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  "No, Theo," I murmured, focused on him. "No. Are you kidding me?" My laugh was hoarse and raw but genuine. "I . . . I love this. I love it so much. This place?" I held my hands out, spinning around in my frilly blue cover-up dress. “It's perfect, babe. So damn perfect.”

  Relieved, he put on one of his boyish, lopsided grins and then he said, "Well what the hell are you standing over there for? Come here. Show me you really love it."

  I laughed a laugh that made my entire body feel tingly, and then rushed into his arms, fastening them around his neck. My mouth crashed down on his as he gripped my waist and picked me up in his strong, inked arms.

  Clasping my ass in his hands, he groaned and then sighed, allowing me to thread my fingers through his thick hair and French kiss him. The passion burned inside me for him. I didn't want to let up or stop.

  In this cave, alone with him, it felt like some sort of small haven. A safe haven. Like nothing could touch us. No one could see us. No one could disturb or shame us. Nothing could penetrate our love.

  So you can bet your ass I didn't stop, because I had no reason to let up. I kissed him until his arms became tired and he had to lay me on my back on the cool sand. I felt it getting in my hair, on our skin, but we kept going.

  Not too much later and he had my dress shoved up and my bathing suit bottoms down to my ankles, his board shorts down to his. I could feel his firm ass as I slid my fingers down and clutched it—could feel his tip at my entrance, anxious, thick, and ready.

  I gripped his hips and forced him inside me. Both our mouths were touching, but they parted as he plunged deeper.

  And deeper.

  And deeper.

  When he was completely inside, he flashed a small white smile, his eyes narrow and calm, and said "I want to share the rest of my life with you, Chloe."

  Then he dropped his face to the crook of my neck, kissing me like he couldn't get enough of my body. And he stroked, so full and deep that my nails sank into his warm skin.

  His hard body against mine was more than enough to put me over the ledge. He held the back of my neck with one hand, his mouth on my chin as I tilted my head back and breathed out my pleasure.

  He pumped a little faster now and I gasped, holding on tighter, listening to the water crashing in, meeting the shoreline, feeling the distant rays from where we lay, burning bright and true.

  "It's always been you, baby," he whispered against the shell of my ear, voice ragged and gruff. "Always you, Little Knight."

  Moments later, after our mouths connected and he rocked inside me, we exploded. We shattered together in that beautiful, hidden cave. I screamed his name as loudly as I wanted to because no one but him could hear it.

  He groaned louder than I'd heard in a while, holding the back of my neck tight, his muscles tensing.

  He brought his mouth down on mine as our bodies writhed and came undone, kissing slowly this time. Passionately. Still giving light thrusts as he emptied himself inside me.

  I broke the gentle kisses to clasp his face in my hands. I studied his eyes, his handsome face, the small smile that lingered on his lips, and how truly happy he was with me, right here, right now.

  "You are mine and I am yours,” I whispered on his lips. “And as long as we remember that, I know we'll be okay."

  His face softened, but he didn’t say a thing, only kissed me all over again with his warm lips, showing me how much I truly meant to him.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  THEO

  We spent the better half of our day inside the cave, sitting near the water with our towels behind us. The sun was perched high in the sky—the perfect day for this. Here. With her.

  We swam around in the shallow part of the water, closest to the shoreline for a while. I wasn’t sure what aquatic life actually came in these parts, but it seemed safe enough. Like any regular beach, only inside a cave. As long as we didn’t go too deep, I figured we were fine.

  She had music playing from her portable speaker, the song 90210 by Blackbear blasting out, laughing about something she remembered about one of her students.

  I had her gripped in my arms, the water sloshing between our chests. When her head fell back and her laugh came out shriller, I smiled. She was so beautiful.

  Fuck, this girl was everything to me. Everything and more. I hadn’t felt this happy since Isabelle was born, and that was over twenty-five years ago.

  I didn’t feel this way with Janet.

  Definitely not with Sheila.

