Page 30 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)
When Lexi heard a set of easy, unhurried footsteps heading her way, she didn’t move from her perch on the front bumper of
Heath’s car, eyes closed, face tilted up to the light rain now coming down, cooling off her overheated face. The afternoon
sky was muted.
She was not. She’d hoped the misty air would chase away the heat of regret burning her from the inside out.
So.
Much.
Regret.
But it didn’t. Only a few weeks ago, she’d have sworn that her heart had long ago withered and died inside her chest. But
if it was dead, then why did it hurt so bad?
The footsteps stopped at her side.
She didn’t look over at Heath. Nor did she have any idea what she expected, but it wasn’t for him to perch his previously noted very fine ass on the bumper next to her.
From her peripheral, she saw him mimic her posture, slightly slouched, face tilted up to the rain.
It only made the still breathing, hurting thing that beat inside her chest ache more that he’d sit out here with her, not speaking, just letting her be. “I’m not going to talk,” she warned.
“That’s okay, I like the quiet.” He shifted and then something came around her shoulders.
His windbreaker.
“You’ll get all wet,” she said.
He shrugged. “I also like the rain.”
And then, in possibly her favorite thing he’d ever done, he went on to just sit there with her while she felt the warm tears
continue to stream down her face, mixing with the chilly raindrops.
Everything Suzie had told her was playing on repeat in her head. So much of what Lexi had gone through, Daisy had also gone
through. Her mom had been more like her than she could have ever thought, and wasn’t that a terrifyingly vulnerable thing
to realize? “How come she never told me, about any of it?”
He didn’t have to ask her what she meant. He knew. He always seemed to know. “Maybe it was too painful.”
She nodded, then shook her head. Never once had she realistically analyzed why her past hurt so much, why this hurt so much. On the one hand, it was a brutal reminder that she was her mother’s daughter, which... gah. She hated. But
on the other, it personalized her mom in a way that she could absolutely relate to. “Before these damn envelopes, I never
pictured her as... generous. And beloved .” But she should have, she should have remembered the good parts of her mom. “I didn’t realize how hard she tried, in spite
of her own demons.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t know what to do. I feel... stuck.”
“Maybe you do what you’ve always done. Put one foot in front of the other.”
“That simple?” Opening her eyes, she looked at him, taking in the raindrops in his hair, on his jaw, his eyelashes. Eyed the way that, without his windbreaker, his T-shirt now clung to every line and lean muscle of his shoulders, chest, and annoyingly flat stomach.
“That simple,” he said.
How did he do it, somehow cut through all the BS, allowing her to see things more deeply than felt comfortable? And why in
the world was that the best thing anyone had ever done for her, even if it also meant that she suddenly felt even more emotionally
connected to him? Terrifying in its own right. “Thank you.”
Very gently, he reached out and stroked a wet strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “For what?”
She lifted a shoulder. “For not hating me when I tried to push you away from the moment I got here. For supporting me and
Ash through this. For being here today, even when I thought I wanted to be alone.”
His eyes were dark and solemn, serious on hers. “Never. Always. And anytime.”
She nodded, then shook her head, overwhelmed and confused. But she knew that his presence somehow lightened the weight.
“Lex...” He slid a hand into her hair, gently gliding his thumb over her jaw, which was so tight she could feel her muscles
straining and bunching. “You’re holding on to so much. It’s okay to let it out. Let it go.”
No. It wasn’t okay because she didn’t have anyone to catch her. Never had. Yes, Heath was right there, literally holding her
upright from sliding to the ground, but that was temporary.
She was temporary.
It all made her chest ache, ache so much she could hardly stand it. “I should try to be more like Ashley. Eternally chipper. Maybe I should sign up for aerial aerobics...”
He let out that low, sexy laugh of his and shook his head. “Please don’t ever try to be anything other than exactly who you
are, Lexi Clark.”
She stared at him, a hand pressed to her own chest to hold the pain in. “I... at the moment, I’m not really even sure who
Lexi Clark is.”
“Well, until you figure it out, let me tell you who I see when I look at you. A woman who’s fiery and fierce, strong inside
and out, smart, resilient, caring, and amazing...” His gaze dropped to her mouth, then he lowered his voice to a rough
timbre. “And a whole bunch of other things that don’t have a place in this moment.”
She blinked, really, really wanting to know. “Name one.”
That mouth of his curved. “Sexy as all hell.”
