Goddamn it. I closed my eyes and admitted, “Not just in Vegas.”
“You…still?” Allie’s surprise wasn’t judgmental, just genuinely shocked. I nodded slowly, and her expression softened. She took a step closer to me. “That’s…really sweet, Luca.”
It wasn’t exactly the ideal adjective I’d hear from a woman I was painfully hard for, but it loosened the tightness in my chest anyway. She stepped even closer to me then, and the way she met my eyes made me think she wanted to kiss me. My heartbeat stuttered.
“Thanks,” I breathed, my lips mere inches from hers. “I always thought it made me sound…I don’t know. Childish. Or at least overly romantic. The guys don’t know.”
“There’s nothing childish about you,” Allie practically purred. “And the romantic thing…I don’t know. Maybe it’s the ocean, or the stars, but that seems fitting. And it makes me sort of want to kiss you.”
The stuttering in my chest became full-on racing, jagged and nervous and excited all at once. I met her gaze, the blue of her eyes like the night-cloaked ocean, and gave a short nod.
Allie softly pressed her lips to mine, and I could have sighed with the relief of it. I kissed her back, firm and undemanding, until both of our mouths opened for each other and we were sharing breath, tasting one another fully. She was just as intoxicating as she’d been in Vegas all those years ago, just as sweetly responsive against me as I wrapped her in my arms, pressed against her. I knew she could feel my erection when she rocked against me, kissing me harder, with more heat.But despite the tension amping up between us, somehow, the moment still felt pure. Sweet, just like she said. Just like she tasted.
When we broke apart, breathing unevenly and both of us smiling as our eyes explored each other’s faces, it felt like we’d traveled in time. Like I was that same younger man, still fresh from college and eager to start my life, excited and terrified all at once when the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen showed her interest in me. I blinked at Allie, and somehow, it didn’t feel quite as lame as it was when I let out a soft, “Thank you.”
“Thankyou,” she whispered back, smiling as she ducked her head in for another quick peck on my lips. Then she fell back, walking side by side with me down the sand again, and she talked as if we hadn’t had a little lip-locking interlude.
“I think it’s nice to wait for someone you’re committed to,” Allie mused aloud. “Smart too, in some ways. I mean, you can accidentally find yourself tied to someone for a lifetime if you sleep with them. Just look at what happened to me.” She gestured to herself with a wincing sort of smile, referencing her child.
“I’m not sure I’m still so sold on the commitment thing,” I blurted out without thinking.Smooth, Luca. You might as well just tell her, “Actually, if you wanted to take my V-card right now on this beach, I’d be down even if you never called me again after.”
“Not still waiting?” Allie guessed, watching my profile. I shrugged, not looking at her, just watching the thin line of white seafoam get closer to us as we walked down the beach.
“I don’t think I’ve been waiting for a while. I just…haven’t really been in that situation. None of the women I’ve gone on dates with have really struck my interest to that level.” None since Vegas anyway.
“Do I strike your interest?” Allie asked, and now it was my turn to stop walking and turn to her, needing to see her face for this. She looked so…flirtatious. Curious, expecting. God, I wanted to kiss her again.
“Of course you do,” I answered her, almost hoarse with need. It took a lot of self-control not to say,You’re probably the reason none of those other women have interested me in all this time.
“Well, if you’re ever feeling ready to take that step…I’d gladly take one for the team and help you out.” The cheeky grin that graced her face was too cute for words. I let out a small laugh, sensing that while this was partially a charitable offer, her volunteering to help me meant she really wanted it too. She’d kissed me, after all. She’d felt my hardness with what had to have been satisfaction. And there was no denying that the electric chemistry we’d had in Vegas was still there between us, crackling like a bonfire on the beach.
“Taking the fake dating thing pretty seriously,” I breathed, making Allie laugh too.
“I’d kind of forgotten about that, actually,” she admitted.
I could have sworn her cheeks were pink. She stepped closer to me, toe to toe, the ocean breeze splaying her red hair around her face in a cinematic way. Recreating the way it had looked across the pillow in that hotel room as she threw her head back in ecstasy, rocking her hips up against my teasing, devouring mouth.
“Do you…want to come back up to the house with me?” I asked her, bolder than I’d ever been. This woman made me feel confident. Made me feel like a man.
She hesitated for a brief moment that sent a bolt of panic through me like lightning, but she nodded, lacing her fingers with mine as we walked back up the beach path to the house. Excitement, anticipation, and a heavy dose of pure lust carriedme all the way up the slight incline, the minute or so walk feeling like hours, just knowing what bliss awaited me at the top.
I should have known it was too good to be true though. The second Allie and I reached the front of the beach house and started to make our way toward the porch, Cade came slamming out of the front door just as Gavin’s car practically screeched to a stop in the driveway, blocking in Allie’s own more modest car.
“Fuck,” I heard Allie whisper beside me, and then Cade was approaching us like a freight train, Gavin jumping out of his vehicle to join him in a pissed-off united front.
“What the hell, Allie? You weren’t going to tell us one of us could have a kid?” Cade asked Allie directly, his tone harsh and a little louder than he usually got. He didn’t even glance at me, at our interlocked hands, as if I didn’t exist in this moment. I squeezed Allie’s hand in mine, trying to give her some kind of support in the face of the outrage on both Cade and Gavin’s faces. But Allie let go, and no matter the connection we’d just shared on the beach, suddenly, she was alone.
Hell, we both were. And a small, bitter, mad-to-be-cockblocked part of me felt almost despondent that Allie hadchosento stand alone instead of letting me stand beside her.
14
CADE
When Gavin called me from the car on his way home from his outing with Allie, I wasn’t expecting him to tell me the biggest news I’d ever gotten in my life. Even bigger than the potential marriage situation we were all mired in now.
“Allie has a kid,” Gavin practically spat into the receiver, and my blood ran cold.
“A kid? How?—?”
