Saving Who?

Chapter 26

She dragged him into many souvenir shops and he gladly followed her. "Which do you think my nan would like." she held two wind chimes. One was the usual silver bars, the other was shells.

"I'd go for the shells. It's fun." he answered.

"Alright, now that we've got everyone something, let's go eat." she went to the counter to pay for her things.

Talen restrained himself from taking out his wallet and asking her to not to. But he knew better. She was an independent woman, and he truly respected her for that. Was it wrong for him to feel like he wanted to take care of her? He only ever felt that way about.. his angel. The girl from his e-mail. Kat and her were so similar.

He watched as she spoke to the young boy behind the counter. She enchanted him, and hell he knew that the little twerp was mesmerized by her. "Talen? You ready to go?" she asked, making him snap out of his reverie.

"I'll get that." he took the plastic bag gently from her, thankfully with no argues.

"Where shall we eat?" he asked her.

"The boy was telling me there was a shack just down the road, by the ocean. Everything is good there. You willing to try it out?"

"Yea, why not." she was in a really good mood, he noticed.

Her hair was loosely braided and her fringe swept down. His favorite part of her, her eyes, were covered by sunglasses. Those eyes could do unexplainable things to him. It was like she could see through the tough act he put on most of the time.

Just as she was abou to cross the road, he noticed a car speeding right towards the both of them, and Kat hadn't noticed. His instincts took over and he immidiately pulled her to him.

"There there brown eyes, I don't want your nana throwing me into the ocean permanently." he said to her shocked face.

"Jesus, I didn't realise the car was speeding. Thank you Talen." she said looking flustered.

"Take a deep breath. You're shocked right now." he made her sit down on the bench near the beach.

Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to put his arm around her, he slowly did that and made her lean against his chest.

"You good?" he asked once her breath settled into a steady rhythm.

She didn't want to stop leaning against him.. but she knew she'd had to eventually. So she shook her head indicating that she was alright.

Deciding to be bold, while they were walking to the shack, he put his arm around her waist and she did too. He could she her blush lightly and it delighted him. 

The shack was crowded so they decided to split up. Kat found a spot for them to sit. Not before she told Talen that he should order as much as he could and she slipped him a wad of cash.

With a heavy heart, he did pay for the meal with her money and it made him feel very unhappy.

"I can tell you're mad that I didn't let you pay for dinner." she nudged him as they strolled back to the inn.

Most tourists were now sitting at the bars, restaurants had lit candles, making the atmosphere more calm and serene.

"Glad you realised that. I just.. don't think that you should have to pay for anything when you're with me."

"Why so? It's not like.. not like I'm you're girlfriend or anything." she said feeling like crap.

Did she want to be with him? Yes, of course. But some part of her felt that he wasn't ready for that.