by Alexa Riley
“You’re so damn tempting, Brendan,” she said when she’d broken off the kiss. “I’ve never been able to resist you.”
As much as he wanted to take her by the hand and lead her back to his hotel room, he just pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled. “Kate and Brittany will be looking for you.”
As if they’d read his mind, her phone chimed and she rolled her eyes. “Message received.”
“I’ll be around if they get distracted again,” he said.
“I feel silly, texting you just to get a kiss. I’m sure you have better things to do.”
He shook his head, cupping her chin in his fingers. “No, I don’t. There’s nothing better than kissing you.”
Her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink as her phone chimed a second time. “Then kiss me again because I have to go.”
He kissed her and then took a big step back, so he wouldn’t be tempted to try to change her mind. After sighing, she gave him a small wave and walked away, looking at her phone screen. Then she looked back at him, and he winked.
A little over twenty-four hours, he thought. He’d get by on stolen kisses for that long, and then he’d have her all to himself for dinner. He was almost sure he’d make it.
Chapter Seven
Hangovers sucked, Del thought as she lifted her fourth cup of coffee to her mouth. That was one part of the college experience she didn’t miss, though the hours spent laughing with Kate and Brittany made up for it.
She didn’t even know what time they’d finally gone to sleep. Kate, of course, had nodded off first. Then, at some point, Del and Brittany must have passed out on the other bed because she’d woken up to piercing sunlight shining in the window and Brittany’s head on her shoulder.
Two hours later, they were in the quietest restaurant they could find, eating a breakfast that didn’t bode well for the bride’s gown fitting and drinking coffee as fast as their server could refill the mugs.
“Have you seen Brendan this morning?” Kate asked, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. They’d both been in the room when Del had fished her phone out of the bedcovers and seen the text messages from the night before.
Apparently the half-dozen times she’d snuck away from her friends to kiss Brendan hadn’t been enough, judging by the text she’d sent him well after midnight.
Where are you now?
In bed. Where are you?
In Kate’s room. Want to meet in the lobby and have sex under the big Christmas tree?
Yes. There had been a break and then a new text bubble before she could respond. How much have you had to drink?
All the drinks.
She’d groaned when she read that, and then realized her friends had crept up behind her and were reading over her shoulder, because they both burst into laughter.
Stay in Kate’s room and we’ll have sex under the big Christmas tree another time.
I’m setting a reminder in my phone.
Okay. You’re going to stay in Kate’s room the rest of the night, right?
Yes, since you don’t want to have sex with me. We’re eating nachos.
Eat the nachos and go to sleep. Don’t leave Kate’s room and I’ll see you in the morning.
“I haven’t seen him yet,” Del told them. “Just a text to tell him we were alive and going to find breakfast. He recommended huevos rancheros because they go well with nachos.”
When her friends had finished laughing at her for the second time and they’d paid the bill, they decided to wander around the shops again for a while. They’d had their fill of gambling and nothing about the flashing lights and loud sounds appealed to them. And because none of them had gone through as much money as they’d thought they would, they could each do a little more shopping.
We’re going to do some more shopping, she text-messaged to Brendan. And then I’ll have to help them pack because the room’s a mess. I might not get to see you before dinner.
I’m resting my leg, so I’ll just watch TV until you’re ready.
She frowned and stopped walking. Are you okay?
Yes. The muscle’s sore and I walked a lot yesterday. But I’ll be fine.
Okay. I’ll text you when I’m free for dinner.
I’ll be waiting. We can meet at the big Christmas tree.
Del felt the heat in her cheeks again. Kate and Brittany had stopped walking when she did and, since they were staring at her, didn’t miss it. When she read the text to them, they laughed some more and then dragged her into the overpriced makeup store.
Hours later, Del had mixed feelings about saying goodbye to her best friends. Because she was staying to have dinner, Del had put her suitcase in her SUV and moved it to the casino’s day lot. They’d arranged for late checkout, though, so their cars were waiting in valet parking for them. She walked out with them and they all exchanged hugs.
They’d had a good time and part of wished her they could have gotten away from work and family longer. But they’d be together again in less than a week for Kate’s wedding.
And Brendan was waiting for her.
Because she no longer had a room, Del made do with a lobby restroom to brush her hair and touch up her lip gloss while butterflies danced in her stomach. It was dumb, she told herself. It was Brendan.
But this wasn’t giving herself permission to use an old fling for guaranteed great sex. Nor was it sex fueled by the excitement and adrenaline of the fight or stolen kisses in a casino because it was fun. This was a date. Like a real-relationship kind of date, and that made her nervous.
They’d spent the weekend away from the real world, but after the meal, they’d both be returning to their regular lives and Del wasn’t sure where it would go from there. The thought of picking up where they’d left off, only to have him run again, was too painful to contemplate.
Before she could change her mind, she pulled out her phone. I’m ready when you are.
