See Me(71)
They met at Wrightsville Beach later that afternoon and spent a couple of hours on Jet Skis before Colin returned home to squeeze in a quick workout. They cooked dinner at Maria’s and then, like the night before, spent the next few hours wrapped in each other’s arms.
Monday morning came too soon, but that week they spent as much time together as they could. Colin met Maria for lunch twice, and on Wednesday, she spent the evening at Crabby Pete’s, nursing a Diet Pepsi and working on a legal brief for Barney with her MacBook propped on the bar in front of her. Aside from his shifts and classes, a few hours for working out, and family brunch, they were together almost every minute, and went to both the farmers’ market and the aquarium, neither of which Colin had ever contemplated visiting before.
Through it all, he simply tried to embrace the way he felt about her. He didn’t think about it, didn’t worry about it, didn’t try to understand it. Instead, he enjoyed the way he felt whenever she laughed, and how sexy she was when she knit her eyebrows in concentration; he savored the feel of her hand in his as they walked and talked, their conversations drifting from the serious to the silly.
On Sunday night, in bed after making love, Maria was lying on her stomach, her knees bent and feet up as she nibbled on some grapes. Colin found it impossible to take his eyes from her, ogling her until she playfully tossed a grape at him.
“Stop staring. You’re making me feel self-conscious.”
He reached for the grape and popped it in his mouth. “Why?”
“Because I’m Catholic and we’re not married, maybe?”
He chuckled. “Your mother asked if I was Catholic, didn’t she? When we were at lunch the first time?”
“You understand Spanish?”
“Not really. I took it in high school and barely passed, but I heard my name and the word católico when she was at the table. It wasn’t that hard to translate. But yes,” he continued. “I was raised Catholic. I was baptized and confirmed, the whole nine yards. But I pretty much stopped going to church after I got sent off to school, so I’m not sure what that makes me now.”
“She’ll still be happy.”
“Good.”
“How did they get you confirmed if you stopped going to church?”
“Donations, I guess. Probably a big one, because the priest let me do a cram course one summer and even though I didn’t do any of the work, the next year, they let me get confirmed anyway.”
“That’s kind of cheating.”
“It’s not kind of cheating. It is cheating. On the plus side, I got a go-kart out of it, so that was kind of nice.”
“A go-kart?”
“It was either that or I wouldn’t do it. For all the good it did me. I totaled it within a couple of weeks and refused to talk to my parents the rest of the summer because they wouldn’t buy me a new one.”
“Nice,” she said sarcastically.
“I’ve never hidden the fact that I have issues.”
“I’m aware.” She smiled. “But sometimes, I wish you’d surprise me in a good way when you talk about your younger years.”
He thought about it. “I beat up my older sister’s ex-boyfriend once. Does that count? Since he was a total jerk?”
“No,” she said, “that doesn’t count.”
He smiled. “Do you want to have lunch tomorrow?”
“I’d love to, but I already promised Jill. She texted me earlier and I forgot to mention it. I’m open to a late dinner, though.”
“I can’t,” he said. “I have to work.”
“You mean we might not see each other tomorrow? Whatever am I going to do?”
It might have been the playfulness in her tone or the fact that a long and wonderful weekend was finally coming to an end, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he just stared at her, noting the sensual curves of her body, perfect in nearly every way. “You are incredibly beautiful,” he whispered.
A light smile played across her lips, seductive and lovely. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he echoed, and as he continued to gaze at her, he couldn’t shake the feeling that a long journey was finally coming to an end. He knew what that meant, and while the feeling had been unimaginable even a month ago, there was no reason to deny it. He reached toward her, gently running his fingers through her hair, the sensation luxurious, and he let out a long breath. “I love you, Maria,” he finally murmured. He watched as her surprise gave way to comprehension.
With his hand still in her hair, she wrapped it in hers.
“Oh, Colin,” she whispered, “I love you, too.”
CHAPTER 14
Maria
T
hey made love early the following morning; afterward, Colin told her he wanted to get a workout in before class, and though the sun had not yet risen when he left, Maria tossed and turned, unable to fall back to sleep. She finally got out of bed, resolved to catch up on some long-neglected work.
She brewed coffee, showered, and dressed, and with the best of intentions opened up her MacBook to get some work done in the hour and a half before she left for the office. And yet, as she settled in, she couldn’t escape a growing, though inchoate, sense that something was wrong. Even as she sifted through her feelings, she couldn’t pinpoint the cause. The timing made her suspect that it had something to do with Colin; the relationship had been a bit of a whirlwind, although she certainly didn’t regret it. They’d fallen in love, and there was nothing wrong with that. It was normal. It happened to other people every day. And considering all the time they’d spent getting to know each other, it wasn’t even all that unexpected.