Tryst (15 page)

Talie

It was Gavin’s turn to look like he swallowed a watermelon. The shock on his face was palpable
, and it physically hurt to watch an array of emotions cross through his eyes.

Blake’s declaration hurt him.

I didn’t want to hurt him.

I needed to speak to him alone. To explain. I turned to Blake and gave him the death stare I learned from Salty. “Get out.”

Blake’s eyes widened. “Are you involved with him?”

“No
,” I answered. “But even if I was, it wouldn’t be your business.”

“I’m your husband!” he shouted.

“Not anymore.” I reminded him. I pushed by and rushed down the stairs, opening up the front door. It was still pouring rain outside and the water was splashing inside and getting the tiles by the door wet, but I didn’t care.

“Get. Out.”

Blake actually came down the stairs, giving me a look like I was a complete stranger. “I’ll fight you on this.”

I drew myself up to my entire height and looked him in the eye. “Go ahead. I won’t give in. Do your worst. When I come back
, I will tell everyone in town exactly who you are. By the time we’re done, no one will hire you, much less your father.”

He paled.

“When you get the divorce papers, sign them.”

He stepped out into the rain and turned back. For one fleeting moment
, I saw the Blake I fell in love with. The Blake I thought I married. But then he was gone.

I slammed the door in his face and threw the lock. Before going back upstairs
, I leaned against the door, trying to catch my breath. It was an ugly scene with Blake. And if I were honest with myself, a scene like that was the reason I was hiding out here at the beach. But it was over. And I handled him. It felt good. And judging from the look on Blake’s face, I was going to get my divorce after all.

I heard a sound upstairs and thought about Gavin. Handling him wasn’t going to be so easy. I cared about him deeply, and this conversation was probably going to hurt.

At the top of the stairs, I stopped and glanced around the room. It was empty. I exhaled a shaky breath, realizing Gavin had left. Tears filled my eyes, and I put my head in my hands. I hoped he would at least let me explain.

I guess that told me everything I needed to know about the way he felt for me.

I wandered over to the couch, using the hem of my tank as a tissue, and flopped down. A sound off to the side had me whipping my head around. Gavin was coming out of the kitchen, a pack of snack cakes and a towel in his hand.

He stayed.

“You have snack cakes.”

“They’re your favorite
,” I said simply.

“Tell me he was lying
,” he prompted.

I couldn’t tell him that. “I thought you said you wouldn’t ask me any questions.”

He sat down on the coffee table in front of me, looking at my arm where Blake grabbed me. His eyes turned dark and stormy just like the outside sky. “You’re going to have a bruise.”

“It’s not important.”

He lifted the towel. It was wrapped around a bag of ice. Gently, he held it up to the area that bore the marks of Blake’s fingers.

I reached out to take the ice, to hold it in place. Our hands bumped. We exchanged a charged look. I glanced away.

“I need to know,” he said, low.

“He’s my husband.”

Gavin jerked up from the table and moved away. The distance he put between us hurt far worse than the bruise on my arm ever could.

“You’re married,” he said, like it was dirty.

“It isn’t like that,” I said. “We’re separated. We’re getting a divorce.”

“He sure as hell didn’t seem to want one
,” he snapped.

“Well
, he didn’t seem to care when he was sleeping around.” I said it without heat. I couldn’t find it in me to be angry about it anymore. It was as if that final scene with Blake was all the closure I needed. Now when I thought of him and his secretary in bed, all I felt was sad.

“He cheated on you?” he said, his voice dangerously low.

“Yes. He did. And then he told me he was going to keep cheating on me and I would learn to live with it.”

“So you thought you would cheat on him?” he said. “Even the score?”

“What?” I said, suddenly confused. “No.”

“You didn’t think you should mention to me that you were married?”

“You said no questions!” I burst, getting up from the couch.

There was no way in hell he was going to be angry at me for doing what he wanted.

“You’re married!” he yelled.

He glanced at my left hand, at my ring finger, wondering if he somehow missed a sign.

“I took it off the day we signed the separation papers.”

He looked away.

I took a step toward him. “It’s over between Blake and me.”

“I can’t do this
,” he said suddenly, looking panicked. I reached for him. He pulled away.