The response was immediate, as if he’d been waiting for her text with phone in hand. I’ll meet you at the big Christmas tree in ten minutes.
He was there in five, and she laughed when he kissed her and then gave a pointed nod toward the Christmas tree.
“I’m sorry about the text messages,” she said. “I’ve never sent drunk texts before, so it was a shock when I read them this morning.”
“I enjoyed them.” He took her hand. “I also would have enjoyed meeting you here last night, but I think you would have regretted having sex in the hotel lobby more than you regret the texts.”
She couldn’t even imagine. “Thank you for not taking me up on the offer.”
“I probably would have gotten stage fright anyway.” He took her hand and started walking. “It was hard not to camp outside Kate’s door and make sure you didn’t go wandering the casino, though.”
“We had just enough to drink downstairs that having room service bring us a lot of champagne seemed like a good idea.”
He laughed, and then pointed to a sign for an Irish pub up ahead. “I couldn’t make regular reservations because I wasn’t sure what time you’d be, but I finally took Janie up on her offer to let her know if I needed anything. They’ve been saving us a table.”
The restaurant was incredibly loud and dimly lit, but the table the hostess led them to was all the way in the back, and fairly quiet. Del smiled at the sign that said Reserved for Brendan Quinn.
“One of the perks of dating an MMA fighter?” she asked.
Brendan snorted. “If it is, it might be the only one. I’m trying not to imagine what your family would think now, adding fighting to the list of things they weren’t looking for in a potential in-law.”
“I think they’d be fine with it,” Del said, thinking about how genuinely sorry her father had looked when she’d talked to him.
&nb
sp; They both ordered coffee since they’d be driving, and then ordered meals that made Del wince at the thought of the calories. It had been all well and good to make fun of Kate and her impending gown fitting, but she had a maid of honor dress hanging in her closet she needed to fit into.
“I don’t know if I’ll be fighting much longer anyway,” Brendan said when the server left.
“I hope it’s not because of me,” she said. “Or my family. As exciting as Friday night was, it would be weird for me to watch you fight like that a lot, but if it’s part of who you are, then that’s okay.”
“It’s not part of who I am. It’s part of a hole in my life I tried to fill after I left you. It’s how I coped.”
“And you don’t need it anymore?”
He looked at her across the table for a long time before shaking his head. “I hope not. Do I?”
The way he turned the question on her made her sit back in her chair. Even though she knew she’d just spoken as if it was a done deal that their relationship had a future, she’d caught that he was still worried about what her father would think of him. And she couldn’t stop the unwelcome doubt that crept into her mind. “I don’t know, Brendan. You rejected me last night, you know.”
He arched an eyebrow, and she knew he’d caught her attempt to deflect the conversation with humor. “When the reminder you set comes up on your calendar, I’ll be there.”
She laughed, resisting the urge to check to see whether she actually had entered a reminder to have sex with Brendan under the big Christmas tree. If she had, at some point in the future, she was going to get a notice that would either be really funny or really painful.
“I’m thinking about giving up fighting mostly because I’m getting too old to let guys beat the crap out of me for grins,” he said, smiling at her.
She felt both relief and disappointment at the change in the conversation’s tone, even though she was the one who’d dodged the question. “Do you have a contract, for like a certain amount of fights?”
He told her he didn’t, and then they talked about his training for a while. And the fighting. Then they talked about her job and her apartment. When their food came, they kept talking, pausing to take bites now and then.
She remembered how, when they’d been together before, they could spend hours talking about anything under the sun. They rarely argued over a topic because they had similar taste in everything from books to politics to movies, but they differed enough to make the conversations interesting.
As the time ticked away and they ordered desserts they mostly ignored, she realized how much she’d missed talking to Brendan. Sure, she’d missed his touch and the way he could heat her blood with just a look. But she’d missed talking to him just as much.
“You have a four-hour drive ahead of you,” she said when the server had already cleared the table and taken Brendan’s money and was only returning to bring them coffee refills.
“At least I won’t have any trouble staying awake,” he said. “I think we’ve had an entire pot each.”
“Still, it’s going to be so late when you get there.”
He sighed, pushing his empty cup away. “I know. I don’t want to go, though.”
“If I didn’t have to work tomorrow, I’d talk you into staying. And no, I can’t call in sick because I took Friday off this week and I’m taking two days off besides Christmas next week.”
“I’m supposed to go to my cousin’s tomorrow so we can put some miles on the snowmobile.” He shook his head. “I wish I could take you with me. You always loved going out on the sled with me.”
“You need to get to the camp early enough to sleep, then. And maybe I can take some time off later in January and you can take me sledding.”
He gave her a heated look across the table. “You should put a reminder in your phone, because I’ll hold you to that.”
“I will.” She pushed back her chair and stood because she knew they could literally sit there all night talking, or until they were thrown out. She didn’t want him out on the snowmobile with no sleep.
