Chiara’s pupils expanded and I almost groaned at the way color swept up her cheeks. Alright, so she’d picked up on what I was thinking, and she didn’t look averse to the idea. I tucked that knowledge away and instead reached for her hand that rested on her thigh. The split in her dress meant my fingers skated against bare, heated flesh. She gasped as my fingers wound with hers, my thumb touching the skin of her thigh. I didn’t bother to take my eyes off her, happy to drown in the desire I saw swirling there. I could feed off that look for weeks—months—and still want more.
I slid my thumb back and forth over her skin and refused to look away from her, too ensnared in the way her breathing became uneven and her wide eyes continued to look at me with a combination of desire and uncertainty. She swallowed, and my attention fell to the movement of her throat, suddenly needing to lean closer and nip at her neck, to drag the scent of her into my lungs and pull her in close.
The need to mark her in some way grew, my mind running over scenarios to get her alone for a few minutes and exactly how much of her I could explore.
I didn’t realize until she let my name out on an unsteady whisper that I’d leaned in closer to her to do just that.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, but there wasn’t a single ounce of protest in her voice.
I drew in a shaky breath. “Getting closer,” I murmured.
“Closer?” Her voice was quiet, almost non-existent.
“When I’m with a woman, Ara, I don’t shy away from physical affection,” I answered, my voice rough with restraint.
My eyes met hers once more, and the war in her gaze faded as desire took hold. She didn’t move back, she didn’t ask me to stop, and I leaned closer. The memory of her lips when we were upstairs only fueled this crazy need for her. It hadn’t even been a kiss, just a mere brush of lips, but I wanted more. Ineededmore. I couldn’t remember a time when I wanted to touch someone as badly as I ached to touch her. I wanted to see if we still had the same powerful chemistry we’d had years ago.
“Flynn?”
The sound of my name from down the table pulled me up justmillimetersfrom her mouth, and we both stilled. Chiara’s eyes widened and more heat flooded her cheeks, this time out of embarrassment of being caught than a want of me.
“Wanna stop making out with my best friend for a sec and join the conversation?” Sofia asked, laughter in her voice. Chiara’s eyes widened further. I smirked and leaned forward to press a quick kiss to her lips before pulling away, a self-satisfied grin on my face. From their point of view, it must have looked like we were kissing and notalmostkissing.
“Sorry, couldn’t help myself,” I replied, leaning back in my chair and snagging my beer before downing several large mouthfuls.
Chiara gently tried to tug her hand from mine, but I refused to let go and instead placed our joined hands on the tabletop in full view.
“Okay, I need to know…when andhowdid this happen?” Kate asked. She seemed to follow in Sofia’s footsteps with whatever she did in life. She was a good person, but a little wilder than her other friends.
I took my time putting my beer bottle down and looked at Ara with a small smile. We’d studied up for this moment. Now was the time to put it all out there and make it believable.
“Ara and I started talking a little when I openedRangers Ridge,” I began as we’d planned. “She saw an advertisement for it whichincluded a picture of me, and she reached out to congratulate me and see how things were going.”
Chiara cleared her throat and sat up, and I was oddly relieved when she didn’t try and take her hand back.
“Everything just kind of… snowballed from there. Eventually, we decided to catch up for dinner and drinks. After that first dinner, we realized our friendship had the potential for more, but we didn’t want to ruin what we had or make things complicated, so we kind of… let things be for a long time,” she continued.
“I knewsheknew I wanted more with her, and I was pretty sure she wanted me too, but we were aware of how our relationship might complicate certain factors of our lives, so we didn’t pursue anything for a long time. We still talked all the time and met up whenever we could,” I continued, keeping the details vague but still believable.
“Neither of you said how you felt?” Uncle Trevor asked.
I shrugged. “I started to, but she told me to stop, that once I said the words, I wouldn’t be able to take them back and we’d be forced to make a decision. And she wasn’t ready for anything to change yet. So, I said nothing.”
“So… what changed?” Aunt Carol asked.
I grinned down at Ara, and she squirmed for a moment, looking uncomfortable but also as if she were fighting back a laugh. She had protested this part of the story, but I’d refused to let it go. It added a level of humor to our story that hopefully the others would cling to without focusing on other details.
“Come on, Angel, tell them,” I encouraged.
Chiara rolled her eyes, but her smile ruined any attempt at annoyance. “He found a way to tell me without actually saying the words out loud. HeLove Actually’d me.”
“He what?” came from several people at the table.
“You know that scene inLove Actuallywith the guy doing the big cards for Keira Knightly as he explains that he loves her butknows they can never be?” she continued.
Sofia sucked in a large breath, and Kate did a little dance in her seat, eyes alight with amazement.
“You seriously did that?” Kate asked.
