Page 77 of Secret Offer
“We’re taking a walk. Or I’ll carry you if I have to. Your choice.”
Fully expecting her to fight me, I’m pleasantly surprised when she only huffs in annoyance but allows me to lead her down to the first floor, out of the hotel, and onto the beach.
I take her all the way to the water’s edge, where we walk close enough to the breaking waves that the surf almost touches our feet. The resort’s private beach is deserted this time of the morning, but seagulls fly overhead, cawing at us amidst the crashing of the waves nearby. Blair pulls her hand away and tucks it into the pocket of her shorts, but I don’t press her. She’s as skittish as a wild horse right now, and I need her to let her guard down and listen to what I have to say.
As we get closer to the spot I’m taking her to, I begin to second-guess myself. I want her to know the truth, but my gut is clenching with anxiety. This is something I’ve never shared with anyone else.
We go a little farther and I stop. I run a hand across my mouth and try to catch her eye, but she won’t look at me. Damn,she’s not making this easy. Not that she should. I deserve every ounce of her anger and distrust.
Shaking my head, I just say it. “This is where I was standing when I got the phone call…telling me that Rachel died in a helicopter crash. She was on her way here. On her way to me.”
The words are bitter on my tongue. A flash of memories from that day comes back to me, and for the first time, I don’t push them away. Blair frowns, but she still won't meet my gaze.
“We’d been dating for about three years. I’d only proposed a few months before. We were still in the beginning stages of planning our wedding…hadn’t even picked out a date yet. She’d just found out that she was pregnant, nine weeks along. I didn’t know yet. She was flying here to surprise me. To let me know I wasn’t just going to be a husband, but also a father.”
Cold gooseflesh rises on my arms. Blair looks over at me, and I don’t drop my eyes, even though I can feel the tears threatening. It’s difficult to clear the lump in my throat before I can speak again.
“Do you remember where we met? In the palm grove over there?” I point to the spot, not twenty yards away. “I was thinking about Rachel. Thinking about the day I got that call. Thinking about how lost I was, how I’d never be happy again. And then…you walked right up to me, and I didn’t know who you were or where you came from, but the second you laughed about that damn cock salad, I was a goner. It was like…the sun finally came out from behind the clouds. You were everything I didn’t know I needed.”
She blinks hard, like she’s trying not to cry, but I can see the tears in her eyes. Taking her hand again, I lead her into the palm grove. She doesn’t pull away this time, even when I tug her down to sit in the sand with me. It feels safe here, amongst the narrow trunks and rustling fronds, the play of light and shadow soothing all around us. I take a steadying breath and then tell her the rest.
“This is the truth, Blair. I didn’t know you were a client’s daughter when I met you. By the time I found out, it was too late. I was already in too deep. I couldn’t stay away from you, even though I knew better. I knew I could lose everything if I kept seeing you—my job, my reputation, my business partners, the whole life I’ve built. That’s why I left the island. I didn’t trust myself with you. I didn’t trust myself not to interfere with the other matches, not to try to stop the auction.”
“You left because you’re a coward,” she interrupts.
“Fine. Fair. But look, once I got back to New York, I realized that I had nothing without you. And all I kept thinking was that you’d end up with nothing, too, if you were forced to marry a stranger who’d treat you like a trophy and steal your dreams just for the fun of owning an MLB team. I couldn’t stand by and let that happen. That’s why I did the only thing I could think of. I made myself a bidder.”
“So you could buy me yourself,” she says, eyes still glittering with a mix of anger and pain.
“So I could buy you your freedom,” I correct her. “You don’t have to marry me, Blair. That’s not why I did this. I want you to be able to choose, instead of being forced into something you never signed up for. I want you to be happy.”
She looks out at the water again, nodding slowly. I squeeze her hands in mine.
“And I know I ruined all the memories we made here,” I tell her. “But I had to make sure you knew the truth. About everything.”
Turning back to me, she searches my gaze and then gives me just a hint of a smile. “Maybe we should make some new memories, then.”
35
BLAIR
“Hold out your wrist,”I tell Sebastian as I turn away from the souvenir stand. “This one’s for you.”
He holds out his wrist and smiles as I tie the letter bracelet on for him. It’s nearly identical to the one he bought for me that night at Mo’s, except his has a coin with the letter ‘S’ stamped on it.
“Now we both have one,” I tell him.
“It’s perfect,” he says.
What a whirlwind week it’s been. We’ve spent countless hours taking long walks on the beach or through the center of town, discussing our lives and our dreams over sunrises and sunsets, sharing quiet meals together, sometimes just enjoying comfortable silences. Not to mention all the make-up sex.
Our blossoming emotional connection has been just as strong as our physical one, though. It’s been liberating to talk to someone at length about Sophie and how much I miss her. Sebastian has told me a lot about his late fiancée Rachel as well. Bonding over our grief has managed to lessen our burdens rather than multiply them. And even though we both know the path won’t be easy, we’ve decided that we both want to give thisrelationship a real chance, no matter how challenging it might be.
“Let me take a picture.” Sebastian holds his wrist out and I place mine next to his so our letter bracelets bump against each other. He takes the picture with his phone camera and then shows it to me.
“Think I should make it my new profile picture?” he jokes.
“Definitely,” I tell him.
