Pursuit of Happiness | Taz Skylar [1]

072. to the ends of the earth

It took several days of quiet contemplation on Zoe's part before she found the courage to broach the subject of the offer that Taz had laid at her feet. They were standing on the beach so that they could watch the sun disappear over the ocean, the heels that Zoe had worn to dinner clutched in her hand so that she could feel the sand between her toes as the water washed over her feet.

"Say I say no," Zoe said quietly, staring out across the water. "What happens then?"

Taz didn't feel the need to ask what she meant. Zoe had been quiet ever since he'd asked her to move to London with him, lost in her thoughts just as often as she'd been present. It had been killing Taz, who had spent the past handful of days worrying that he'd crossed a line, that he'd pushed her too far too fast, that she was trying to find the right moment to break things off with him. The only thing that had kept him clinging to his sanity was the fact that what he had asked was no small thing. It didn't matter that it was that old instinct to shield Zoe from anything that dared to hurt her that had spurred Taz to ask her. At the end of the day, he had still asked her to uproot her entire life, everything that she had worked for and built for herself over the past five years, for him.

He couldn't expect her to come to her conclusion overnight.

"We keep going the way we have been," Taz said from where he was standing a few paces away, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his trousers. Zoe didn't look at him, and Taz watched as the wind blew over Zoe's back, picking up her hair and making it sway gently against her back.

"So nothing has to change?" Zoe asked, twisting her neck so that she could look back at him. The wind blew the soft waves of Zoe's hair into her face and she brought her hand up to tuck it behind her ear as she met Taz's gaze. Her expression was the most open it had been in days, and vulnerable, lines of stress etched into her forehead.

"Nothing has to change. Not if you don't want it to," Taz confirmed, nodding his head.

Zoe pressed her lips together and then she was turning her head away again, wrapping her arms around herself in a tight hug. Taz's heart was in his throat, but he drew his hands out of his pockets and approached her. He hesitated, his fingers itching to touch her but not wanting to push her any further than he already had. It was only when Zoe took a step back, subconsciously seeking his warmth, that Taz wrapped Zoe in his arms, letting her lean her back against his chest.

"And what happens after Jay and Bree get married? And you have to go home?" Zoe whispered, covering his hand with her own and squeezing tightly. "What happens to us then?"

"I don't know," Taz sighed, pressing his nose against Zoe's hair. Since coming to Tenerife, they'd spent so much time in and around the ocean that the smell of the salty sea air was beginning to cling to Zoe, saturating itself in her hair and her skin. The scent of it, combined with the sweet-smelling perfume that Zoe sprayed onto herself every morning, made Taz want to keep her here for as long as he possibly could.