Page 30 of To the Chase

Moonlight glinted off her smile. “I have, but usually, it’s a daytime spot. I figured I’d be safe out here with you, though.”

“You are. Absolutely.”

Nothing would hurt this woman while I was present. The thought of not being around in two days made my chest tighten. If she came out here alone while I was back in California…I wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing to protect her.

It more than worried me. My brain started swirling with the possibilities of what could happen to her. Snakes, mountain lions, men, natural disasters—

Her hand closed over mine, her index finger pressing against the side of my thumb. “You’re going to make yourself bleed. Stop that.”

I looked down at the picked cuticle she was rubbing and inwardly winced. Bad habit. One that had left me with bloodied fingers more times than I could count.

“Thank you. I didn’t realize I was doing it.”

She gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “I get it. I used to bite the inside of my cheek when I got stressed.”

“I wish you didn’t understand.” I turned my palm up and laced our fingers together. “I’m glad you were able to stop. I do it when I’m deep in thought and don’t notice until I’m dripping blood onto my keyboard.”

She hissed air through her teeth. “No, I can’t allow that.”

I laughed. “I guess you’ll have to come to work with me and swat my hand every time you catch me.”

She snorted softly. “As fun as that sounds, I think I’ll pass.” She stroked her finger along my rough thumb and sighed. “I’m going to send you something, okay? You don’t have to use it, but it helped me.”

“Don’t buy me anything.” I’d done my research. I knew she wasn’t in a position to spend money on me.

“I don’t see how you can stop me.” She held up her other hand, wiggling her pointer finger. There was a narrow brass ring around it. Using her thumb, she spun the center section of the ring. “It’s a fidget. I spin this when I get stressed instead of biting my cheek.”

“I’ll buy one for myself if you tell me the name of it.”

She dropped her hand with a huff. “This is a nonnegotiable, Tore. I get you have more money than I’ll ever see, but I’m not trying to buy you a yacht. I can afford a twenty-dollar ring, and I want to give it to you.”

I opened my mouth to argue, to name all the reasons I should be buying her gifts and she should be saving her money, but I stopped myself. Being rigid with Bea would only push her away, and that was not something I was willing to risk.

“Okay. Thank you. It means a lot that you want to do that for me.”

“It’s only because I don’t want you hiring another girl to sit on your desk and swat you.”

“You have nothing to worry about. It’s you on my desk or bust.”

Eventually, we lay flat on our backs on the rock, our hands clasped between us. It troubled me that Bea’s pretty dress might be getting dirty, but she didn’t mind, so I forced myself not to think about it.

“What do you like?” she asked. “Besides practicing your computer genius.”

“Like hobbies?”

“Anything. What piques your interest? For example, I’ve always been into vintage beauty products and methods. I taught myself how to do victory rolls from a YouTube tutorial. Did you know women used to draw lines on the backs of their legs and rub tea or gravy on them to mimic stockings during wartime?”

I stared at her in the moonlight, utterly floored. I’d suspected she was unlike anyone I’d met, and now it was confirmed. Most people wore a mask to blend in, hiding the parts of themselves that didn’t conform to society’s mold. Bea, though? She had no mask. She was exactly who she was.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Now you do.” She gave my hand a tug. “Tell me your thing, Tore.”

This was it—the moment I decided to be all the way myself.

“Planes.”

“You like planes?”