I take a step forward and the coward takes a step back. “Scared, Florian?” His eyes narrow, but he doesn’t advance on me either. Probably because the guy knows I could kill him with my bare hands without even breaking a sweat.
I’ve got a solid twenty pounds of muscle on his scrawny, junkie ass.
“I have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to you.”
“Possibly. But the fear in your eyes tells a different story. You let the best thing to ever grace your life go, and now she’s moved on to someone better. Deal with it. I know a thing or two about making mistakes. Only I’m smart enough to learn from mine. You’re too late and I’m right on time. And I’m not going anywhere.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I open my mouth to say something when Naomi calls out, “Gus?”
“Over here,” I yell back. “You’ve got an uninvited visitor, so I hope you’re decent.”
Yeah. I can be an asshole like that.
The sound of Naomi’s soft steps reaches us, and I feel her hand on my back, gliding along to my arm until she steps beside me and sees Florian standing there. His eyes instantly zero in on her hand on my arm that she hasn’t removed. He looks pained, and though I’m familiar with that sort of pain, I don’t feel any sympathy for him.
He deserves a legion of pain where Naomi is concerned.
“Hi,” she says on a soft breath. “What are you doing here?”
His gaze bounces over to me and then back to her. “Can we talk? In private?” he adds, glowering at me one last time.
I pivot to look down at Naomi because I don’t give a shit what he wants.
It’s her that I care about.
I meet her eyes, searching them for an answer. She gives me a slight nod, and I lean in and kiss the corner of her lips, dragging my mouth over to her ear. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”
I throw Florian a satisfied smile that lets him know I meant everything I said, and then walk back into the house.
The nice thing about Naomi’s place? It’s all freaking glass on the inside. Every single wall on the first floor is glass with the exception of the exterior ones, obviously.
So, I can see the front entry pretty well, and since Naomi is a short little thing and I’m tall, I have a fantastic view of Florian over Naomi’s head. Unfortunately, I can’t hear them, so I go about setting out two plates. Forks and knives and popping some toast into the toaster. Anything to keep my body busy and my mind occupied.
I don’t like her talking to him, and that’s putting it mildly.
It’s this stuff that I’m not good at. This scared, out of control, feeling.
The true test of loving someone isn’t fighting for them when you think you’ve lost them. It’s fighting for them every day when they’re already, still, forever yours.
That’s what I’m working with. Because it’s like Jasper said. The worst thing that could happen to me isn’t getting hurt. It’s losing her.
The more time I spend with Naomi, the more I’m coming to face that as my reality.
“Hey,” she says tentatively even though I surreptitiously watched her shut the front door, walk over to me, and wrap her arms around my waist all the while gnawing on her lip.
“Hey,” I say back because love can suck and hurt and rock your world. It’s shattering mine a bit. But as I said before, I’m a decisive guy.
And I’ve already decided I’m all-in with her.
I decided that last night somewhere between two am and a nameless rock ballad.
I clasp her hand on my belly and give it a squeeze. “You hungry?”
“Starving. But—”
“I don’t need to know unless you want to tell me.”
I feel her smile against my back.
“He said you’re hung up on your ex. That you’re going to hurt me. That I shouldn’t let his past mistakes dictate the mistakes I’m making now.”
“Is that all he said?”
“That and he wants to work with me on a couple of songs he’s writing and having some trouble with.”
“And what did you say?”
Her smile grows wider. “That I’m fucking you because you’re hot and that isn’t going to stop. At least until I grow tired and bored of you.”
I laugh. “That so?”
“It is. Amongst other reasons, but let’s be honest, reasons like wanting you and obsessing over you and not being able to stop thinking about you really fall second to your hot bod and face.”
“I can absolutely appreciate that. And if that’s what keeps you naked under me…” I trail off, hitching up a shoulder. “I guess I can live with it. What about the songs he needs help with?”
“I told him I don’t want to do that. That my days of writing with him are over.”
I grin like a son of a bitch.
“Naomi,” I pause. “I have eggs and bacon and toast for you. But if you’d rather me eat you out until you come on my face, I’m so much happier eating you than that. I already know you’ll taste better.”
“I’m not sure how to answer that.”
I chuckle, spinning her around in my arms and capturing her face in my hands. “I applaud your honesty. But tell me, are you okay or are you just trying to put on a brave face for me?” She sucks in a ragged breath and blows it out with a shrug of the shoulders.
“I’m working on it, remember? But I need you to know that my stuff with Florian is very separate from my stuff with you. He is my past and I’m still working on that. But you’re my…future, I hope. Does that make sense?”
I smile, leaning down and pressing my lips into hers. “Sit down at the counter and I’ll dish you out some breakfast. Then we can do the second half of that.”
“Gus—”
My breath seizes in my lungs at the way her wary eyes search mine.
“I’m fine. Really.” I lean in and press my lips to hers.
She smiles, satisfied, but I’m left empty.
This isn’t the last encounter we’ll have with Florian Heart. Of that I’m certain.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gus
* * *
The warm wind rushes through my ears, a loud galloping sound that, in combination with the roar of the Pacific, sounds like a tornado. It’s not peaceful. It’s not calming. I have zero fucking Zen.
And in truth, I’m a lot terrified.
These waves are no joke today. Something Naomi mentioned to me in warning as we paddled out on our respective surfboards into the deep, dark, life-taking water. She suggested we go back. Try again another day. And I stupidly, arrogantly, moronically, said no.
The shoreline is a solid hundred yards away—at least. And with each swell that approaches me, a fresh wave—pun intended—of panic laced adrenaline slams through me. Pretty soon, I’ll either have a stroke, a heart attack, or just pass out altogether.
But I’ll be damned if I let Naomi know any of this.
How I found myself here really isn’t much of a mystery.
Naomi loves to surf. She does it almost every day. And when you’re falling in love—or are already chest-deep in love—with someone, you do stupid, nonsensical, dangerous, shit you would never otherwise consider doing if it weren’t for that person.