by Carrie Elks
“So, I texted Riley last night and she told me she’s in L.A.,” Kirsten said, bringing Nate out of his thoughts. “I feel like I’m out of the loop. The last time we talked she was grounded. So what’s she doing there and how come you let her go?”
“One, she’s on a field trip. Two, because I’m the world’s best father.”
Kirsten sighed. “I need details, Nate. Tell you what, I’ll send you an email full of questions the way I do when I’m doing a practice deposition. How does that sound?”
“Horrific?”
She chuckled. “How are you doing, big brother?”
He glanced up at the mirror to look at himself. His hair was still wet from the shower he took after he finally dragged himself away from Ally. His face was freshly shaven, and in spite of the shadows beneath his eyes they somehow looked brighter than they normally did. “Good,” he told his sister. “I’m good.”
“You sound it,” she said, a smile in her voice. “I knew a change of scene would be perfect for you both.”
He glanced out of the windshield. Yeah, Angel Sands was pretty – and being close to the ocean was definitely good for the soul. But the way he was feeling had nothing to do with the beautiful beach, and everything to do with the woman who’d somehow limped her way into his life, smashing everything up and making it new again.
“Listen, I need to go and open the shop,” he told Kirsten. “I’ve got some meetings I need to prepare for. How about Riley and I Skype with you this weekend? I’ll have a bible in my hand ready to swear to tell the whole truth.”
“Skype sounds good,” Kirsten said. “I’ll have my questions ready, too. Did you want me to submit them beforehand?”
“Always.” His sister never failed to make him smile. For the briefest second he considered telling her about Ally. But then he shook his head and pushed that crazy notion away.
What would he tell her anyway? That he’d been sleeping with one of his employees? Or maybe he could tell his sister – his baby sister – that Ally wasn’t that much older than her. What was it, a year or two? If he thought she was being curious now, imagine what she’d be like with that kind of information.
Nope. Best to keep quiet about it and get on with things.
“Bye, sis.”
“Goodbye, big brother. Talk to you this weekend.”
If he’d have thought about it too much her words would have sounded like a threat. Instead, he ended the call and decided not to think about it at all.
“Hello, darling, how was your day?” Ally asked as he walked into the hallway. She was standing there waiting for him, a huge grin on her face as she held out a glass of red wine.
“What’s this for?” he asked, taking the glass. His eyes crinkled as he smiled back at her because, really, she was a sight for sore eyes after his long day. Her wavy blonde hair was down, the tips skimming the dark blue tank she was wearing. He let his eyes scan down her body, taking in the way her blue-and-white striped skirt stopped mid thigh, revealing her toned, tanned legs. Was it wrong that he wanted them wrapped around him, cast and all?
She leaned to the side, adjusting her weight on her crutch. “You’ve been working so hard, the least I can do is pour you a drink when you get home.”
“Am I in the middle of some fifties housewife fantasy?”
“Do you want to be?” Ally lifted an eyebrow. “Because I can grab you a pipe and slippers.”
“Ah, no.” He bit down a laugh and reached for her, running his fingers down her soft curls. “When it comes to relationships I prefer mine to be equal. Sometimes me on top, sometimes you.”
“Right now it’s mostly you,” she said, glancing down at her leg. “But as soon as this cast is off, then all bets are off.”
Nate blinked, trying to get the image of Ally riding him out of his brain. But it refused to disappear, sending shoots of excitement down between his legs. Jesus, he’d just got home. Couldn’t his body give him a break for a minute?
“I’ve got something to show you,” Ally said, inclining her head toward the living room. “This one took a little longer to set up, but hopefully it’s worth it.”
He followed her down the hall and through the doorway to the living room. Looking around, he tried to see what was different, but for the life of him nothing stood out.
“Not in here. Out there.”
He looked out of the glass doors to the terrace and blinked. There was a bed on the deck, covered with a roof of sheets, tiny little lights surrounding it, blinking on and off. In the distance, the sun was going down, painting the sky a deep purple.
“Where did that come from?” He looked back at her, bemused.
“It’s your bed. A couple of friends carried it outside for me.” She rolled her lip between her teeth.
“And you made a fort?” he asked, walking across the living room to the open doors. The warm evening breeze embraced him, a hint of salt lingering in the air. “I haven’t seen one of those for years.” He loved that she’d made it for them. There was something so sweet about it that curled around his heart.
“I thought we could sleep outside tonight,” she said from behind him. “When I was a kid my dad used to let me do it sometimes, though it was in the hills and not by the ocean.” Her voice was soft, full of memories. “There’s something amazing about the sun waking you up so you can see the first light of dawn.” She paused for a moment, as she took a deep breath. When he turned his head to look, her expression was hesitant, as though she was expecting him to laugh at her. “Riley will be home tomorrow, and my elevator will be repaired the day after that. So it’s kind of our last night together. I wanted to make it special.”
