8. Dan

The sound of her laughter not only held my heart in her hands but captured me completely.

After getting home and texting her I made it home okay, she called me. Called. I didn't know anyone who actually talked on the phone anymore, yet we had. We'd stayed up whispering into the night until she fell asleep. And if I was honest, I'd stayed on the line another thirty minutes listening to her breathe while I yanked my chain to take the edge off.

But I had woken up hard and throbbing since I'd dreamt about her all night. I was already up and ready when she shot me a text. I'd told her to put on a swimsuit, and I was at her door no less than ten minutes later.

The day had been incredible. Karol loved the water as much as I did. I'd rented a boat, and we had taken it out, put the anchor down, and swum around. I had even stolen a couple of kisses. Who the hell am I kidding? I couldn't keep my hands off her, and by the way her hand stroked my back as I pulled the boat up to the dock, she couldn't either.

"This was so much fun."

"Fun's not over." I winked.

We turned in the boat keys and picked up the basket I'd ordered for us at the diner, before we returned to the very spot I'd seen her the night I'd made a wish. We had a picnic on the beach. Went in the water to cool off and were back on the sand, sitting on a huge blanket. Her back was pressed against my front; my chin rested on her shoulder.

"This was such a great day." She sighed happily. "Thank you." She turned, her eyes dreamy and slightly hooded.

"Nothing to thank me for. I should be thanking you, beautiful. Today's been…" I swallowed, and my Adam's apple bobbed.

I had no words.

I did, but I felt like anything I came up with wasn't enough.

"Yeah." She smiled, and I lost sight of her as her head rested on my shoulder. "I know," she whispered. She felt it, too. I felt it.

For a moment, I panicked. What the hell had I been thinking approaching her? Walking up to her like I was some kind of Casanova who had something to offer her. I mean, I had money, but that's not what a woman like her needed or wanted.

She'd need a man. A solid, stable man, one who she could rely and lean on. Am I that man? Could I be that?

"Wanna go for a walk?" she asked, bringing me back to the present. A walk. All I wanted to do was keep her warm, almost naked body in my arms, since she was still wearing a bikini top and tiny denim shorts with frayed edges that were so short a good amount of her booty cheeks popped out and made my hands ache to squeeze. But it wasn't just my hands that ached.

"Sounds good." I nodded, thinking a walk might help clear my head.

But it didn"t. If anything, it felt like I fell harder and faster. Like I was swept up in a hurricane and I never wanted to touch the ground. With every syllable she spoke, I fell deeper and deeper.

I'd never been the kind of man who believed in happily ever afters.

But after our first date and dropping her back off at her front door, I had a feeling I was no longer the man who had arrived in Poppy Beach a few days ago.

I stepped into the condo, already missing her, when my phone rang. I picked it up with a smile thinking it was Karol.

"Hello."

"Hey!" a deep voice called out, and I frowned. "Finally, man! I was starting to get worried."

"Abel?" I guessed gruffly.

"Who else would be calling you from my phone, brother?"

"Sorry, I just… I answered the phone without checking the screen." The line went silent. I pulled the phone away from my ear to make sure the call hadn't dropped.

"You didn't look at who was calling you before you answered?" Abel asked slowly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Abe—"

"Oh, shit." He whistled low, and I braced. There was a reason he was going to gang up on me. Abel and I had known one another since we were both new recruits. We were tighter than tight. We were brothers, and that meant he knew me.

I never talked on the phone.

I hated it. Not even back in the day when I'd been a stupid teen and my crushes called did I stay on the line longer than a minute or two. The invention of texts had been a godsend for me.

"Sheeeit!" he drawled slowly. "Who you talkin' on the phone with?"

"Abe," I said sternly, but I knew he wouldn't give a shit.

"You met someone." His laugh had always been easy. We were opposites in that way.

"I did," I confessed because there was no reason to deny it. I hadn't just met someone. I was almost positive I'd met the one.

"Fuck, man," he chuckled. "I should have known. When you kick your feet up and put your hair down, you really know how to live."

"Jesus, I don't even know what that means, Abe." I laughed.

"So… tell me about her. Is she a local from Poppy Beach? Another tourist?" I opened and shut my mouth because it hit me. Abel had been living in the beach town for about two years. He might even know her.

"Her name is Karol Rivas," I said slowly, hoping like hell he didn't know her in any way. Especially in the biblical one. I'd hate to have to rip my best friend's eyes out.

"She sounds familiar… wait… Does she work for the city? The rec center?"

"Yeah." I swallowed, hoping he wouldn't say he'd dated her. Abel was a good-looking son of a bitch. I knew he could have his pick of women, but for some reason, he lived like a goddamn monk.

"She's…"

"What?"

"Kinda young for you, don't you think?" he asked, serious for the first time since I'd answered his call.

"What?" I frowned.

"I mean, man… she's what? Twenty-one?"

"No," I said a little too defensively. "She's twenty-five," I corrected. He snorted.

"Okay, but that's still a big difference."

"I know that, but… I don't know."

"How about you explain it?" he suggested, and I did.

I found myself doing something I'd never done before. I laid it all out. Baring myself, letting me be as emotionally vulnerable as I could be, and shockingly enough, Abel stayed quiet. There wasn't a sarcastic comment or joke made. He simply listened to every word I had to say. He didn't interrupt and tease. By the time I was done telling him just how incredible Karol was and all about the way I felt with her, the line was quiet again.

