by Jill Shalvis
But he was surprised by what he saw. It was a mile and a half moderate hike up to Lands End and it wasn’t taxing. He started to get impressed when they walked past the Sutro Baths. But then they hit the coastal cliffs and bluffs, the sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge under the soft glow of a full winter moon, and it was stunning.
At the top, it was even better. Apparently one didn’t have to drive all the way to Big Sur to catch the gorgeous landscape of the Central Coast. Lands End offered that, along with the drama of windswept cypresses and cliff faces descending into the crashing ocean surf below.
Lucas looked at Molly. “I think we found our place.”
“For what?” Sadie asked and then gasped. “To get married? You two want to get married up here?”
Molly was eyeing the view, but she nodded and sent a sweet, dreamy smile to Lucas. “Definitely.”
They stood there for a while, everyone in awe of the beauty.
“We need to promise to always do this,” Elle said, staring out at the view.
Her husband, Archer, slipped an arm around her. “Feeling nostalgic?”
She just smiled.
Sadie stepped in closer. “I’m with Elle. We have to keep this up. All of us.” She turned and faced everyone. “I’m serious.” She thrust out her pinkie finger and waited.
“You want us to pinkie promise?” Caleb asked, sounding amused.
“Yes. I want all of you to pinkie promise.”
Caleb touched his pinkie finger to hers without hesitation. “You know I’m with you babe, anywhere, anytime.”
She smiled goofily at him.
Elle, Archer, Spence, and Colbie added their pinkie fingers to the mix. Lucas, Molly, Haley, and Dee did the same. Kel drew a deep breath. “I don’t think there’s going to be another full moon before I go back to Idaho,” he said. “But I’ll pinkie promise to visit when I can and come along on whatever I’m here for.” And with that, he touched his pinkie to the others.
The only one now not in the circle was Ivy, and everyone looked at her.
She shrugged, but remained back a step. “Sorry, I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
“Not a fan of midnight hikes?” Elle nodded. “No problem, we take turns deciding on our adventures. You can pick whatever you want when it’s yours.”
Ivy shook her head. “It’s not the venue. It’s the commitment.”
“You don’t like us enough to keep dating us?” Molly asked in a teasing tone.
“I’m not the going steady type of girl,” Ivy said, teasing back, but there was something in her eyes now. She wasn’t actually kidding.
“You know you fit right in with us, right?” Haley asked.
“And we all adore you,” Sadie said. “And I think you adore us too. Come on, say you’ll do it, babe. Say you’ll date us.”
Kel watched Ivy take in her friends’ expressions, and he realized she was processing the fact that these women were showing that they gave a damn about her.
He wondered if she’d never really understood that until now.
“You don’t get it,” Ivy said. “Until this place, I’ve never lived anywhere for more than a few rent cycles at best. Making friends and keeping them . . . it’s not my strong suit.”
“That’s okay,” Sadie said. “It’s our strong suit. We got you.”
Ivy didn’t look convinced and Haley took her hand. “Tell us the truth. It’s because we’re pushy and nosy, right?”
Ivy choked out a laugh. “I’ve got you all beat to hell there.” She shook her head. “But fine. Whatever. I’m in.” She thrust out her pinkie and the girls all hooked theirs with hers. “To more adventures.”
Kel couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was smiling sweetly and openly and it was a good look on her. She wore faded jeans that fit her like a glove and a white long-sleeved tee with an army green puffy down vest and her usual work boots. She’d let her hair free and it flowed past her shoulders in thick rich red waves that he wanted to sink his fingers into.
Yeah, he was in trouble when it came to her.
They all continued walking, the girls ahead, arms linked, chatting and laughing and talking the whole way.
“Nice view,” Lucas said.
“Oh yeah,” Spence said.
Kel took in the row of great asses in front of them, his gaze locked on those faded jeans, and had to agree. Great view.
The night had gotten cold enough that their breath crystalized in front of their faces, but seeing wasn’t a problem. The moon was a huge ball in the sky directly overhead, lighting the world in a blue glow that cast through the night and banished the shadows to the distance.
At the top, they sat at the ledge and ate the homemade cookies that Haley’s date, Dee, pulled from her backpack. Dee was a waitress at O’Riley’s pub, and apparently also a talented baker. “I hope no one’s allergic to warm, soft chocolatey goodness,” she said.
They then ate the most amazing chocolate chip cookies and watched the world go around. Or everyone else watched the world go around and Kel watched Ivy, sitting at his side. He could smell the scent of her shampoo and he kept straining to get another sniff. Their arms were touching and so were their thighs, and—
“Which constellation is that?” Molly asked, pointing up at the sky. “I recognize it from astrology, but can’t remember.”
No one seemed to know, and in unison, turned to Caleb.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re the resident genius,” Sadie reminded him. “You’ve got more degrees than I can count.”
“Yes, but I was mostly busy studying girls.”
Sadie rolled her eyes, but looked at Ivy. “Didn’t you say once that your brother’s an astronomy wizard?”
Ivy froze for a beat and then seemed to forcibly relax. “He’s three hours ahead.”
