attention so consuming and dominant, I felt his intensity all the way to my soul. I didn’t know how I had survived ten years without this man, but I didn’t want to spend another day without him ever again.
As if reading my thoughts, he lifted his chin. Then he put the SUV in gear and backed out of the parking space. With the same confidence and ease that had made my heart flutter all those years ago, he handled the large vehicle as if it was second nature and drove us out of the garage and onto the darkened streets of downtown Miami.
The wind howled around us, and the traffic lights swayed, but Ronan kept the heavy vehicle steady. With the terrible weather keeping people in, it was as if we were alone in the world, and the thought made me smile.
His hand landed on my thigh. “What are you thinking?”
A memory surfaced. “You know, I never did learn to drive.”
His eyebrows drew together. “I taught you.”
I laughed. “You tried to teach me.” He’d been patient and kind and never once made me feel nervous, but all the other cars on the road were a different story. “You let me freak out behind the wheel while a million other cars drove around us honking and giving unkind hand gestures while I drove slower than my grandmother.” I shook my head at the memory.
“You knew how to drive. You just lacked confidence at the time.”
“Oh, I lacked a whole lot besides just confidence,” I admitted with humor. I was a terrible driver. “Besides, I’m still waiting to drive for when I buy a boat. Like I said back then, and I still say now, there’s a lot less traffic on the ocean.”
His expression shut down. “You said you wanted to live on the water.”
I smiled. “I remember. On a big boat with shiny white decks and sleek lines and air conditioning.” I laughed. “I liked to dream big back then.” Watching the empty street blur by, I realized how much I’d missed this. Simple things like car rides and no entourage of security and handlers and my assistants.
“Do you have a home?” he asked, interrupting my thoughts
My smiled faded. “I do not. I don’t even own my grandmother’s house anymore.” I looked out the window at the violently swaying palm fronds and wondered where he lived. “It became impractical. I was living on the road, and I wouldn’t have been able to go back there anyway. Do you still have your mother’s house?” I missed the freedom of not having fans or paparazzi follow me.
“No. Vance sold it.”
“Shame.” It was a nice house. Small, but tidy and cute. “Where do you live now?” I couldn’t picture him in an apartment or condo, but Miami Beach was expensive, and he wasn’t driving inland, he was heading toward the water.
“We’re almost there,” he evaded, turning toward the marina.
I glanced at some of the high-rises skirting the gated entrance to the docks, and my stomach churned with nerves. “You said no elevators.”
“I did.” He pulled up to a gated parking area and lowered the window to enter a code into a keypad.
Wind whipped into the SUV, and I shivered.
The gate lifted as he put the window back up and pulled into the parking area, taking a spot next to an identical SUV.
Turning the engine off, he clipped out a command. “Wait until I come get you.” He was out of the vehicle before I could reply.
The heavily tinted front passenger window of the other car went down, and Ty appeared. While Ronan spoke to him, I glanced at the high-rises behind us. No elevators would mean only a few flights, and while I was relieved, I was also suddenly so tired, I didn’t want to think about climbing stairs.
Before I set in to a proper pout, the back opened, and Ronan grabbed my bag and purse. A moment later he was opening my door and holding his hand out.
I glanced warily around the parking lot and then across the way to the closest high-rise. “I don’t usually walk this far without a security team anymore.”
“It’s not far, and you’re safe. No one followed us in or out of Luna and Associates.”
“Okay.” I took his hand and stepped down.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, he pulled me close.
But then he didn’t lead me toward the condominiums.
He led me toward another gate. In front of a dock. Then he dropped my hand and punched