“You have to say that because you’re my great-grandma,” I said, crossing to them. I smoothed the lapels on Ronan’s jacket. He smelled like shower soap and the burned wood from a bonfire at the shack, as if he carried the fire with him. “There should be a law that requires you to wear all black, every day, for the rest of your life.”
Ronan didn’t seem to have heard. “You look… I mean…Holy shit.” He shook his head. “Sorry, Bibi.”
She chuckled. “That’s okay, honey. I like that reaction just fine.”
So did I.
Ronan held a small bouquet of wildflowers. They looked delicate and feminine in his large hands.
“Are those for me?”
He handed them over, adorably awkward and self-conscious.
I plucked a few yellow flowers and tucked them into my hair where the braids were tied back. “How’s that?”
“Good,” he said, then scowled at himself.
Bibi took a few pictures, though Ronan looked about as uncomfortable as he could get.
“That’s plenty,” I said. “We need to arrive at…wherever Ronan’s taking me while the sun is still up. Don’t we?”
“Yeah. Better head out.”
“Just one more,” Bibi said. “I need photographic evidence for the gals that my great-granddaughter is participating in a mushy and romantic rite of passage, or they won’t believe me.”
I rolled my eyes, laughing. “We’re taking the beast, right?”
Ronan nodded. “Open the garage, and I’ll meet you.”
He went outside, and I kissed Bibi’s cheek. “Don’t wait up.”
She chuckled. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
I opened the garage door and popped the Buick’s trunk so Ronan could stow a cooler, a blanket, and his backpack that looked bulky and heavy.
“What’s all this?” I asked. “You still haven’t told me—”
He slammed the trunk shut and hauled me to him, kissing me hard. Deep. His tongue was deliciously rough and sharp-tasting from harsh mouthwash, the only alcohol I could ever taste. But I didn’t need booze; Ronan’s kiss left me delirious.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since the second I saw you,” he said gruffly.
“Me too,” I said. “If you say we’re spending prom in a hotel room, I’d be okay with that.”
“Don’t tempt me. You look incredible.”
I traced the line of his lower lip. “So do you. Look incredible.” The thought that this man was mine came over me again like a pleasant chill.
“Keys,” he said, holding out his hand.
“So bossy.”
I loved it when he was bossy. Commanding. I’d prided myself on being the kind of girl who didn’t fall for that stuff, butGod.Ronan was on another level of masculine virility.
I don’t stand a chance.
Ronan drove us eastward, the coast glistening gold as the sun started to descend toward the ocean. We passed a sign for the Natural Bridges State Beach Visitor Center and pulled into the lot.
“Crazy enough, I’ve actually never been to this beach,” I said.