“You could just text him a pic and if he’s awake, he’ll solve our problem.”
Ivy hesitated and then nodded, and for some reason, Kel’s bullshit meter started to hum.
Ivy pulled out her phone and shifted very slightly, just enough that, accidental or not on her part, he couldn’t see her screen.
“Brandon’s an astronomy wizard?” he asked casually. “I thought he was an antique dealer.”
Ivy shrugged. “Astronomy is a hobby for him.”
Okay, he thought. Interesting. But then he caught a quick glimpse of her phone.
She wasn’t texting her brother. She was Googling constellations.
“Just sent him a text,” she said lightly, still working her phone, most definitely not texting but scrolling through images of constellations. “He says it’s . . . Orion.” She slid away her phone, took a breath, and looked up. She smiled at Kel.
He managed to return it, but . . . what the hell had just happened? She’d just lied right to his face and he had zero idea how to feel about that. No. Correction. He knew exactly how he felt about it.
Shitty.
He stared out into the night and wondered why the hell she’d lie about her brother? And it wasn’t like this was the only time either, he would swear she’d done it that first morning to Caleb. And just like then, no one else seemed to notice. How was it that he, the one who’d known her the least amount of time, was the only one who knew she was making shit up?
Turning his head, he went to look at her and found her eyes on his. He caught a brief flash of incredible vulnerability before it was gone.
And in that quick beat, he knew. Whatever she was up to, it had nothing to do with him. Or her friends. It was about self-preservation, and damn.
He understood that.
But for the record, he still hated it.
“Last one back to the cars buys drinks,” Haley said.
Dee smiled at her.
Haley blushed.
And just like that, it was a race. But Kel wasn’t too surprised to find everyone else immediately slowing to a walk so they could talk on the way back down.
Not Ivy though. She wa
s still flat-out running like demons were on her heels. Kel caught up with her and then had to laugh when her response was to speed up. Competitive to her sexy core. But it turned out laughing and running at the same time was a bitch on his still healing ribs, and at the bottom, he stopped and bent over at the knees to breathe through the pain.
Ivy made a point of touching the trailhead in victory before turning to him. Her smile faded. “You okay?”
“Just an old injury not fully healed.”
“Old injury?”
“It’s nothing,” he said.
“So . . . I win fair and square?”
“Yeah. You win not buying everyone drinks.” He laughed. They’d left everyone else way back in their dust. “I take it you like to win.”
“Of course. Don’t even try to tell me you don’t.”
“Oh, I do.” He stepped closer. “I also like to know things. All the things.”
She cocked her head. “Such as?”
“Such as why you didn’t really text Brandon even though you said you did.”
She was good. She didn’t show any physical reaction to this. And that in itself made him feel a little sick, because she was very good. Which not only gave him bad flashbacks to Gina, his friend and a longtime coworker who’d betrayed him without a qualm, but also his mom.
And it made him wonder what else Ivy had lied about.
“I didn’t bother texting Brandon because he never gets back to me,” she finally said and leaned back against the trailhead, letting her gaze drift down to his mouth.
He had to very carefully ignore that. “It sounds like your brother’s a guy of many talents.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
They were standing close, very close. Somehow his feet had taken him there so that they were nearly touching. Clearly his brain and body weren’t in sync. His body didn’t give a shit that she’d lied to him. “And how about you,” he murmured, watching her eyes go to half-mast from . . . his closeness? His voice? The way their bodies were straining to touch each other? “Are you a woman of many talents as well?” he murmured.
She shrugged and then reached out to brush a fallen leaf from his shoulder. Her fingers remained on him. “Maybe that’s something you should find out for yourself.”
He caught her hand in his and dipped his head to see into her eyes. “Are you trying to distract me?”
“Is it working?”
Hell, yes. “I’ve got a question,” he said.
“Okay.”
“We’re not a we?”
She bit her lower lip. “As already established, I don’t really do . . . we.”
“But we’re . . . something,” he said.
After a long hesitation, she nodded.
They were a something. He could work with that. “So let’s make a pact. No more half-truths or misdirections from either of us.”
Her gaze was on his mouth. “Are you accusing these lips of lying?”
He let out a low laugh. “There’s a whole bunch of a lot of things I’ve been thinking about doing with those gorgeous lips of yours, Trouble, but accusing them of lying wasn’t on the evening’s program.”
“Good.” Her free hand slid up his chest and around the back of his neck. “It’s my turn to ask a question now.” Her fingers slid into his hair and fisted. “I bet you’re a good kisser.”
“That wasn’t a question,” he pointed out.
She smiled. “Are you a good kisser?”
“I’m an awesome kisser.”
“Prove it,” she said, “and I’ll answer another question.”
Best deal he’d heard all day. Hell, maybe all year. He slid one arm low around her hips and his other hand up her back to cup the nape of her neck. “Just to be clear,” he whispered a fraction of an inch from her lips. “You want me to kiss you.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, but just so we’re straight . . .” He held her gaze. “No regrets.”
Her mouth quirked. “I’m not making that promise until you’ve proven you’re any good.”
