lodging while there’s still enough light for you to see it.”
The same thing happened to my stomach when I felt the helicopter descending as it did when it took a sharp turn. “It’s so different from an airplane,” I said, grabbing Paxon’s hands like I had when we left Butler Ranch.
When he brought one to his lips and kissed my palm, I felt a surge of heat spread right through me and settle between my legs.
I knew Paxon was right when he’d said we should wait before he left on his mission. It hadn’t been easy, though. Every inch of my body longed to feel his touch.
I’d read enough books to have an idea of what it would be like when we were finally together. What I hoped it would be like, anyway. It wasn’t like I had any girlfriends I could ask how accurate those books were.
I guess I could’ve asked Stella, but she was marrying my brother. That would be way too embarrassing. Or Nina and Lucy, but I hardly knew them.
There was only one person I could think of that I trusted enough to talk to about sex, and he was sitting right beside me. I knew, without any doubt at all, that he’d tell me in a way that didn’t make me feel stupid or inexperienced, just like he’d talked to me about everything else.
He slipped off my headset, took his off too, and handed them both to Naughton while we waited for the blades of the helicopter to stop spinning.
“I would love to know what you were thinking about a minute ago,” Paxon whispered in my ear.
“I can show you.”
“Yeah?”
I took his hand and kissed it, pressing the lines on his palm with my tongue like he had to mine. Paxon’s eyelids half closed, and he leaned forward and kissed me.
“Hey, you two,” said Naughton. “It’s gonna be dark in about three minutes, and you’re going to have to wait until tomorrow to see your view.”