“Do what?” I asked.

“This.” He gestured between us. “I felt like shit all day. The things I said to you, the look on your face…” His voice trailed away. “You make me want things, Talie.”

I swallowed
. My chest felt tight and it was hard to breathe. “You make me want things too.”

He shook his head. “I came here to try and
—” His words died abruptly and he looked at me. “I can’t.”

“I know you’re upset about Blake.”

“You’re damn right I am,” he growled. “That scum had his hands on you. You lived with him. You shared his bed. You let him touch you.”

He sounded completely disgusted.

“I never said I didn’t have a life before I came here.”

“
And I never asked.”

“What happened to you, Gavin?” I whispered.

“I shouldn’t have come.” He bolted for the sliders.

“Gavin.”

He stopped in his tracks.

“I want you here
,” I said, the words ripping from somewhere in my soul. The vulnerability I felt in that moment seemed like it could swallow me whole.

“Go home, Talie
,” Gavin whispered. “Go back to your husband.”

Nothing could have prepared me for those words. They hurt worse than I even imagined.

Long after he had gone, I stood there, unmoving, in that spot.

Talie

It rained the entire night. All night long I
lay in bed, listening the comforting sounds of rain pitter-patter against the roof.

Only I wasn’t comforted by the sound.

How strange life could be. How one moment you’re living your life, have everything planned, and then something happens and everything changes. The things you thought were most important, the people you thought loved you most, it all turned out to be not at all what you wanted.

I came here to get away, to figure out where to go from here.

I never imagined I’d find Gavin, that in two weeks time I would fall irrevocably in love with him. It was ridiculous, wasn’t it? To love someone who kept his entire being to himself. But I didn’t care who he was, not really. I didn’t care what turned him into the jaded man who holed up in a beach house and kept everyone at bay.

I loved him.

Him.

Not the man everyone else knew. Not the man who had secrets.

I loved the man who ate way too many snack cakes, who surfed every morning, and no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise, the man who cared about other people’s wellbeing.

The problem with Gavin was that he cared too much. Caring hurt.

I should know.

The timing sucked, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to waste another ounce of my life on something that didn’t make me truly happy.

When dawn finally broke over the horizon, I gave up on sleep and climbed out of bed. I took a moment to slip on a pair of cut-off shorts and a loose gray T-shirt. After brushing my teeth, I looked out on the beach.

It was still storming.

But Gavin was out there.

He was dressed in a dark wetsuit and held his surfboard at his side. The waves were violent and rough, crashing against the shore with a booming ferocity. He couldn’t possibly mean to surf them like that. What the hell was he thinking?

I rushed out onto the deck, yelling his name, but he didn’t hear. The deafening sound of the waves drowned out my voice.

I ran across the deck, my shirt already plastered to my body from the rain
, and down the wooden steps. The sand was cold beneath my feet and damp from all the rain. I called out to him again, but he was closer to shore now, ready to go in the water.

Sand kicked up, hitting me in the back of my calves as I ran down the beach. I couldn’t let him do this
. He could get hurt.

Or worse.

I caught up to him, ankle deep in the ocean. I yelled his name and he spun. Surprise flickered in his gaze, and I pushed at my saturated hair, trying to keep my vision clear.

“What the hell are you doing
?” I yelled.

“Surfing!”

“You can’t surf in this weather!” I grabbed his arm.

Gently he pulled it away. “Go inside, Talie.”

“Not without you!”

“I’m not coming!”

The wind ripped at my clothes and hair, goose bumps rose all over my body from the cold, and waves crashed against my legs, saturating my shorts completely.

“Please, Gavin.”
I took his hand, pulling him around. “Please don’t go out there. You could get hurt.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’ll be fine.”

“I love you!” I blurted out.

Time stopped.

We stood there utterly frozen, shock registering on his face. A whole host of emotions played over his features. Awe, happiness… regret.

“I don’t love you
,” he said as the salty spray splattered our bodies.

My heart shattered. I knew it would.

“Go home,” he said, rainwater slipping over his face, cascading across his features. It reminded me of that time in the shower. The time when everything between us shifted.

But it wasn’t enough. Not even the insane, supercharged chemistry between us could make him feel something for me.

