“We’ve been having fun,” I argue. The best days and nights of my life. Except for the fact there’s always this niggle in the back of my mind that fun is all it is because he’s still unable to move past whatever happened with his ex all those years ago. While I’m falling more in love with him every day, I still have no idea how he feels about me. I’ve tried so hard not to outstep him. Tried to keep my patience and not overwhelm him with my emotions.
“You can’t turn down this promotion for fun.” She reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “You’ve worked too hard to get to this point in your career. You need to talk to him. Tell him about the promotion. Put your cards on the table, Lily. You deserve a guy who understands that you need him to choose you for more than fun. If he can’t be that guy after all these years…”
Then there’s no hope for us no matter what I decide to do about L.A. I stand up and clean off the table. Dump my uneaten food in the trash. “We better get back to the office.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Vale
“I’ve been waiting for you all day, pretty girl.” I lean across the bar to tuck her hair behind her ear. She’s so damn beautiful, it makes my chest ache. “Totally worth it.”
It’s late Friday afternoon. Too early for the cubicle loving masses to knock-off yet. Happy hour is still a couple of hours away, and the bar is quiet.
Down at the other end Arrow talks to a guy in a leather jacket who is drinking his whisky neat. It’s just the two of us tending bar at the moment. Pez is due to arrive any minute though.
“Sorry, I’ve been busy.” She slips onto a stool. “I’m working on plans for Emma Westbrook’s mansion.”
“I don’t know who that is,” I admit.
“She’s a huge deal in the health and wellness field. Runs a chain of yoga retreats around the globe. She’s only a year older than me and she’s dominating her market. She’s such an inspiration to me. Working with her is a huge deal.”
“I’m so proud of you.” I’ve missed her so damn much this week. Our schedules haven’t synced up at all, and the small amount of time we’ve managed to spend together she’s seemed distant. Like she’s pulling away. Growing bored of me. Getting over her crush as I fall harder. Please don’t let that be the case. “But I missed you. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” She puts her purse on the bar. “I have something I want to talk to you about.”
“So I gathered from your messages,” I say. “I have something to talk to you about too.”
“Oh really?” Her gaze runs down my body to where the wood hides the rest of me. Still, I feel her hot consideration. My body reacts like an attention whore. My cock thickens inside my jeans. I tactically adjust myself.
“Is my brother—”
Thinking about Hud cools me down. The conversation we had this morning where he made it more than clear that he doesn’t want me and Lily together replays in my head. That ship has sailed though. It’s too late for me to leave Lily alone. “No. He was here a while ago, but he went shopping for baby stuff.”
“Can you believe there are only a couple more weeks before the babies arrive?” She smiles and gets that faraway look in her eyes when she thinks about being an aunt.
I know she’s excited about meeting the babies. But today the light in her seems to be tempered. Actually, it has felt that way all week. “I’m going to be a godfather, aren’t I?”
“There’s a good chance.”
Hud’s going to nominate me as the guy to help scar his children. “But at least they’ll get it right when they pick you to be the twins’ godmother.”
“Those poor kids,” she says. “At least Jane is normal. Compared to the three of us. Otherwise they wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“That may be true.” But the truth is those boys will be lucky to have Hud as their dad. “He’ll be a great father.”
“He really will be. He was to me.” Something flashes in Lily’s eyes as she glances away from me and chews her lip.
Since we came home she seems to be less certain about us, and I don’t think I’ve helped the situation. “Is everything all right?”
“Of course.” She smiles brightly. “So what else could he possibly have needed to buy? When I saw him on Wednesday he said they had everything.”
“I’m not entirely sure. He said something about nipple shields and a bath thermometer.”
She leans over the bar. “Christ, he’s going to be unbearable over the next few months, isn’t he?”
“So now wouldn’t be a good time for me to throw caution to the wind?” I mirror her movement. Our faces are a mere inch apart, and I want to bridge that distance and taste her mouth despite the witnesses at the other end of the bar. Would it surprise her if I did? Would she welcome it? “And kiss you right now?”
“In front of Arrow?” Her eyes widen and her lips part.
“I don’t give a damn about Arrow.”
“I like it when you get all growly and intense.” She wets her lips. “When I know you just want to grab me.” She trails her hand along the wooden surface. “Are you thinking about laying me out on the bar so you can have your wicked way with me?”
“Fuck. I am now.” I have to take a deep breath as my cock turns to granite. I tip my head in the direction of the doors that lead into the kitchen.
She nods back. Glances at Arrow who is still busy with his friend. And then Pink Panthers her way to the double doors.
I meet her there. Take her hand and push through them. “Come on.”
“What are we doing?” she asks as we hurry along the corridor to the office.
“I need to talk to you.” I push open the door and usher her in. Shut it behind her. “Alone. With no distractions.”
“Vale, what’s going on?”
I catch her around the waist and slide my tongue into her mouth. The surprise makes her drop her purse.
“What’s gotten into you?” she asks breathlessly when I give up her lips.
“You.” I take her hand above her head. Draw a heart in the center of her palm with my thumb. Damn, I will never get enough of the way she makes me feel. “Lil, I don’t want to sneak around anymore.”
“You don’t want—”
“I want to hold your hand in public, Lil. That’s what I’m trying to say. I want to kiss you every time I see you, whether that’s on the street or at your brother’s house or right here in the bar. I’m going to talk to Hud and he’s going to be pissed.”
“Vale, maybe—”
“No, I don’t want to wait.” I suck her bottom lip between my teeth. “And he will want to murder me. He gave me hell this morning because of that Twister game.”
“At least he doesn’t know about the other game of Twister we played.” Her lips curve up. “The very special naked version.”
“Was so fucking hot,” I say.
“We could get naked right now,” she says against my mouth, her free hand stroking over my bulge.