"Abe? You still there?" I asked, feeling a little self-conscious. Through the years, we'd had heart-to-hearts, but with both of us pretty much confirmed bachelors, it'd never been about women.

"So, this… this isn't just… a hookup? Or a summer fling?"

"If it were, you think I would be home alone and talking on the phone with you?" I asked, and he whistled again.

"Damn, Dan. Look, I know this is going to come off wrong, and I don't want to burst your bubble or anything, but?—"

"I'm leaving?" I guessed

"Aren't you? I mean, you could stay longer. You know the condo's available for you. But the whole point of your trip was to figure out your next move."

"I know." And I did.

"I just don't want you to get in over your head and hurt a good woman in the process." And that right there was why Abel was my best friend. He said it like it was without sugar-coating it, and because it was sincere, you didn't get offended by his candor.

"I get that, too. I do. But…"

"You can't walk away from her?"

"Man, I know I just met her. But, Abe, that first night… man, I was on the balcony and saw the back of her."

"Right?"

"And I felt something. Like… something inside me came to life."

"That's called getting an erection, man. Physical attraction and lust can fuck you up. It's been a minute since you've gone out and got you some."

"It's not that. I mean, it was, but no. Abel, I didn't even see her face. All I saw was the back of her sitting on the sand while painting shit."

"Rocks," he corrected, and I frowned. "She paints rocks." I'd guessed that, but she'd confirmed it when she told me about how she liked to paint them and drop them off at random places. I had the proof of her hobby in my pocket. With my free hand I reached in and took out the small flat rock and looked at the word she'd painted. Believe.

"Yeah." I cleared my throat. "Then I saw a shooting star..."

"What?"

"I know I sound like a fucking crazy person, but?—"

"There has been crazier shit said before," he mumbled. "I get what you're saying. You saw her and suddenly, everything made sense, right? All while up being down and down being up."

"Right." How did he know? I didn't get an opportunity to ask before he kept talking.

"Despite the fact you're way too fucking old for her and have to leave town and we're both messed up like hell?—"

"We?" I cut him off. "Wait, you sound like a guy who's talking from experience."

"Man, if I told you, you wouldn't believe it."

"Is it… is it Karol?"

"Nope, but small towns mean we're all fucking connected."

"How's that?" I asked.

"Her sister," he shared, and I blinked. What the hell? What were the chances my best friend would be interested in the girl who had put a spell on me's sister?

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked, and he chuckled.

"Not right now," he sighed. "Look, I'm just saying, sleep on it. Don't go making any rash promises. At the end of the day, you're leaving soon and trying to figure out your own shit. I mean… she's a nice girl, but you think it could be a forever, and if it was, do you think she's going to follow you around while you figure out whatever your calling is?"

"Maybe I don't need one." I shrugged, and I knew he would call me out before he did it.

"Maybe you're just trying to convince yourself of that," he pointed out. "You know you could always move here, and I'd have a job ready for you, even though we both know neither of us needs a gig. We just aren't good sitting on our asses. It's all good and well for some RR when we were between missions and shit, but civilian life is different."

"You're right."

"I'll talk to you soon. We should get together. Grab a beer and go to town, watch a game."

"A game?"

"Baseball. There's a minor league team in town. Poppy Seahorses. The stadium is small, but the food"s fucking fantastic, and the beer's cheap."

"Sounds good to me. We will set it up."

"Good," he muttered and then sighed. "You know I wasn't being a Debbie Downer on ya, right? I'm happy you met someone you connected with, and if it was any other circumstances, I wouldn't be telling you to take it easy… It's just… the Rivas girls are good girls. They've been through a lot."

"You mean her sister's accident?" I asked.

"You two really have gotten to know one another. I thought you just got into town a couple of days ago?"

"I'm telling you, Abe, this thing with Kare Bear, it's nothing like I've felt before. She's…" I paused because there wasn't a right enough word to describe how great she was. How fucking perfect.

"Okay, Cassanova, breathe." I could hear the smile in his voice. "She's great, I get it. Just don't get in over your head. Be smart."

"You, too."

"I ain't doing shit," he uttered. "I can't. I'm not…" Now he was the one at a loss for words. "Anyhow." He cleared the emotion from his throat. "Call me about that game. They usually have home games Friday nights."

"Sounds good." I didn't push for him to share. As well as Abe knew me, I knew him just the same. He'd talk when he was ready.

We hung up, and I looked at the rock in my hand.

Believe.

Abe was right. I had to be smart. I still had to get my shit together and figure out what the hell I was going to do with my life. He'd offered me a job, but we both knew I wasn't cut out for installing pools or maintaining them. I'd be okay at it, but it wasn't what was going to make me wake up excited.

Not like Karol,a voice whispered, and I frowned. There was a battle going on inside me between my heart and my head. I wanted her. I was man enough to admit that. She was different.

I headed to bed and settled in. With a pillow under my head, I looked up at the ceiling. Believe. The word kept bouncing in my head, and Karol wasn't far behind.

I am going to believe in whatever this pull toward Karol is.I laughed as I thought about Abel"s warning. Don't get in over your head. Too late, buddy! I already was.