Simply Being Belle (21 page)

“What?”

He didn’t answer
and she wondered what he was thinking, but rather than ask him, she opted to
kiss him instead.  He responded to her kiss, matching its intensity, until they
both finally parted, practically gasping for air. 

“I needed that!” he
declared.  He scrubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw.  “I also need a shave and
a shower.”

“I … can’t argue
with that,” she teased.

“Can I come back
when I’m done?” he asked eagerly, raking his eyes over her suggestively. 

“Only if you mind
your manners,” she quipped.

“What’s the fun in
that?”

She grinned in
response as he kissed her on the lips again, turned, and jogged to his car.

Belle slipped a
change of clothes into her backpack, along with a couple granola bars and
bottled water.  Last night, when Dare had persuaded her to finally accompany
him on a beach trip, she had initially been hesitant.  There was so much to be
done around her place.  But he had been so persistent.  And, she had to admit,
she could probably use a day away from the myriad pressing responsibilities in
her life, particularly since she was on the cusp of an even more hectic
existence when she started back to work at Legal Aid.

As they headed to
the beach, a short two-hour drive from Lawton, Belle offered to drive part
way.  Dare declined to let her.  To her surprise, she dozed off, sleeping
practically the whole way there.  She woke suddenly when a car horn bleated
nearby. 

She glanced
around, catching Dare’s gaze.  “Almost there,” he said cheerfully.

Belle’s eyes
widened.  “I slept the whole way?”

“Nearly,” he said
with a grin.  “You obviously needed the rest.”

“So do you,” she
pointed out.  “I’m sorry.  I’ll drive back.”

“We’ll see,” he
said cheerfully.  “And here we are.”

He steered the car
into a parking lot.  Belle saw a broad expanse of sand ahead, and beyond that,
not-so-gently crashing waves.  She glanced around, noting the parking lot was flanked
by seafood restaurants on either side, and across the street behind them was a
strip mall boasting souvenir shops and a gas station. 

Dare climbed out
of the car and rounded the front.  Belle slipped out of her seat and met him. 
He locked the car with the click of his keyless entry remote, and then slipped
an arm around her waist.  “Shall we go?”

They walked across
the parking lot and to a trail that led to the sandy shoreline.  As they
stepped from the path and onto the beach, Belle glanced ahead and saw the waves
were fierce.  She glanced out beyond the surf and saw dark, threatening clouds
on the horizon.  “Looks like a storm might be brewing,” she commented.

 “Could be.  We
should get moving just in case.”

 She glanced up
into his face.  “Get moving where?” she asked curiously.

 He turned her to
her right and she gasped.  About a quarter mile away, a huge sand dune towered
over the beach.  Belle spotted several dots at varying points along the dune. 
“Are those people?” she asked incredulously.

He nodded,
grinning.  “Yep.  Are you up for a challenge?”

Since he’d put it
like that, she was certainly up for a challenge.  “Race you to the top?” she
said, meeting his gaze.

He stopped walking
and stared in her eyes.  “You think you can take me, huh?”

“Oh, I know I
can,” she teased.

“That’s what I
like—a confident woman.”

Belle cocked an
eyebrow.  “I wonder how much you’ll like me when I’m at the top of that dune,
waving down at you.”

Dare laughed and
then gathered her against him, chuckling against her soft hair.  She pulled
back and met his gaze.  He leaned forward then, taking her lips, and she
responded, not pulling back as the wind whipped her hair.  She felt herself
awash with sensation, drowning in his touch.  When they finally parted, she
felt awed by the power of their attraction.  Their eyes met and held, and
Belle’s thundering heart suddenly felt as if was beating in synchronization
with the pounding waves.  “Wow!” she said finally.

Dare grinned at
her, a triumphant gleam in his eyes.  He took her hand and they walked together
to the dune.  From a distance, the sandy mound had looked like a rather
intimidating hill, but up close and personal, it was more like a mountain. 

“Prepare for me to
leave you in the sand,” Belle taunted, turning to Dare, and swiping at the hair
that flew across her face.  He smiled and reached to tuck the tendril behind
her ear, and then to her surprise, he dashed away and up the dune. 

