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  It was such a gorgeous car!

  I took a deep breath and though, Come on, girl, you can do this! and then forced myself to climb in behind the wheel.

  “Ya sure you can handle this?” Danny asked, looking more nervous than I felt.

  “I can,” I said, not letting my nerves ruin this. “My father taught me how to drive on cars like this,” I blanched, knowing he’d never believe that, and added, “well… not as expensive as this one, but—”

  “Ye’re not exactly inspirin’ confidence in me, girlie,” Danny said.

  I blushed, nodded, and gave him a reassuring smile. “I can drive it,” I told him. “I promise.”

  ****

  The car rode like a dream.

  By the time I’d pulled into the parking area of the condo, I was in love. I wondered if I could convince Danny to sell me the car. I was glad to see that Danny had begun to enjoy the ride early on, realizing that, yes, I could definitely control the car with ease. I had been proud of my driving skills and even though I hadn’t been behind a wheel in quite some time, I hadn’t lost the skill.

  “Well, that was awesome.” Candy said, and then added, “You made this car your bitch!”

  “Yup, she really did, didn’t she?” Danny said, grinning proudly at me.

  I slid out of the car, quickly locking it as both Danny and Candy followed behind. I wondered if Jace was still sleeping, I hoped he was, honestly. He definitely needed the sleep and I didn’t want him to wake up without me. As I made my way to the elevators, I turned to see Candy and Danny standing back a bit.

  “What’s up? Aren’t you two coming up?” I asked.

  “Nah, ‘sides, ya got yerself a date to get ready for,” Danny winked.

  “Go have fun!” Candy said, waving me off.

  “Alright, thanks again, Danny,” I said, smiling. “I’m kind of in love with the car as a heads-up.”

  “Oh?” Danny raised an eyebrow. “Well, talk to Jace. I’m sure he’ll give it to ya.”

  “Huh? I thought you said you were taking care of it,” I said, confused.

  “Jace’s dad had me keep it since Jace was more fond of earning his own things,” Danny said, shrugging. “He wanted to give it to Jace, ‘specially since Michael wrecked the Firebird he’d given ‘im on his eighteenth birthday, but the boy was too damned proud. Too damned stubborn, if ya ask me, but…” he shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t get to use ‘er as much as I’d like. I don’t wanna take it out on dangerous missions, an’ let’s just say it’s too nice a car to be taking out for the sorts of dates I have.”

  “Don’t want to get all that ass-stink in the backseat?” Candy shot, then, seeming to actually hear her own words for the first time, announced, “Hey! That could mean two things,” and started laughing.

  I rolled my eyes and gave Danny an apologetic look. “Well, thanks again,” I said. “And I think I will ask Jace about it.”

  Not wanting to make Jace wait any longer in case he was awake, I turned back and stepped into the elevator. I smiled, glancing down at the keys in my hand. I hoped Jace would say yes to letting me keep the car, she really was a dream. But for now, I wanted to concentrate on the date. I still had some things to arrange, so I hoped Jace was still asleep for that too.

  As the doors open, I was happy to see that my note hadn’t gone touched and I hoped that meant Jace was still asleep. A quick glance into our room confirmed that and I made my way back to the kitchen. I began to rummage, hoping Jace would have something I could use for a picnic basket. I found a cooler and smiled, pulling it out.

  It took fifteen minutes to get everything prepared. I’d been pleasantly surprised to find that Jace had already owned swim-trunks so we wouldn’t have to make a pit-stop. I didn’t want to give him any hints. I slid our swim stuff into a large tote bag, adding towels, and sunscreen as well. When I’d finally been satisfied at what I’d packed, I decided it was time to wake Jace up. I moved back to the bedroom, sliding into bed and pressing my lips to his forehead.

  “Time to get up, sleepyhead,” I whispered.

  “Mm, do I have to?” he asked, his voice gravely with sleep.

  “Yes, I’m afraid you do,” I said, smiling. “I’ve planned out an amazing day for us.”