She shivered, but not from the rain or the cold.
He nudged more of her wet hair from her face, then shoved those hands through his own hair, pushing it off his forehead. His
shirt had become a second skin, but if he was cold, he didn’t say a word. She knew he’d sit here in the rain as long as she
wanted or needed. They should get in the car, but she was afraid if they moved, the intimacy bubble would pop and vanish.
But even as she thought it, the sky opened up, and big fat raindrops began to pelt their skin now, startling them out of their
cocoon.
Heath grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bumper.
She let her momentum knock her body into his, and as she knew he would, he caught her, nudging her toward the passenger side.
It took him a moment to find the key fob, mostly because it was in the pocket of his jacket, which was on her.
Just as he pulled it out, she accidentally knocked it from his hand.
By the time he got the door open for her, they were both swearing and laughing.
But the laughter died in her throat when Heath slid behind the wheel and turned to her, the heat in his eyes stoking the smoldering
fire inside her.
“You’re shaking.” He cranked the heater, aiming the vents at her.
Only it wasn’t the cold making her tremble. Okay, maybe it was a little bit because of the cold, but it was mostly him.
“You need a hot shower and dry clothes,” he said.
“Actually...” She swiveled in the seat to face him. “Neither of those are at the top of my list.”
Holding her gaze, he stretched his arm across the back of her seat, a finger running along the outer shell of her ear. “No?”
“No.” She tried to give him her best, hottest suggestive gaze, but since she was woefully out of practice, she didn’t know
if she pulled it off. So she tried again.
His smile faded. “You okay? Your eye’s twitching.”
She groaned at her lame attempt at seduction, and he looked even more concerned. “What is it?” he asked.
“Nothing!” When he just raised a brow, she sighed. “I was trying to give you a look. The look.”
He stilled, but not before she saw the quick flare of surprise. “Lex—”
“No!” Shit . “It’s totally just an eye twitch.”
He didn’t say anything, but one of his hands slid into her wet, tangled hair and gently tightened. His other dropped to her
thigh, the warmth seeping through her drenched jeans.
“I mean... it’s a terrible idea.” She nodded, determined to be a grown-up.
“It’s okay to just, like... let the moment pass.
Totally one hundred percent okay. Even two hundred percent okay.
” She bit her tongue to shut herself up.
Two hundred percent okay? She’d completely lost control of her mouth.
His eyes lit with amusement now, which meant she was going to have to kill him, but then he said her name again and waited
until she looked at him. “We’re not going to let the moment pass,” he said.
Her heart skipped a beat. “We’re not?”
“No. But—”
“Oh great.” She butted the back of her head to the seat rest. “A ‘but’...”
“ But ,” he repeated, his voice a low, sexy rasp, as if the mental images of what he wanted to do to her were already playing like
a movie in his head. “We’re in a car, and even with the windows fogging up, we’re too visible.”
“First a tent, and now a car. The universe hates me.”
With a laugh, he slid a hand to the nape of her neck, his fingers tunneling in her hair. “The car is far too limiting for
my best moves.”
Desperate, she looked around at the car’s interior. “Are you sure?”
Still grinning, he put the car in gear.
“Where are we going?”
“To find a hot shower and a warm, dry bed.”
“Are you sure you can make your best moves in a warm, dry bed? Because I’m starting to doubt you—”
“Let’s go find out.”
Challenge apparently accepted.
It took them two tries to find a hotel, since the storm had driven a lot of people off the roads in search of shelter. On
their third try, the front desk clerk smiled and welcomed them. “One room or two?”
“Two,” Heath said, and when she looked at him in surprise, he pulled her a few feet away from the check-in desk. “I’m trying to not be presumptuous,” he said in a low voice.
“You do remember that this was my idea, right?”
His smile stopped her heart. “Trust me, Lex, I’ve been thinking about this since far before you ever stopped glaring at me.
But...” He squeezed her hand. “Whatever happens, whatever doesn’t happen, it’s your choice. Always. And to make sure of that, I want you to have a space to retreat to if you need it.”
She smiled, hoping to tease away the serious and earnest expression on his face. “Why? Do you plan to be bad at it?”
His eyes dilated. “Lex, I plan to be so amazing that you forget you have choices at all.”
She burst out laughing. “Good to know you’re still cocky as hell.” She stepped back to the clerk. “ One room, please. King bed.”