Page 88 of Fight For Me

“Bambi.”

I stop walking to stare at her. “Bambi? Like the little deer?”

She grins. “You have those brown doe eyes.”

“You’re not calling me Bambi.”

“I don’t know, I kind of like it.” She looks down at George. “What do you think, buddy? Should we call him Bambi?”

George barks and Alex throws her arms up over her head, whooping and hollering like she just won a prize. Of course, the dog responds to her antics, trying to jump up on her while she hops around, barking his head off. “George agrees! Bambi it is!”

“That’s enough out of you,” I tell her, grabbing her around the waist and turning to head back to the beach house, George bounding at my heels.

“Put me down,” she squeals, swatting at my side. But she’s laughing and she sounds happy and it makes me feel so damn good I can’t do anything but pull her flush against me to kiss her again and again.

I take her to bed in one of the guest rooms, the sunlight spilling into the room making her skin glow as she moves over me. I didn’t realize she could ever be more beautiful than she already was, but right now her beauty makes it hard to even breathe. When we’ve finally worn each other out, we curl up on one of the lounge chairs on the deck and take the best damn nap I’ve ever had in my life, warmed by the sun with ocean breezes tickling my skin.

Since we haven’t eaten since our pre-dawn breakfast sandwiches, we go into town for an early dinner after we wake up. We eat tacos and drink cold beer on an outside patio, George begging at our feet. Santa Barbara has a cool shopping district so we walk around for a while after dinner, checking out the stores. Well, Alex checks out the stores. I mostly check her out. And wait outside with George whenever she sees something she wants to go inside for.

Back at the beach house, Alex pulls me downstairs to the music room and plants me in front of the upright piano. “Show me what you’ve been working on at physical therapy.”

“Only if you sit with me.”

She takes a seat on the bench next to me, her eyes glued to my hands as I play a simple melody, careful to do all the things the therapist has been showing me. Apparently keeping better posture, holding my hands at a different angle, and changing the way I touch the keys is going to make a huge difference. So far it feels stiff and unnatural—but the pain hasn’t come back, so maybe there’s something to it.

“Think it will mess up my progress if I really play something?”

She scrunches up her face. “Don’t risk it.”

I kiss the tip of her scrunched-up nose. She’s so freaking cute. “I want to play for you.”

She rests her head against my shoulder. “You will. Someday soon, you will.”

When we go back upstairs, the sun is starting to set, the sky at the horizon painted in dark pinks and oranges. We go down to sit in the sand, Alex between my legs, her back to my chest, my arms wrapped tight around her, and watch as the sky catches fire.

“Wow,” she whispers. “That view alone is worth the drive.”

Emotion clogs my throat. I want to tell her I’d drive anywhere to give her a view like this. That I’d do anything to make her happy. I want to tell her that this has been one of the best days of my life, that I’ve never felt like this about anyone. That I’ve fallen for her and I’m pretty sure there’s no getting back up.

Before I can say any of that, the sun finally dips below the horizon, adding swaths of red to the already colorful sky. I pull her tighter against me, tight enough to feel the breaths filling her lungs. I want the moment to go on forever, the two of us alone on this empty beach, watching the sunset.

“I think this is the happiest I’ve ever felt,” she whispers.

“Me too.” I kiss the top of her head, closing my eyes, trying to hold on to this feeling. “Me too, Alex.”

* * *

The closer weget to the condo, the tighter the knot in my chest grows. I wish we could have stayed at the beach for weeks. Going back to the cameras, to my cousins, to not being able to touch her whenever the hell I feel like it—that’s going to be torture.

Alex’s loud sigh pulls me from my morose thoughts. “What’s up?”

She’s looking down at her phone and I can see her frown in the light from the screen. “Scott’s been texting me for hours.”

My hands instinctively clench on the steering wheel. “The fuck does he want?”

“He’s not happy I was gone all day.”

“He can fuck right off.”