  “Oh? You planned one?” he asked, opening his eyes and looking at me. “How long have you been awake?”

  “Long enough to get everything ready,” I said, grinning. “Even had time to go run an errand with Danny and Candy.”

  “Shit,” he said, sitting up and running his hand through his thick hair. “Sorry, babes. I didn’t mean to sleep for so long.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, sliding out of the bed. “I’m glad you got as much sleep as you did, you needed it.”

  “Right,” he nodded. “Thanks for letting me sleep, I guess. How bad is the kitchen? Did Danny and Candy clean us out?”

  “Nope, it’s all safe and secure,” I said, laughing. “I caught them in the midst of their raid and commandeered them before they had a chance to finish.”

  “Commandeered, huh?” he asked, grinning. “And what did that entail?”

  “Guess you’ll just have to get dressed and see,” I said, grinning.

  ****

  I waited by the elevator with the tote and cooler, watching as Jace scurried to finish dressing. It didn’t take long before he was heading towards me, his eyes falling on the tote and cooler. I watched as he tried to figure out where we were going and hoped he wouldn’t be able to get much from the two items.

  “Are we going on a picnic?” he asked.

  “You’ll just have to see,” I said.

  “Alright, guess I deserve that,” he said, smiling at me as he picked up the cooler and tote bag.

  “Hey! I could’ve carried those,” I said, pouting.

  “I know,” he said, shrugging one shoulder. “I just wanted to do it for you. Do you want everyone to think I’m an asshole for forcing my girl to carry the heavy stuff?”

  I glanced at his face as he tried his best to look hurt at even the concept. I broke out into laughter at the sight and turned away, hitting the call button. He stepped up beside me, grinning and joining in the laughter.

  “Guess it does sound pretty funny, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it really does,” I said, grinning at him. “But thank you anyway.”

  “How we takin’ all this anyway?” he glanced down at the bag and cooler. “My bike’s not exactly… well, I guess we couldn’t take the bike anyway.”

  “Don’t you worry about anything, I’ll be driving,” I said, grinning mischievously.

  “You’re driving?” he blinked.

  “Oh don’t look so shocked, I do have my license, you know,” I said, stepping into the elevator after the doors finished opening.

  “Right,” he said, following after. “I just didn’t know you had a car.”

  “I didn’t,” I said. “Well, not until now. And thanks to Danny. Just wait, okay?”

  “Alright, alright,” he said, laughing.

  I smiled, glancing over at him and glad to see how excited he looked. I had wanted to surprise him with today and I could see that it was working. As the elevator doors opened, I stepped out, leading him towards the parking lot. As we got out, I could see the mixture of surprise and excitement on Jace’s face as he saw the car.

  “My father’s old…” he began.

  “Yup! Danny had been taking care of it up until now,” I said, grinning. “I hope I can take over… I mean, if you don’t mind, that is…”

  “Y-yeah,” he said, nodding and then smiled at me. “She deserves to be driven again. Sorry, I just haven’t seen this car since… well, since my father.”

  “I hope this doesn’t upset you,” I said, worried that the sight was too much for Jace.

  “Not at all,” he said, running his hand over the hood and smiled. “I really missed this vehicle, forgot Danny had it even, honestly.”

  “Danny said your dad told him to take care of
it since you had your bike, I guess,” I said. “I’m in total love with the car, I should add. My dad also had a fascination for vintage cars and this one was one of his dream cars, actually.”

  “Then I insist you keep it,” he said, smiling. “For both our fathers.”

  I nodded, loving the sentiment that much more. Sliding into the driver side, I watched as Jace slid in beside me, readjusting the seat, and commenting that he could tell Danny was the last one to have sat there. I laughed at that and turned the ignition, beginning to drive towards our destination.

  I was happy that I was able to open the car up some on the highway. She really drove like a dream. I smiled, glancing over at Jace, glad to see that he was also enjoying the drive. I continued, following the directions I had memorized earlier from my phone. Having only been to the beach with a John, I hadn’t exactly remembered how to get there. I was glad to see that it wasn’t too difficult as far directions went.

