the folding contraption she had set Clementine in.
Every muscle in my body flexed as soon as we hit the sidewalk. It was one thing to be alone with Elle; it was entirely another to be out in public. I could feel the thudding in my chest. My fingers were white knuckled wrapped around the handles of the stroller. When a gust of wind blew across my neck, I stiffened even more. With a glance from side to side, I quickly pushed across the street and toward the entrance to the Garden. Making sure Elle could keep up, I stopped and took her hand, placing it with mine on the stroller handle, and she didn’t pull away.
I liked the warmth of her skin near mine.
As soon as we hit one of the entrances and entered the Public Garden, I felt a wave of relief. We looked like every other couple out for a Sunday morning walk to enjoy the breaking weather and admire the early buds of the magnolia trees.
Slowing the pace, I stopped at the first monument we came across.
“William Ellery Channing,” Elle read and glanced at me.
“He was one of our country’s foremost Unitarian ministers.”
She raised a quizzical brow.
I pushed forward. “Hey, I had to come here every year on school field trips. Whether I cared to know or not, I had to learn the name of every monument and why they’re here.”
She laughed.
I liked the sound.
We strolled a bit and stopped at the 9/11 memorial. Knowing that needed no explanation, I let her glance at it for a moment and I looked too. When she was ready, she urged me forward.
I noticed something about Elle: if we pretended to be two people getting to know one another and let go of all the shit that was really going on, she was relaxed. Sure, the sexual tension was still there, but I knew that wasn’t going anywhere no matter what we did unless what we were doing was fucking, which we weren’t. Even now, the way my skin felt heated where her hand was touching mine, I knew she felt it as much as I did.
She leaned in closer when I veered toward the footbridge.
I pointed. “Look, Clementine, the ducks.”
The excitement in my voice had Elle’s head snapping toward me in surprise.
I shrugged. “What? I can’t be excited about ducks?”
She laughed. “I like this side of you.”
I looked at her with an eyebrow slightly tilted. Quizzical. “There’s no other side of me.”
She let her thumb slip around mine, and I felt the intimacy of this minor connection almost as if she’d wrapped her arms around me. “If you say so, but just so you know, I think it’s cute.”
Just yards from the base of the bridge, I stopped and gave her a chaste kiss. It was as if I was compelled. I couldn’t help myself. When we started walking again, I watched the rise and fall of her shoulders as she tried to catch her breath. We affected each other in the most intense way. I, too, had to intentionally relax my breathing.
The three of us stood in the middle of the footbridge and gazed over the railing for the longest time. The joy Clementine radiated at seeing the ducks was contagious, and something inside me had me pulling Elle closer as the little girl stood between us.
Not wanting the moment to end, I led us to a place I thought they would both like—the Duckling Sculpture. And I was right. Excitement gleamed in both their faces and Clementine squealed in delight. The statue was made of bronze and featured nine ducks: Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings.
The fact that I remembered that from my childhood blew me away.
But what blew me away even more was that no matter how wrong this thing was between us, right now it had never felt more right.
ELLE
I stared at that mouth. Those lips . . .
Oh my God.
My heart was beating so fast.
My breathing felt erratic.
He was so masculine. So sexy. So attractive.
Did he know it?
I didn’t think he did.
It wasn’t just the way he walked, or talked, or looked. It was his body language. His mannerisms. The ease in which he moved. It was everything.
We were strolling back to the hotel and talking about the Boston Red Sox. Mid-sentence, he looked over at me through the fringe of his lashes and smiled. It was devastating. Charming. “Don’t you agree?” He asked.
I was melting. That look warmed me all the way to