  But her. I don’t know what it was about her. Maybe it was because I could remember how she was there for me during some of my darkest times, helping me up to my bedroom, taking care of me when she could have just ignored me from her home on Primrose.

  Janet would have left me in the garage until I pulled my shit together and Sheila . . . well, she wouldn’t have known what the hell to do besides nag me.

  But even at the mere age of nineteen, Chloe Knight was there to save me. She was there to pull me out of my dark, dangerous spiral to hell. She brought me back to life with her small kisses, her sweet giggles, and the heart that was made of pure, solid gold.

  I’d never met anyone purer. Never thought a woman so simple and loving could care for someone as fucked up as me. But she did. She cared, and she showed it every single day. The fact that she could make me harder than a rock was another upside. A great one, in fact.

  “You know,” I started when she finally settled her glee, “when you left, I wanted to hate you.”

  She blinked rapidly, her face going board straight. “Did you hate me?” she whispered, sliding out of my arms and landing on the ocean floor.

  “No,” I replied. “Of course not.”

  And she flashed a little smile of relief, lowering her gaze, letting her thick eyelashes touch her cheekbones.

  “I knew I wasn’t going to be happy again without you. Not completely. Not like how I feel right now. I felt so goddamn empty the past four years, Chloe. Empty and hollow and . . . useless. Like . . . if I didn’t have you, what was my purpose? Why move forward when I couldn’t even come home to your smile or warmth? Why bother trying?”

  Her lips pressed as she brought her gaze up again. “I know . . . and I’m so sorry, Theo.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t be. I think I know why it happened.”

  She was a mildly confused now. “Why?”

  “To make us stronger . . . better. Despite what’s going on back at home, I feel like our connection has grown a lot, almost to the point that I’m astounded by it. Because I know that if I fuck up, it could destroy us.”

  Her damp eyelashes fused together. She shut her eyes for a few seconds. “You won’t fuck up,” she assured me, holding my waist and drawing me closer. “You know how I know?”

  “How?”

  “Because we are going to settle this together. We’re going to talk to Izzy whenever she has the time and I’m going to go and tell Sterling the truth. And as for Sheila . . . well, if you need me for that too, I’ll be there. I won’t run or hide.” She laughed about something, her head moving left and right in a light shake. “I didn’t want to talk about them while we were out here, and listen to me?” She lightly scoffed.

  “So?” I stroked her cheek. “This is different. You’re being optimistic and that optimism is exactly what we need right now.” Her grin was contagious. “Come on. Let’s go eat and have some drinks. Relax on the beach for a little while. We can still make this about us.”

  She bobbled her head like a child. “I like the sound of that.”

  We ate, listening to music and the sound of crashing waves. She had a few fruity alcoholic drinks while I sipped on the bourbon in my flask. She found it amusing that the flask was custom-engraved to say, “It’s Mr. Black to You.”

  “Who made that for you?” she asked, biting into a carrot.

  “Izzy. It was a Christmas gift. It was a little joke she made when she brought one of her friends to San Francisco once.” I read over th
e bold red letters. “Her friend called me Theodore the first time she met me—my full damn name. I had to scratch my head when I heard it and Izzy could only laugh when I said to her, ‘It’s Mr. Black, but nice to meet you.’” I laughed. “Funny, she hasn’t brought that friend back since then.” I ran a hand over my damp hair. “As a matter of fact, she hasn’t brought anyone around in a while. No friends. No boyfriends, which is good news by the way.” I rolled my eyes at that and Chloe smacked her teeth, swatting a hand at me.

  “She can have boyfriends, crazy!”

  “Not around me, she can’t.” I placed the flask down and she started drawing circles in the sand outside her towel.

  “Why do you think she hasn’t brought anyone around? You think it might be because of me?” she asked.

  “What makes you think that?”

  “I don’t know.” She hesitated, avoiding my line of sight. “Maybe, deep down, she’s afraid another one of her friends might fall for you. She doesn’t want to go through that again. I mean, you are hot, Theo. Hot as hell. I think sometimes you forget that.”