Belle gasped.  He
had gotten an unfair advantage.  The competitive spirit in her flared and she
started after him, matching his pace up the dune. 

At one point, he
glanced back and grinned widely.  She met his gaze and narrowed her eyes.  The
expression on her face caused him to throw his head back and laugh.

Scaling a sand
dune proved tiresome at best, agonizing at worst.  The sand was deep, and she
found herself sinking into its depths.  The activity felt much like sloshing
through molasses.  Finally, she glanced ahead and noted she was gaining on
Dare.  Hmmm. 

She would overtake
him.  She just knew it. 
One foot in front of the other
.  She repeated
the refrain over and over for some time, when to her surprise, she glanced
ahead to find him, only to discover she had somehow passed him.  She glanced
back and spied him several yards behind.  “See ya,” she called to him.

He glanced up, eyes
widening in surprise as she offered a breezy wave.  She couldn’t possibly allow
him to see that she really was struggling.  If she couldn’t manage a bit of
mind over matter, and fast, she knew she would soon collapse in the sand like
the young couple she had just passed.  And then Dare would likely pass her. 

She decided to
think about anything but how her legs were currently cramping up.  Her thoughts
turned to work—to the Monday that awaited her.  She would be back to Legal Aid
tomorrow, and she wondered again how she would manage to work there while
finishing her work at Elm Place. 

Perhaps if she
started at Legal Aid even earlier than her normal start time, she could manage
to leave early enough that several hours remained in the business day for her
to complete her projects at Elm Place.  She winced.  That wouldn’t work.  She
barely had enough time to squeeze in her Legal Aid responsibilities during the
course of an extended workday.

She had told Jacob
Biggs she would have to scale down on her work hours with him, and he had
seemed so disappointed.  She couldn’t blame him.  They had hoped to complete
the reconstruction of the complex within a six-month time frame, but she
doubted it would be possible with her working full-time elsewhere. 

She was so
engrossed in thoughts of work, her motions had taken on a robotic appearance as
she powered up the dune.  She forgot about her aching muscles and wouldn’t have
stopped for a break had Dare not called to her from several yards below.  “I
give!” he shouted.  “Belle, you’re killing me.”

“What?”  She
stopped her assault on the dune long enough to glance down at him.  She saw him
lying face down in the sand, reaching toward her with an outstretched hand like
a man lying prone in the desert after a futile search for water.

He raised his head
briefly.  “I give!” he repeated dramatically. 

Belle grinned at
him.  He looked rather pathetic lying in the sand.  She decided to climb down
to him, since it was clear she was the winner in this dune climb.  When she
reached his side, he glanced up and gave her a searching look.  “You can’t be
human,” he murmured as he dropped his cheek onto the sand again. 

She poked him in
the shoulder.  “I win.”

He raised up
slightly and nodded.  “Aren’t you exhausted?”

She considered the
question.  “I was, but…”

He glanced up,
weary but curious.  “But what?”

“I got to thinking
about work, and all the things I have to do next week, and I forgot all about
the dune.  It was a simple case of mind over matter.”

He shot her a
rueful glance.  “We’re at the beach, climbing a veritable Mount Everest, and
you’re thinking about work.”

“I can’t … help
it,” she admitted. 

Dare gave her another
searching look, and the sparkle of humor she’d seen in his eyes vanished.  “I
brought you here to take your mind off of work,” he pointed out.  “I’d hoped to
give you a little downtime.”

“Scaling Mount
Everest, as you call it, doesn’t exactly qualify as downtime,” she pointed out
in her defense.

“Point … taken,” he
said, reaching out to take her hand.  “Let’s go back.”

“We’ll do no such
thing,” she said with a horrified gasp.  “Look ahead.  We’re nearly there.” 

“To the top?”

She nodded.  “Yep. 
Let’s get going.”

Dare watched her,
noting the rosy hue in her cheeks and how the wind whipped her hair across her
face.  Her eyes sparkled.  He rose to his knees, sat back against the sand, and
met her gaze.  “We don’t have to go to the top,” he told her, reaching out to
stroke her cheek.