He was laughing. He’d thought there was nothing he’d not seen or done, but laughing while kissing someone . . . that just might be a first.
He released her, his fingers sliding through her hair as he brought her forward for a kiss. Cupping her face in his hands, his thumbs lightly brushing against her cheeks, he kissed her. Light at first, his lips just grazing hers as he absorbed her shiver before deepening the kiss. She tasted like Dee’s chocolate chip cookies and warm sexy woman, and she was delicious.
When he broke off, she made a soft sound that might’ve been a whimper for more. But that could’ve been wishful thinking on his part. It’d been a hell of a kiss, and he’d have liked to take it much further, except that the rest of the gang was coming; he could hear their footsteps crunching through the fallen foliage and leaves, maybe a hundred yards back.
He’d have liked to have more time, a lot more time. Seemed as if maybe she felt the same. Her pulse was beating frantically at the base of her throat, but she shrugged casually.
“Not bad,” she said.
He laughed.
And she smiled. “Okay, better than not bad.”
“I know. And now I get to ask a question.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, not sounding exactly enthusiastic.
“Your friends love and adore you. Why lie to them about your brother at all? They’d understand.”
Her smile faded. Mood killed. But that was okay, because his mind had wrestled the controls back from his body.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ivy said.
“Unfortunately, I do. You’re good at compartmentalizing your life. Work in one box. Friends in another. You’ve built walls, not allowing anything to get all the way through.” He paused. “How am I doing?”
She turned and started to walk off.
Guess he was doing pretty good then. “Ivy.”
She kept going.
He caught up with her and gently turned her to face him.
“You’re a hypocrite,” she said.
“What?” he asked, surprised. “How’s that?”
“When I asked you what you were in town for, you said you were here on a break from work, helping out Caleb.”
“Yeah, and that’s true,” he said.
“You didn’t mention your mom, or that you were here to see your family.”
No, he hadn’t mentioned either of those things. But Caleb had, right in front of her, clearly making her feel like he was hiding things.
“It’s a small thing,” she said. “I know this. And we’re . . . strangers. So why would you tell me?” She shook her head, talking to herself. “Of course you wouldn’t tell me. I’m no one to you.”
Shit. The last thing he’d meant to do was make her feel unimportant. “Ivy—”
“No, it’s fine. It just felt like for a guy who hates liars, you weren’t honest with me about why you were here. And I get it, I really do. It’s none of my business. It’s just that I have some issues, and—”
“It’s not fine, I did lie by omission,” he said gently. “And I’m sorry. It’s just that sometimes it’s easier to avoid a topic than bring up old painful memories and family issues.”
She stared at him and gave a barely perceptible nod.
“I am here to help out Caleb. But yeah, there’s another reason too, and it’s one I haven’t wanted to face, much less talk about it. My family is . . . complicated. And it’s a little bit ugly. I’ve been pretending to myself that it was okay to ignore it all and just hope it goes away. I’m sorry if I came off like a jerk.”
She looked up into his eyes and he did his best to project the fact that he was being as honest as he could be.
After a few seconds, she nodded again. “I understand. A whole bunch, actually. I do a lot of pretending to myself too.” She grimaced. “And much of it is about Brandon, who isn’t the stand-up guy I like to pretend he is.”
His chest tightened, hi
s heart aching for her. For the both of them as they stared at each other for a long beat. He wasn’t sure where they stood exactly. He wasn’t sure of anything, except that he wanted his mouth on hers again.
But with everyone else catching up with them, the moment was gone.
Chapter 9
It’s not nap time
A few days later, Ivy took a kick to the back of her knee and went down.
“Oh my God,” Tae said, sounding utterly pleased with herself. “That actually worked!”
“Told you,” Tina said from above Ivy.
Ivy blew her hair from her face and pushed herself to her knees. “No, really, I’m alright, thanks for asking.”
Tae offered her a hand up. “I’m surprised I was able to catch you by surprise.”
So was Ivy. Once again, she was at the gym with the girls in kickboxing class with Tina, the gorgeous barking tyrant.
“Get up, ladies, it’s not nap time.”
Tina moved them to a row of hanging bags, which they had to kick-kick-punch in tune to one of Tina’s favorite songs—“Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa. It was a show to watch Tina sing and boogie as she moved through the room yelling encouragements at them.
“If you want to see results, you’ve got to stay with me!”
Kick-kick-punch.
“If you’re not turning up the tension, you’re only cheating yourself! I promised sweat, let’s see it!”
Kick-kick-punch.
“This is what you came for! The range makes the change!”
Ugh. Kick-kick-punch.
“Make this the best one yet!” Tina hurtled this last comment at Haley, who was drenched in sweat and looking worse for wear.
Haley gave Tina an I’m-trying smile.
“Sugar, hold up a minute.”
Haley stopped and sagged against one of the hanging bags with gratitude.
“You’re wearing a certain . . . glow,” Tina noted.
“It’s dehydration.”
Tina shook her head, studying Haley closely. “No, that’s not it.”
“I’m working my ass off?”
