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His eyes flickered to my mouth, then quickly back up. “I am getting there, though.”
Marcus was mature beyond his years, yes. Always responsible. Making sure Ry didn’t live off pizza. He’d always be there to give us a ride to places when my parents were occupied.
He’d helped Rylan and me choose a college when my parents were too busy working eighty-hour weeks.
That didn’t mean he was old. I loved him. He was just the right age.
“Please.” Needing a reprieve from his intensity, I rolled my eyes. “You won’t be an old man when you’re eighty, Dr. Kingston. You’re…” Perfect. “Not old.”
“It’s Marcus,” he corrected me.
“See?” I pointed out. Feeling more at ease in his presence, I let my arms fall from my torso to my sides. “Dr. Kingston is old. Marcus isn’t.”
An unrecognizable emotion flashed across his face.
“Typical Leighton, kind and polite. That doesn’t change the fact I’m forty.” Marcus beckoned me to him with his finger. “Come here.”
I lost the ability to breathe at his command. Come here? Come here and?
Was this finally the moment he admitted his undying love for me?
Rylan.
She’d be devastated if we’d surprise her like this. If her dad’s arms would wrap around me and his lips would sear mine in a mind-numbing kiss.
He’d never do that to her. What was I even thinking?
“Umm.”
His eyebrow cocked. Another second of silence would make this situation awkward.
“I don’t know how to swim.” I pinched my lips, hiding the triumphant smile at my excuse.
“That’s exactly why I told you to come here.” Marcus’s words were a lasso he tossed and caught my brain with.
His eyes and penetrating glare were tugging me forward.
I didn’t move. Until I did.
“I don’t understand.” Water sloshed onto my thighs and below my ass as I sat on the ledge. My feet were in the water regardless of what I understood or not.
Water scared me. I never got in. And yet, here I was.
“Next year, the both of you will leave for New York.”
We discussed the move two years before either Ry or I landed a job there.
It was only temporary for Rylan. In five years, she’d come back to Santa Barbara with Milo as her husband. They’d have babies. Live in a house down the street from her dad.
I, on the other hand, hadn’t been so sure I’d ever return. The idea of living far from my best friend and consequently her dad tightened my chest. But leaving my unrequited crush behind was what I needed. Even at the cost of missing out on barbecues and birthdays with my best friend.
“We will.” I gulped as Marcus slid to where I was sitting. “There’s time. Lots of it.”
He gathered water in his palm and let the drops cascade down my knee. Such a harmless gesture. Such an erotic one.
“Time flies. I’m not getting any younger, as I mentioned. I’d like to help you, Leigh, before I get too…old.” He pushed off the ledge and into the deep water. “We’ll do this together. I can help you. That’s what I do. Help people cope with their anxieties.”
Another one of my past mistakes was thinking Marcus’s offer was innocent. I blatantly ignored the dark, inviting edge of his tone.