“I know.  I want
to.”

“Why?”

She shrugged.  “I
don’t know.  I just do.  You started this, by the way.”

He nodded.  He
had, but he was content not to finish.  “Do you always have to win?” he asked. 
“For that matter, do you always have to finish?”

Belle sighed,
realizing their conversation had shifted to serious subject matter.  No doubt he
was attempting to make a point, and she bristled.  “Well?” he prompted,
surprising her when he took her hand again and held on, as if he thought she
might bolt.  And she might very well have.

“I like to finish
what I start,” she said in her defense.  “Frankly, I don’t think that’s a bad
thing.  Besides, I’m looking forward seeing the view from the top.”

Dare surprised her
by taking her by the shoulders and turning her around to see the view before
them.  She gasped.  From their vantage point, she could see for miles.  She was
mesmerized by the crisp blue water with foamy white caps as far as the eye
could see.  “It’s beautiful,” she said, awed by the picture postcard scene
before her.

“Do you think this
view is any less beautiful than the view from the top?” he asked, watching her
intently. 

She wasn’t sure
how to answer.  She suspected anything she said wouldn’t satisfy him, so she
chose not to speak at all.

“It’s a matter of
perspective, Belle,” he continued softly.  “Life is like…”

“What?” she
snapped.  She knew she sounded curt, but was he really about to lecture her
about her work ethic?  She didn’t need it.  Not today.

He simply smiled
in response and squeezed her hand before bringing it to his lips.  “Life isn’t
a race to the finish, Belle.  And neither is this climb.”

She met his gaze,
and gave an audible sigh.  “What exactly are you trying to say?” she asked
pointedly.  “That I work too hard—that I don’t have perspective?”

He released her
hand and sat, resting his arms on his knees.  He stared out at the view,
smiling slightly.  Belle watched him in profile, feeling the familiar power of
attraction.  He was so handsome, his wind-whipped hair lending a boyish quality
to his striking face.  He turned to meet her eyes, smiling faintly.

“You do work too
hard.  That isn’t a secret.”

She gave him a
long searching look, but turned away from him, scooping up a handful of sand
and watching it drizzle between her fingers.

“I do think you
need perspective,” he said, watching her for a reaction.  “We all do at one
time or another in our lives.”

Again, she
refrained from responding. 

“I also think you
need…”  The unfinished statement hung in the air.

“What?” she
demanded finally, more sharply than she’d intended.

He grinned, and
said in a low voice, “Me.” 

He surprised her
when he reached for her and pulled her into his arms.  She startled as she
found herself sprawled across his chest, her hands braced against his powerful
pectoral muscles.  He reached up with a gentle hand and drew the hair out of
her face, then spanned one side of her face with his hand.  An awed smile
spread across his face.  “I love you, Belle.  I want a life with you.  I want
to be the one who makes you want to slow down and smell the roses.  I want to
be the one to give you perspective.  And I want you to do the same for me.”

For a breathless
moment, she watched his face, unsure how to respond.  What did she want?  And
then, to her wonderment, she knew exactly what she wanted this moment.  She wouldn’t
worry about tomorrow, or the next day.  Only this moment, and in it, she wanted
Dare’s kiss.

He didn’t
disappoint her.   

On the return trip
home from the beach, try as she might, Belle couldn’t manage to stay awake.  She
slept the whole way home and only woke up when Dare eased his car to a stop in
front of her house. 

“I’m really
sorry,” she said sleepily, smiling ruefully.  “I don’t know why I’m so tired. 
I should have let you sleep.”

“Don’t worry about
it.  You have to be tired after kicking my butt on that sand dune.”

“I did kick your
butt, didn’t I?” she teased.  “Big, strong guy like you.”

“Yep, and I’m not
ashamed to admit it,” he said.  “But … I’m sure we’ll both be regretting the
climb come tomorrow morning.”  He shifted in the seat slightly to get the kink
out of his back.  “I’m not as young as I used to be,” he complained.