Forever You're Mine (MINE #4)(39)

It felt good to know I was the reason for his happiness. She hugged me again before returning to the dishes.

Once I finished helping Mrs. Ruby, Cannon took me out for a ride. I wanted to see where he grew up, where he came from. It was clear he came from a good family with a lot of love. But I also hoped to find some clue as to why he left it all behind. Because if I had a family like his, there’s no way I’d ever leave. We drove past his old high school, where he told me of his glory days as running back for the football team. He was even offered a few scholarships, but ultimately he’d chosen the Navy over college, set on following his father’s footsteps from a very young age.

The revelation made me smile. It was plain to see Cannon loved and admired his father. They were alike in many ways and seemed to share something stronger than just a father-son relationship.

Thirty minutes later, we were parked at the end of a beaten path that opened up to a secluded slice of heaven. Cannon’s family didn’t live far from Orange Beach, so Cannon had driven to a private section of the beach. When I asked about the No Trespassing signs, he told me the land belonged to an old friend and he had permanent permission to be here.

Cannon backed up to where the grass met the sand and killed the engine, leaving the key turned so we could keep the radio on. With the doors of the truck open, he laid down the tailgate and lifted me up by my waist to sit on the edge. He hopped up next to me.

The moon reflected off the surface of the water in front of us, flooding the night with a glowing light. Waves softly beat the shore in the distance as the faint sound of the radio faded away.

“Still looks the same.” He observed quietly, a slight smile tugging his full lips. “I came here a lot growing up. My friends and I, we’d have bonfires out here, camp. I stole my first real kiss behind that boulder over there.”

“Lucky girl. What was her name?”

“Mary-Ann. I had a crush on her for an entire year before she finally let me kiss her. That led to other things of course.”

“Was she your first?”

Cannon nodded.

“We were together almost two years before she broke up with me for another guy.”

“Ah, one of those.”

He nodded again.

“What happened after you broke up?”

He smiled thoughtfully. “I focused all my attention on school and football.”

“And girls?”

“Girls became a close third.”

“So you were a player?”

“Not necessarily.”

“But you didn’t have a girlfriend?”

“No,” he shifted uncomfortably. “But there was one girl.” His words were an afterthought, like it was the last thing he wanted to say but the moment forced him to acknowledge it. Because it was important to him. “I thought I loved her but…she fell in love with my best friend, so I knew it wasn’t meant to be.”

My mouth slipped, falling open at his revelation. I sucked back a deep breath, picking through the ways I could get him to continue. But I didn’t have to. With little more than a shaky breath, I finally found out who Landon was.

“We met Nikki coming home from football practice one day. She was on the side of the road with a flat. She was bent over, damn near in traffic, trying to get the lug nuts off the tire. So we stopped to lend her a hand, concerned for her safety, of course.”

“Of course,” I smiled, imagining just how pretty this girl must have been.

“Before we even got out of the truck, I called dibs. The second I saw those long legs in them cutoff jeans I knew I had to have her.”

“You got a thing for cutoffs, huh?”

“I like ‘em country, baby. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.”

I smiled. “Nope…nothin’ wrong with that,”

“Anyway, I don’t know why I even bothered. I thought I had her when she caught my eyes and smiled her sweet smile handing me the tire iron, but that was before she got a load of Mr. f*cking personality.” he said, jokingly.

I giggled.

Cannon continued. “Nikki flirted with us both the entire time, but it was me who asked for her number even though I knew she wished it was Landon who’d asked instead. I didn’t feel bad though. Landon always had girls falling all over him. Nikki was mine.”

Those three words stabbed at my heart, but only a little. I ignored the pain.

“We went out on several dates, kissed a lot, lots of making out. Became damn close in a short amount of time. But the spark just wasn’t there. Not on my part, but definitely on hers. She was…so perfect. Easy to talk to, sweet, caring, funny as hell. Everything I knew I wanted in a girl.” He gave me a look of complete adoration before he went on. “When I finally told her how I felt about her, she cried. Then she told me she had feelings for Landon.”

A few days later, after I’d cooled off, I encouraged Landon to ask Nikki out. He refused, hell bent on being the loyal friend he was. I had to trick him into going.”

“Trick him?” I laughed.

Cannon smiled. “Told him I’d gathered a bunch of guys for a bonfire here, instead,”

“Nikki was here.”

He nodded.

Gosh, this was so romantic.

“Why are you smilin’ at me like that?”

“Because I never would have guessed you to be a match maker.”