  As I took the offramp to our destination, I could see Jace’s eyes lighting in delight. He glanced over, able to see the beach at this point. I smiled, enjoying the sight of both the beach and Jace’s excitement as I turned into the public parking lot, getting a spot that I felt would be safe for the car.

  “Well, what do you think?” I asked. “I hope you like… well, hope this was okay.”

  “I love swimming,” he said, glancing over. “But my swimsuit…”

  “I got your trunks,” I grinned.

  “Damn, you really did have a lot of time to get things ready,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “Shall we go?” I said, smiling.

  He nodded and got out of the car, grabbing the tote and cooler. The beach was definitely a lot busier during the day and it took us some time to find a good spot to setup. Once we found one, I began to lay out the towels. Jace headed towards the bathrooms to get changed into his suit. I had donned my bikini under my clothes so all I had to do was slide out of my shirt and shorts. I finished getting our area setup and kneeled down, checking on the food in the cooler, glad to see that the ice hadn’t melted much.

  “Shit, Mia,” Jace said, standing by the towels. “You look amazing.”

  I smiled, standing up and glanced over at him. His tanned chest seemed to just soak in the sun, and I couldn’t help but stare. I glanced around, noticing that I wasn’t the only one seeing how good Jace looked and bit my lip.

  “Mia?”

  “Huh,” was all I was able to get out and I silently chastised myself for getting jealous from the people staring.

  “We should get some sunscreen on before we both burn,” he said, smiling. “I’ll get some on you first.”

  I watched as he stepped towards the tote-bag, snagging the lotion and began to apply some on my body. I shivered, noticing that several of the women who’d been ogling now watched, their eyes filled with jealousy at the sight. I smiled, glancing up at him and raised an eyebrow.

  “You wouldn’t happen to be doing this on purpose, would you?” I asked.

  “So what if I was?” he said, grinning. “Besides, haven’t you noticed all the men staring at you?”

  “I suppose I didn’t,” I admitted, blushing. Despite this new information, I couldn’t bring myself to feel exposed in my admittedly thin string bikini. It occurred to me that my time on the corner might have ruined me for a lack of modesty, and I wondered if I should be upset about that since I seemed unable to be upset that I was almost naked in public. Then, considering this, I asked Jace, “Do you think it’s too revealing?”

  “Why? Should I?” he answered with his own question.

  I blushed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just wondering…”

  “Do you feel like it’s too much?”

  I looked up at that, realizing there was no edge to his tone; he was sincerely asking me, not trying to lead me one way or the other, what I thought; what I felt. And what I felt…

  “No,” I said with a smile. “I like how I feel in it.”

  He smirked at that and finished with helping to get sunscreen on me and I grinned, deciding to help him as well. As I slid sunscreen on him, I watched as his eyes never left me. I smiled, relishing in how attentive Jace was with me.

  “We should probably get in the water soon,” he said.

  “Huh? Why?” I asked, glancing up.

  “Because if we don’t, I’m going to be giving these ladies a different kind of sight to ogle below,” he whispered.

  I glanced down, seeing that the bulge in his trunks was already slightly more than what it had been when he’d first emerged from the bathrooms. I shivered at the sight and nodded, throwing the lotion on the towels and headed towards the water with him. I gasped at how cold the water was and grinned over as Jace let out a quiet yelp.

  “Guess that’ll do the trick though, right?” I said, laughing softly.

  “Oh! You are enjoying this, are you?” he said, grinning.

  “What’s that look for?” I said.

  Within seconds, I was in his arms and he was carrying me through the water. I gasped, laughing and wrapped my arms around his neck. A romantic gesture turned into the worst kind of evil imaginable as he threw me out into the water when we’d reached the deeper area. I gasped as I landed in the water, swimming to the surface and coughing out some water that’d gotten up my nose.