“Let’s hit the restrooms and then I’ll walk you to your car,” he said.
She didn’t bother trying to wave off the offer. Brendan had always walked her to her car, and he always made sure it would start before he left her. And she would take the extra ten or fifteen minutes the walk would give her with him.
He held her hand as they walked through the casino that would lead to the garage where she was parked. They walked slowly, not speaking, and she steeled herself for saying goodbye to him without crying.
And she did okay until they reached her SUV and he pulled her into his arms. She thought for a second he was going to kiss her, but he wrapped her in his embrace and hugged her hard. With her arms around his waist, she held on tight.
“I can’t believe it’s only been three nights and I’m already going to miss you,” she said.
“I’ve been missing you for six years,” he said quietly. “And I know it was my own damn fault, but it’s the truth.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” She took a deep breath and pulled away. “You’re going to have to walk away or we’ll say goodbye all night.”
“I don’t want to, but you’re right.” He kissed her, his mouth lingering on hers. “I’ll talk to you soon. There’s no cell signal or internet at the camp, but I’ll call you as soon as I get back to Boston.”
“I’ll be waiting.” She gave him a smile, but it was a little shaky.
She got in and started her engine, knowing he would stay until she was underway. He’d always been that way. Knowing that prolonging her departure any more would just drag out the goodbye and increase the chances she’d start bawling, she put the SUV in Reverse and backed out.
Once she’d put it in Drive, Brendan waved, and then he turned and walked away. Her vision shimmered and she swiped at her eyes. Finding her way out of the casino parking would be hard enough without crying.
And she’d talk to him soon. He’d call her in a few days, and she had a wedding to get through. And then the holidays. Her life would be so full, she’d probably barely have time to miss him.
But as she neared the end of the aisle and glanced in her rearview mirror to see Brendan watching her leave with his hands shoved in his pockets, she knew that was a lie. She was going to miss him even more now than she had for the last six years.
* * *
Shortly before noon the next day, Brendan pulled into his cousin’s driveway and killed the engine. It was about an hour from the cabin—which had finally warmed up thanks to the roaring fire he’d built in the woodstove—to Scott’s house, but the drive was worth it for a day out on the snowmobile trails. While they didn’t manage it every year, they always tried to sneak away for a day sometime during the week before Christmas, when nobody really cared about having electrical work done on their property.
Scott’s wife, Chloe, opened the door, and Brendan smiled at the silver glitter sparkling in her hair and on her face. “You doing a practice run for a New Year’s Eve party?”
She rolled her eyes as a German shepherd pushed past her legs to get to him. “I wish. We’re having craft time. It’s the first and last time we’ve done a glitter craft.”
Brendan crouched to say hi to the dog and give him a good neck scratch. “Hey, Kojak.”
“Scott’s in the kitchen with the boys. It was my turn to hide in the bathroom and mutter bad words under my breath.”
Brendan laughed. “It can’t be that bad.”
“You know what makes glitter stick to foam balls? Glue. Lots and lots of glue.”
He followed her into the kitchen, where two-and four-year-old boys were seated at the table while Scott hovered over them, grimacing. “Not so much glue, Johnny.”
“Glue makes the glitter stick, Daddy,”
the four-year-old argued.
“It’s going to take that glue four days to dry, though.”
“Bwendan!” The two-year-old, Hunter, had spotted him and he waved, flinging glitter off his hands like it was fairy dust.
“Oh, thank God,” Scott muttered.
“Hey,” Chloe said. “Whose idea was it for the boys to make balls like the Times Square one for New Year’s?”
“Your mother’s,” he shot back. “She saw it on that website, remember?”
“True. But which one of us just smiled and nodded and which one of us said that was a great idea and told the boys about it?”
“All done,” Johnny declared, holding up what looked like a tiny baseball dipped in glittery white soup.
“It’s lovely,” Chloe told him. “Daddy can help you clean up before he leaves with Brendan.”
She gave her husband a smile and a kiss, picked a paperback up off the kitchen counter and, after giving Brendan a little wave, disappeared into the other room.
Brendan looked at the carnage on the kitchen table. “You’re an electrician. You couldn’t come up with some kind of emergency to get you out of this?”
“It’s too small a town for that. I’d get caught.” Scott grinned as the boys went to the sink to wash their hands. “And, believe it or not, it sounded fun.”
That didn’t surprise Brendan at all. As soon as he’d heard Chloe was pregnant the first time, he’d known Scott would make a great dad and he hadn’t been wrong. She did some kind of graphics work on the computer from home, so when Scott could schedule some time between electrical jobs, they’d visit the condo she still owned in Boston. While he didn’t get to see his other cousin, Lanie, or her family as much up here, Brendan got to spend a lot of time with Scott, Chloe and the boys in the city.
“Let’s get this cleaned up so we can put on some miles,” Brendan said, pushing up his sleeves.
