“Well. What do you know?” A slow, sly grin spread across her face. “Kellan should take lessons from you, Flynn, because itturns out that you know just which one of my buttons to push.”
Chapter Twenty
Growing up alone, in the often bleak Midwest, Sierra didn’t have too many days that she counted as over-the-top fantastic.There were plenty of good days. Some even great. But few, if any in her life, that she’d deem worthy of being immortalizedin a scene in a movie.
Until today.
This date today was perfect. And she had a sneaking suspicion that this feeling of perfection would repeat itself the more days she spent with Flynn.
She tipped her head back to enjoy the warmth of the bright sun on her cheeks. Sierra didn’t care if her nose burned. Heck,she’d relish the peeling as a souvenir of this moment. The one with a salt-tinged breeze whipping through her hair. The onewith other couples, also holding hands, walking toward them on the coastal path. The moment where she got to spend the entireday with the man she trusted with her whole heart.
Those suckers who bought lottery tickets? Even if they won, they wouldn’t come close to the joy bursting out of Sierra’s hearttoday.
“I love that you have your own truck now.”
Flynn gave her a quizzical, sideways look as they tromped along the asphalt. “We’re not in it now. And when you got out, yousaid your legs were stiff from sitting for the two-hour drive.”
“I know. They were stiff, especially after that crazy shift last night.” The Gorse always cranked up to standing room only on Saturday night.A holiday weekend with perfect weather meant Sierra’s legs felt as if she’d walked the entire length and width of Oregon lastnight. All while loaded down with trays of beer and burgers and then more beers. “But that doesn’t trump how thrilled I am that we got to make a two-hour drive north. That we get to have this fun day without any worry about rushing back so your brothers won’tbe stranded.”
“Pretty sure you worried about them more than I did the past few weeks. The world wouldn’t have ended if they had to walkto work one day.”
Men. They always pretended not to care. Why did they think that made them cool? Especially when it was so easy to see rightthrough it. To see Flynn start checking his watch, even though he didn’t say anything, when it got close to the time to pickKellan up from the cranberry plant. Or how he’d take a cold shower instead of waiting for the water to heat up again so thathe could get the car back in time for Rafe to go to work.
“There you go again. Playing tough. But I know that inside you’re just a big ball of Marshmallow Fluff. Especially when itcomes to the two of them.”
“I hate marshmallows. They’re like dipping a Pixy Stix in glue. Can my insides be something else?” Flynn pointed to the toweringspruces that fenced in the path. “How about the clump of moss? It looks soft.”
The way he danced away from admitting how important they were to him? Adorable. So she’d play along. “Sure. You’ve got a heart of moss when it comes to Rafe and Kellan.”
“And you. Don’t forget you.” The smile Flynn flashed at her was so tender and adoring that Sierra stopped walking. The forceof that smile squeezed her heart in a new and breathtaking way.
Oh, yes. She definitely loved this man. And felt pretty darned sure that he’d admit he felt the same way on their date today.
Life just didn’t get any better than this.
Flynn pulled her over to the railing where the walkway crossed a deep chasm in the black volcanic rocks below. Cars whizzedby behind then. Nevertheless, the roiling water was loud enough to be heard churning and thrashing. He pointed at a jaggedassortment of those black rocks lining the shore. Just beyond was a. . . . well, Sierra wasn’t sure what it was. A circle of black rocks had water flooding over the edge with every surge of tide and wave.
But . . . it was a complete circle. The water crested over the rock and dropped down. Straight down. Like there was a deep well, or a drain right atthe start of the ocean. It was beyond disconcerting. It was beyond beautiful. It seemed otherworldly, a natural feature thatwould lie outside the red spot of Jupiter.
“What is that?” Sierra breathed in awe.
“Thor’s Well.”
Okay. She could picture its falls poised underneath the rainbow bridge of Asgard, too.
“That’s why I got you up so early,” he said with an apologetic caress of her shoulder. “We needed to be here at high tideto see it best.”
“It’s . . . magnificent.”
“See how it looks like the water endlessly drains into it? Like it never fills up?” Flynn moved behind Sierra, locking hisarms around her waist. “That’s how I felt. Before we got together. I was empty, no matter what the world threw at me.”
Sierra looked back at the water streaming down the rocks, on endless repeat. “I’m so sorry, Flynn. That must’ve been miserable.”
“I was miserable. Too miserable to do anything about it. Or too stubborn. Didn’t see the point in trying. Until you came along.”
“I’m nothing special.”
“Sierra. You are completely special. You’re stronger than those rocks out there. Not giving up no matter how battered life makes you. Sweeter than anyoneI’ve ever met. Most of all, you make me feel special.”
“That, I’ll cop to.”
Flynn pointed at the Well. “They think it’s a collapsed sea cave. The water only drops down about twenty feet. The tide sendsit surging back up, through holes in the cave walls, as waves come over the top of the rocks. See, instead of draining tonowhere? The water’s actually filling up that hole, over and over and over again.”
“You’re saying that you thought you were an empty cave. Except that you’re actually all filled up and just sexy and powerful as all get-out?”
His low chuckle rumbled heat against her ear. “Not the words I would’ve chosen. But