  “You didn’t!” I gasped.

  “Oh I did,” he grinned. “Payback for laughing at me!”

  “You are the worst kind of person!” I said.

  He smiled, swimming towards me and wrapping his arms around my waist. I glanced up, wondering if this was another trick and he moved his lips to mine. I shivered, kissing him back as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

  “There’s not too many people around here,” he said, nipping at my lower lip.

  “Oh, you naughty boy, Jace,” I said, grinning.

  “What? I wasn’t thinking of going all the way or anything,” he said, grinning.

  As we moved to kiss again, I glanced over, seeing a few of the women who’d been watching having “joined” where we were swimming. I chuckled, sliding free from Jace and grinned.

  “What’s that look for?” he asked, grinning.

  Moving my hand beneath the surface, I swung around and splashed him with a huge wave of water. The splash reached over him and hit a few of the women nearby. I laughed at both Jace’s water-covered face and the women’s sputtering faces.

  “You’re just as evil,” Jace said, grinning.

  “All’s fair in love and war,” I said, batting my eyelashes.

  “And no one loves you more than me,” he said, swimming towards me and splashing me back.

  An all-out splash war began between us and I was happy to see that the women had hurried to swim away, obviously annoyed at our games as well as the fact that he’d never even seemed to notice them lingering nearby. As we finished, both dying with laughter, we decided it was a good time for lunch and made our way back to where we’d set our towels. Thankfully, despite all the kissing and fondling, the splash-war had been enough to calm down what Jace had hurried to the water to hide in the first place. I smiled, sitting down and began to hand out the food.

  “This is perfect,” Jace said, smiling. “I haven’t been here in forever.”

  “Did you used to come here a lot?” I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich.

  “Yeah,” he said, shrugging and taking his own bite. “My family used to love going to the beach together.”

  I nodded in understanding, continuing to eat my sandwich as we sat together, relaxing in the sun. I let Jace have his moment, able to see that he was deep in thought. I was glad to see that even still, his thoughts weren’t in a bad place. I smiled, leaning my head against his shoulder.

  “I’m glad I chose this place then,” I said.

  “How did you know about this place?” he asked, glancing over at me.

  “Oh, a John who was really into public sex took me here,” I admitted, blushing at
the confession.

  “Well then,” he said, laughing. “Hope I can give you some better memories here.”

  “You already are,” I said, glancing down. “Even though I wasn’t exactly in love with coming here for the John, there was something about the beach I loved. I wanted to share that with you.”

  “We should come here at night then,” Jace said, smiling. “Bet it’s quite the sight then, huh?”

  “It really is,” I said, grinning. “It wasn’t the worst experience I had. Even with the sand that got up in places that… well, places it definitely didn’t belong.”

  “I can imagine,” he laughed, hugging me against him.

  ****

  We’d spent the rest of the afternoon together at the beach and as the sun began to set, we both sat on one of the towels, watching the water. I didn’t want to leave this moment and I could tell Jace felt the same. I knew that as soon as we left, the real world would return. The world where Jace would have to leave again and return to the dangers his life placed him in.

  “I don’t want to leave,” Jace said, kissing the top of my head. “This moment seems perfect, doesn’t it?”

  “It really does,” I said, leaning against him more. “I wish it didn’t have to end either. Not when I know you have to go out again tonight. What if it isn’t just some bodies tonight?”

  “I’m bringing back-up this time,” he said, glancing down at me. “I don’t plan to do this alone again, Mia. I promise.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” I said, glancing down. “Hey, Jace… could you tell me something?”

  “Sure, anything,” he said, smiling down at me.

  “Well, I know some of the basics, I guess,” I began. “But exactly who is Papa Raven to you? I know he killed your father and brother… but it seems a lot more connected than just that.”

  “It is,” he said and I could feel him nodding against my head. “I suppose you deserve the truth, don’t you?”

  “If it’s too much, I can understand,” I said, not wanting to ruin the moment even if I was curious.