I turned and fled the beach. I raced up the stairs and into the house. Water and sand trailed behind me, but I just didn’t care. I pulled out my suitcase and started throwing all my things inside, dumping it all in one giant heap.

Salty sat in the corner of the room, just watching. Once I was completely packed, I put out extra bowls of food for the cat and an extra bowl of water. I felt sort of bad about leaving
him here all alone. But I couldn’t stay.

I needed to go home
. I needed to make a life for myself. A life that didn’t include Gavin.

Tears blurred my vision as I ran through the rain to my car. The
guys at the shop fixed it and delivered it several days ago, but this was the first time I was starting the engine.

“If you don’t work,” I threatened the car
, “I’m taking you to a scrapyard.”

It started on the first try.

I threw the old beater into reverse and backed out of the driveway. I couldn’t help but look over at Gavin’s place, the last time I’d ever see it. I did a double take when I realized he was watching me from the small portion of the deck that wrapped around the side of his house. He stood there, still wearing that black wetsuit, while rain poured around him. His lips moved. He might have called my name.

I put the car in drive and drove away.

Talie

The wind howled around my Jetta, making it feel unsteady on the road. Rain splashed against the windshield
, making everything look tear-streaked. Or maybe it wasn’t the rain. Maybe everything looked that way because I was crying.

I should have known that a girl like me couldn’t have a tryst and not get
emotionally involved. I wasn’t made that way. I was soft inside. I wish I wasn’t.

“It’s okay, Talie
,” I told myself as I turned onto the main road that would lead me to the bridge. “You’ll be fine.”

And I would be. I might not ever trust my heart to another man again, but that wasn’t the end of the world. I could still have a full and happy life.

And the family I wanted? I could always adopt.

The roads were wet,
and large puddles washed up against my car as I drove down the road. I pulled out my cell and hit a button for Claire.

She answered on the second ring. “Did he show up there?” she asked immediately.

“Oh yeah.”

“And?”

“And I told him if he didn’t give me a divorce, I’d ruin his family name.”

She snorted. “He’s going to do that all by himself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean th
at assistant of his is talking. Running her mouth all over town that the reason you left was because he’s leaving you for her.”

I laughed. “She can have him.”

“You okay?” Claire said, her voice turning serious.

“Not really
,” I answered as the bridge came into view. There were barely any cars on the road because of the storm. Most people had enough sense to stay inside until it passed.

“
I’m sorry,” she said. I knew she meant it.

My eyes filled with tears again and I blinked them away. “I’m on my way back.”

“What? I thought you were staying.”

“I’m not going to hide from my life.”

“You weren’t hiding, Tal. You were taking a breather.”

“My breather only made things worse.”

Claire knew me well, and the second I said that, she knew there was more going on than I revealed. “What’s going on, Talie?”

“I’ll tell you when I get to your place.”

“Should you be driving? You seem off.”

“I’m fine.”

I felt her doubt come through the phone. “I’ll see you later,” I said. I couldn’t get into this now. I needed a little bit of time to process.

“Be careful,” she said before I hung up the phone.

I tossed the phone into the seat beside me as I drove onto the bridge. The view from the center was beautiful. Even in the pounding rain. The car pointed downward, going down toward the mainland as I left the island behind.

Like a movie, scenes of my time spent with Gavin played through my head. The intensity of his eyes when he looked at me just before climax. The way his hair fell over his forehead
. The way he never wore a shirt and shoved entire snack cakes into his mouth. The way it felt to be wrapped up in his arms…

A great boom of thunder cracked just overhead and startled me. I jerked out of my daydream, the wheel following my sudden movement. I veered to the right sharply
. My reflexes kicked in and pulled the steering wheel back to the left.

The back end of the Jetta fishtailed and fought for traction against the too
-slippery road. My crappy tires didn’t find what they needed so my car began to spin.

The car catapulted across the road, and nothing I could do
seemed to right it. I gave up steering and hit the brakes. The car locked up but didn’t stop; it kept sliding. Short white poles, connected with white chain, bordered the road, separating it from the grassy area that led to the sound.

My car hit one head on and flipped over it.

The last thing I remember feeling was the cold tendrils of ocean water rushing against my skin.