Chapter Eighteen
Lily
“Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.” Vale gives me the widest Cheshire grin.
“No freaking way.” I cover my eyes and shake my head. It too ludicrous. Completely ridiculous. “You can’t possibly mean it.”
“Come on, you know you want to,” he cajoles me. “Give in to the peer pressure.”
“I’m not the one I’m worried about.” I peel my hands from my face to take in the big beefy man standing in front of me with two pair of wheeled boots slung over his shoulder. “You want to rollerblade?”
“No.” He drops down next to me on the concrete bench on the beachside promenade. Palm trees throw striped shadows over us both and the breeze ruffles his hair. “I most definitely do not want to go rollerblading. I’m doing this for you.”
It’s warm in the sun this early in the afternoon. A middle-aged woman in an orange floral mumu scatters birdseed for the greedy, cawing seagulls. Her bronze curls flutter in her face as the birds peck at the ground near her feet.
A group of twenty-something women with ice cream cones and teeny bikinis zoom past us, already partaking in the sport Vale is trying to convince me would be a good idea for us to do as a couple.
A guy with no shirt and the deepest tan I have ever seen kickflips his skateboard. His shades-wearing beagle rolls past on his own longboard.
I inhale the salt tanged smell of the ocean. The idea of Vale’s big beefy self on teensy tiny wheels is adorable, but it’s not practical. And this is a first date. Albeit a date that has been going swimmingly. First, coffee in bed with a side of sex in the shower, followed by egg and bacon sandwiches at the best deli in the city. Then a couple of hours in virtual reality before we taste tested every single donut in my favorite specialty donut shop where all the fried goodies are nut free because the owner’s son is deathly allergic. And then Vale bought me a dozen of the ones I liked best so I could continue satisfying my sweet tooth all day long. There hasn’t been a macadamia nut or awkward encounter so far.
But that might change if he straps on wheels. The last place I want to end up is the ER. Besides, how would we ever explain to Hud if Vale were to break his leg? There’s no way my brother would buy the idea that his best friend was rollerblading for fun. “Perhaps we should take a stroll on the sand instead.”
“We can do that if you want.” He places a pair of the boots in my lap. “After.”
“Have you ever done this before?” Maybe this isn’t going to be as epically disastrous as I suspect. He did grow up in California. And he did suggest I come to this spot to blade. Perhaps he used to come here and rollerblade.
He shakes his head as he toes off his shoes. “It’s like riding a bicycle, right?”
“Uh, something like that.” If said bicycle was three tiny wheels strapped to each foot. “What about ice skating?”
“Sure.” He shrugs as he pulls on one of the boots. “Once or twice.”
“When?” I frown. I don’t recall him ever joining Hud and I at the rink. “I’ve never seen you on the ice.”
“I was ten,” he admits. “All I remember was spending a lot of time with my ass on the ice.”
“And you didn’t roller skate either?” I ask.
“I was more interested in pulling the guts out of my computer and putting it back together. Creating code.”
“This isn’t going to work.” I shake my head. There’s no way.
“Strap on your rollerblades, Lil,” he says, tightening the second boot. “Unless you plan on sitting there and watching me fall on my ass multiple times.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Of course I do.” He flexes his fingers on the rim of the concrete as he tests out the fluidity of the wheels. His jaw clenches and then releases. “You’re always asking me to take you rollerblading.”
“It’s a joke, like your walker. Because you’re a geriatric.” So what if I like flying along on wheels? Find it relaxing and energizing all at the same time. That’s who I am. Vale’s not like that though. His moves are more thought out. He puts effort into being cautious. Funny that I never noticed quite how much until he showed up last night and finally made his play for me.
Whatever happened… I wonder what he was like before whatever changed the trajectory of his life. Still the same? Or more like me? My curiosity is a demanding force, but I tamp it down. If it was easy for him to talk about I would already have all the answers. Pushing him now might push him away. “I never expected you’d actually want to do it.”
“I’d do anything for you,” he says with the cheesiest puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Thank God I’m only allergic to nuts and not dairy.” I grab his cheeks and press a kiss to his mouth. “That was both awful and totally cute.”
He frowns. “You’re allergic to nuts?”
“Obviously. Why else would we go to a nut free donut bar?”
“I thought it was your favorite,” he says.
“It is. Because it’s nut free.”
“How do I not know this? Does Hud know this? Like anaphylactic bad? Or—”
“I won’t die,” I say. “I don’t need an Epi pen or anything like that. And Hud and Jane know. My face swells up and I break into hives.”
“That’s awful.”
“It’s fine.” I bump my shoulder against his arm. “As long as you don’t make any jokes about nuts being salty.”
“My nuts aren’t what I’d prefer you to have your mouth on if we’re going to go there,” he says quietly.
“Oh.” Warmth immediately pools in my belly. Saliva puddles in my mouth. I want to go there. Where his cock is in my mouth. I want to taste him. Suck him. Let him fuck me again. Or take it easier, slower like we did this morning. I glance at his lap and the outline of his bulge is visible.
He bows his head and his hair flops half over his face. “That’s not going to help with the rollerblading, is it?”
“I mean, you could use it as a rudder,” I suggest.
He laughs. “Give me a minute?”
I nod.
“Why don’t you put your rollerblades on so you can show me how it’s done?”
“I still think this is a bad idea.” I take off my shoes and place them with his before slipping on the boots and lacing them up.
“Now, you’re going to help me, aren’t you? You’re not going to leave me to work this out for myself, right?” he asks as I stand up on my wheels.
“Of course.”
“All right.” He draws in a breath before he pushes himself up.
I catch him around the waist as he wobbles.
“This is a little terrifying,” he says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders while he adjusts to his new center of gravity.
“You’ll be fine.” Since I couldn’t talk him out of it, I figure we might as well commit. Besides, it’s sweet that he wants to show me he’s willing to make an effort. A point that didn’t go unnoticed in the whole fact that he chased me across the country.