She bit her lip, then frowned. “I hated you for a long time.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“You broke my heart.”
“I know.”
“You hurt my family. They fucking loved you.”
She might as well have stabbed me with a knife. She would never know how much I missed her family. Her mum and dad had treated me like a son, and her little brother had hero-worshipped me. He was the brother I never had, and while Lacey had found him an irritating bother at times, I loved playing football with him, showing him how to play hockey, and then having him show me the difference between hockey and the Scottish game of shinty. His parents even brought him down to watch some of my University of Glasgow hockey matches.
“Lace, you know how much I loved your family. I was a complete idiot.”
“And here you are again, all sweet, and kind, and sexy. I won’t let you do it again.”
I grinned. “You think I’m sexy?”
She lay back on the pillow and face-palmed. “Trust you to take only that word from everything I said.”
“Sexy is good. It means you want me.”
She leaned over me, fixing me in place with a heated gaze as she cupped my crotch and ran her thumb up and down, causing my cock to stiffen. “You’re right, I do want you.”
“You missed my big cock, didn’t you, Lace?”
“Maybe.” She continued to move her hand, making me harder by the second.
“Then forget everything in the past and let’s try again.”
She snapped her hand back and her gaze darkened. “No matter how good you were, Rory, I will never let you hurt me or my family again. You will never get that close. Got it?” She rolled off the bed and picked up her coat. To everyone she announced, “This was easy to organise. We go to our respective pubs until eleven, then cabs into the town, and we’ll go to The Garage for the rest of the night. I gotta go. Toodle pip.”
She hurried away without a glance back, leaving me horny and in no doubt about how she really felt. I had my work cut out if I was going to get her back. However, did I actually want her back?
The little witch sashayed out the door, and memories of her bare arse swaying out of our bedroom in my tiny flat as she would go to the kitchen for some water after one of our marathon sex sessions assaulted me.
Did I want her back? Hell yes, I did. But I had a lot of making amends to do, and I had no idea how to do it.
It was going to be a long haul, but I was determined.
Chapter 11
Lacey
I SAT IN THE ITALIAN restaurant on my own, perusing the menu and sipping the merlot I ordered after I arrived five minutes early. At seven p.m., Rory arrived, all smiles and looking sexy in a black shirt and black jeans. Would it be wrong to have sex with him for old times’ sake?
No, Lacey. Stop having sexy thoughts about your ex. Down girl.
“Hey, I have a confession to make,” he said, sitting opposite me and accepting a menu from the waitress. “I’ll have a Bud, please,” he said to the young girl. She nodded and left.
“Oh?”
“Olivia and David aren’t coming. I got you here under false pretences. We need to talk about the hen and stag dos.”
“Really?” I folded my arms over my chest and his gaze followed the action. I huffed out a breath and sat forward. “You lied.”
“A little white lie.” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Lace, I know you hate me, but we need to sort out this thing with the hen and stags. They’re lame, and our friends should go out in style. Don’t you think?”
I shook my head. “It’s only a small wedding, and it’s only two weeks away. You can’t go whoring about for a week in Ibiza.”
He threw his head back and laughed, a real belly laugh. “You’re funny. I was thinking of taking the guys laser-tagging or go-karting. Sure, I’d love a week in Ibiza, but everyone is skint. I thought you girls could have one of those spa days or something. There’s always internet deals, especially for groups.”
“I think they want a low-key event,” I argued.
“Because they don’t want to put financial pressure on people. Look, people can opt out of the activities they can’t afford, but if we get great deals, most people should be able to afford them.”
“And if the girls want to go go-karting?”
He grinned again. “Have at it, babe.”
My belly did a little flip. He hadn’t called me babe in years, yet it felt so familiar. I could hear him in my head, oh babe, I need to taste you now.
“Well?”
“Hmm?”
“You zoned out.”
“Sorry. I had a breakthrough about a ... err ... pussy ... cat.”
“R-i-i-i-ght. I love me some pussy ... cat.”
I narrowed my gaze and delved deep for indignation. “It’s a problem at work I’ve been trying to figure out. Don’t be disgusting, Rory.”
“Your face is red.”
I clamped my palms to my cheeks and sighed. “Fuck off.”
He chuckled and pulled one of my hands away from my face, lifting my knuckles to his lips and kissing them tenderly. “In your own time, you can tell me about that pussy ... cat. Until then, do you want to see some of the deals I found? Let me show you on my phone.”
Damn, why is he so perfect?
I nodded, but the waitress came up, interrupting us.
“Are you ready to order?” she asked.
“I’ll have the spaghetti and meatballs, and the lady will have carbonara, please.” He lifted an eyebrow to check that was all right. It had always been what I ordered at an Italian and still was. I inclined my head slightly.
“Of course. Any garlic bread or other sides?” the waitress asked.
“No thanks. The lady doesn’t like too much garlic.” He smiled at the waitress, who I’m sure gave a sigh, as he squeezed my hand he was still holding.
I tugged my hand away and put it under the table, pressing it against my groin which was way more excited than it should be.
Bloody traitorous body.
“Let me see these options then.”
He pulled up a few deals on his phone, flicking through them.
The spa deals looked particularly good and Olivia deserved some pampering before her big day. Rory focused on me as his thumb picked at the label of his beer bottle.
“What about all of us going bowling? I mean, they have alcohol at the alleys, and we could hire lanes for the guys and the girls. We could do our different activities, meet up for bowling, then close out the night in the pub,” I said.
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“You guys can show off your manly prowess to us girlies,” I said, putting on a fake swoon.
“So, you hens will go on a spa afternoon, and the stags will go go-karting. We’ll arrange our own food and maybe a couple of drinks in our respective pubs, then meet up for some bowling before we head into town to The Garage nightclub.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, sitting back so the waitress could place our food in front of us.
My stomach growled, and I tucked in while Rory made a mess with his tomato sauce as usual. Leaning over, I swiped some of the sauce away from his chin with my thumb and popped it in my mouth as I always used to. As my tongue swirled around my thumb, I stilled and stared at him, heat rising in my cheeks.