  I scoffed. “I’m an old man that just so happened to fall for my daughter’s former best friend. Was it planned? No. Would I ever do it again with another one of her friends? Fuck, no. Do I regret what happened between us? Hell, no.”

  She blushed at that, twisting onto her knees and crawling towards me. “I guess you are an old man now, huh?” she teased, eyes trained on my lips. “Your gray hair looks good on you, though. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  “Yeah, yeah. That’s what you say now. But when I’m sixty and you’re forty—”

  “I will still love you,” she said, louder than me, so I couldn’t finish my sentence. “I don’t care about the age. I never have. I love you because you’re you, and I wouldn’t have my Theodore Benjamin Black any other way.”

  All right. I admit, that one snagged my heart a little.

  I grabbed her upper arms. “Come here,” I chuckled as I pulled her on top of me.

  She yelped as I squeezed her ass in my hands, but she didn’t hold off on kissing me. She molded against my body, sinking between my legs, combing her fingers through the silver hair that I somewhat hated, but dealt with because it came with age.

  But if she loved it, I’d keep it.

  Because I was hers.

  Forever hers.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  CHLOE

  The ride back was peaceful.

  I was tired, but it felt good to have the golden rays of sunset on my skin, the warmth covering my bare shoulders and legs while the wind and ocean spray caressed me.

  We’d left the cave with smiles bigger than when we’d arrived there. We left with our hearts on our sleeves, beating in unison. I kept feeling him watching me as he pulled the anchor up and drove away from our little safe haven.

  I felt eyes on me again, and I glanced over my shoulder to look at him. He was holding the wheel and, as expected, his eyes were glued on me. A smile graced his full lips.

  “I love you,” he mouthed.

  I fought a smile, heat creeping up my neck and to my cheeks. “I love you, too,” I mouthed back.

  His smile—so damn childlike and handsome. Even for his age, he looked so young. Like he had no worries in the world; I knew that the reality was that he had many.

  I looked towards the ocean again, drawing my knees up to my chest. Dirty Black rocked and swayed, but the sounds, they were serene: the sloshing of the water hitting the boat, the seagulls, and the wind rushing past my ears.

  There were many times in my life where I felt utter happiness, but this moment—this quiet, serene, beautiful moment . . . well, this was it.

  This was bliss.

  I never wanted to let it go.

  I would hold on for as long as I could, as tight as my muscles and fingers would allow me.

  This was our joy. Our foundation. Our life.

  Despite what was in store, I was so glad we were taking it back again.

  We had everything unpacked from the car and were back at Theo’s suite.

  “I need a shower, badly.” I rubbed my hair and grains of sand landed on the floor.

  “Well go ahead,” he gestured towards the bathroom. “I’ll unpack the leftover food so it doesn’t spoil, and come join you in a second.” He dropped his bag on the floor, coming my way. When he was close, he nudged me against the wall, grabbing my hand and bringing it up to kiss the back of it. “Did you enjoy your surprise?”

  “I did.” My belly filled with heat. “It was perfect.”

  “The perfect day,” he murmured.

  “Date,” I corrected. “It was a date, and it was the best one I’ve ever had.”

  “Hmm . . . I didn’t think of it as a date. It just felt like another day with my sexy Knight.”

  I burst out laughing as he ran the tip of his nose up my jawline. When his lips came up to my earlobe, I shuddered, even more so when he kissed me there.

  When he brought his lips back down and they brushed across mine, I sighed, hooking an arm over his shoulder. He clutched my hip and picked me up, sinking between my legs when my back hit the wall.

  His lips claimed mine and I moaned, my fingers touching the hair at the nape of his neck. He groaned, holding my hips tighter, his breaths shaky, like it was hard for him to resist.

  “I don’t wanna end up making you dirtier.” His forehead pressed down on mine.

  “That’s what showers are for, right? I’ll wash up like new.”

  He vibrated with laughter, kissing me again. As his hand slid up to my hip and beneath the waistband of my bottoms, a throat cleared from somewhere. It wasn’t either of us.

  It was light. Girly.

  “Um . . . Dad?”

  I knew that voice. There was only one person in the world that called him that. And when it registered . . .

  HOLY. SHIT!

  Theo jerked away from me like I was a hot skillet. When we heard the sound of Izzy’s voice, I felt my chest tighten with fear. He lowered me to my feet and turned as quick as lightning to face her.

  Her head was slightly tilted, but she didn’t seem confused at all by what was going on. She looked from him and then over at me. She watched me for the longest time, and then released a shaky breath.

  Theo and I stayed motionless. I was hardly breathing.

  Not this again. We still hadn’t told her. I knew we should have before we got deeper. I knew it. We shouldn’t have stalled. We should have just confessed before she left.

  I looked away, staring down, as Theo took a step towards her.

  “Isabelle, what the hell are you doing here? I thought you were in the OC?” Theo asked, still shocked.

  “I was,” she replied, putting emphasis on the word. “But we wrapped up for a temporary break.” She paused. “Good news is, the directors are easy to work with this time.”

  “Oh . . . shit.” Theo ran his fingers through his hair, fidgeting on his feet. We were all quiet for the longest time. But, of course, Izzy didn’t allow the awkwardness to swallow us whole.

  She, of all people I’d ever met, hated awkward moments.

  She walked past us, where we stood in front of the wall near the bathroom, and dropped her purse down on the table in the corner. She looked around the hotel, as if searching for something else. I wasn’t sure what.

  My heart was pounding so hard. Dangerously hard. I was certain Theo could hear it from where he stood. The drumming was drowning out all other sounds.

  “Okay,” she started, holding her hands up, ready to strike. Her brown hair was braided into a fishtail, her cheeks flushed red. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one that was embarrassed to no end.

  “Izzy,” Theo pleaded, stepping forward with a hand out. “We were going to tell you once you got back. I promise.”

  "Oh, I'm . . . I’m not mad or anything, if that's what you guys are thinking.” She cracked a smile and my eyebrows drew together as I took an inch of a step to Theo’s right to
get from behind him. “I stopped by to visit because you told me you were still here. I got in with the room key I had. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quiet coming in—or probably should have knocked first. I was just hoping I could surprise you.” She forced a small smile. “I . . . was hoping I wouldn’t walk into something like this though.”

  Theo stared, but said nothing. He was waiting for her to lash out, same as I was. Waiting for her to yell, or scream, or throw a tantrum, like she did when she found out about us the first time.

  But she didn’t.

  Instead, she walked towards the couch and sat on the arm of it. Theo walked closer. I took a step ahead as well, but kept my distance, just in case she decided to spring up and claw my damn eyes out at any given moment.

  "What's the matter?" he asked her, like he knew something was wrong.

  She twisted her lips and looked around before lowering her eyes and pinning them on me. "Do you really love her, Dad? Or is this just some cry for attention?"

  He was quiet for a moment. When he looked my way, I could only press my lips with a slight shrug.

  “You know, I—I can go if you guys need to talk in private—”

  “No.” Her voice was hard and serious as she cut me off. “Stay.” She swung her eyes over to Theo again. “Dad, answer the question.”

  He blew a heavy breath, picking his hands up and then dropping them as if they were dead weight. “Yeah. Yeah, Iz, I do love her. I never stopped loving her, even when we were apart. It’s not a cry for attention. She’s it for me."

  She thought on that before speaking again. "Did it kill you not to be with her . . . because of me?"

  He sighed. "Everyday, Iz. But it wasn’t your fault. Things just . . . happened. Things that were out of your control."

  "Hmm." She sat back and stretched her legs. As she looked out of the window, she let out a small, bitter laugh. "I used to wonder why you loved her so much—why it had to be my best friend you wanted so much. I don’t know what it was about the two of you, but it made me so upset, because in my head, you were like a father to her, too. Back then I would have rather you been alone than with her. That’s how selfish I was. How inconsiderate I used to be.”