Something in her voice made him stop short. A wistfulness that wrapped around him in a silken thread, pulling tighter until he was finding it hard to breathe. “Ally, I…” He wanted to tell her that it wasn’t their last night. It was only the beginning. But would he be making promises he couldn’t keep?
He hadn’t thought about what would happen when Riley came back. Hadn’t imagined where this thing between them would go. He felt his chest contract as he remembered Stephanie and her demands. One thing he’d learned – girlfriends and bereaved teenage daughters rarely mixed.
But after the last few nights they’d had together he couldn’t bear to let her go. Every time he looked at her his heart skipped a beat.
“Maybe we should try it out,” Ally said, as though she could sense his conflict. She followed him outside, and Nate kicked his shoes off, climbing onto the mattress and scooting across. A moment later she joined him, propping her crutches against the bedframe and lifting her legs onto the bed.
They both lay back and looked up. Close up he could see the roof wasn’t a cotton sheet at all; it was a semi-transparent curtain that made the sky above them shimmer. “This is just for some privacy,” she told him, nodding up at the fabric. “When we go to sleep we can pull it off so we can see the stars in our dreams.”
“Did you do this often when you were a kid?” he asked. The need to know more about her was like an itch right at the center of him. Impossible to scratch, but he was going to try anyway. He reached out to trace his finger down her bare arm, smiling as she shivered in spite of the warm evening.
“Not that often. But when we did I used to get so excited.” The corners of her lips curled up. “I can remember Dad dragging my bed out onto the grass, letting me set it up with so many cushions you couldn’t see the covers. We’d sit outside and he’d tell me all about the different stars. My favorite story was always that of Orion. The way he boasted about killing every wild beast on Earth.” Her smile widened. “I guess I learned from an early age that pride came before a fall.” She turned her head to look at him. “Did you ever sleep out beneath the stars with Riley’s mom?”
“Natalie? No, never. She wasn’t the outdoorsy type.” He leaned over and pressed his lips to Ally’s bare shoulder. “We weren’t together for that long anyway. Just a couple of years.”
“Can I ask you what happened?” Ally was hesitant and Nate could tell. He brushed his lips to the base of her throat.
“Of course you can ask,” he said, his voice thick. “But it won’t put me in the best light.”
“Did you cheat on her?”
“No.” He frowned. “Nothing like that. I just wasn’t there for her or Riley when they needed me. Too busy building up the business. At that point I was at the shop from seven to seven every day, and Natalie was at home with a tiny baby going crazy. I kidded myself that I was doing it for all of us, but looking back I was a selfish son of a bitch. Too young to understand what Natalie needed of me. Too stupid to realize I’d made this tiny beautiful human who wanted me around. And when she gave me an ultimatum, I was cocky enough to think she would back down. So I chose the business over my family.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, his lips still pressed to Ally’s throat. He could smell her shampoo – floral and light – and a deeper note of the perfume she sometimes wore. She filled him up in a way he’d never been filled before. Made him feel needy yet peaceful too.
“It turned out I made a much better ex-husband,” he said. “And I learned to be a better father. When Riley was a little girl I’d pick her up every Friday and keep her until Sunday. Those were my favorite days of the week.”
“You took her to work with you?”
“Sometimes. But we’d done a lot of other things, too. Go to the zoo, the movies, make crazy meals together like chocolate nachos.” He smiled. “And you already know about our beauty salon nights.”
“I do.” She grinned. “And while we’re on that subject, my nails could do with some fresh polish.”
He laughed, pulling her closer against him, feeling the warmth of her skin press against his shirt. “You’ve still got your tie on,” she murmured, reaching out to unknot it with her hands. She slid it out of his collar then unfastened his top buttons. “There, that’s better.”
Curling into him, Ally slid her hand under his shirt and pressed the flat of her palm against his chest, her head nestled into the crook of his arm. He could hear her soft breaths, matching the rhythm of the waves as they hit the shore. He closed his eyes, wishing he could keep this moment forever.
“Are you hungry?” she asked, her voice muffled by his chest. “I can make us something to eat if you are.”
“Not for food, no.”
Her breath caught. “For something else?”
Yeah. Something else entirely. The only thing that left him empty and aching when he couldn’t have it. He inclined his head until his lips were almost brushing hers. Just a heartbeat away from tasting everything he wanted.
“For everything else,” he said, closing the distance between their mouths. His body began to pulse with that familiar rhythm only she knew how to play. He cupped her face with his hand, angling her so he could deepen the kiss, his tongue sliding against hers until she let out a tiny moan. “I want to taste every inch of you,” he whispered, dragging his lips across her jaw. “Then I want to do it all over again.” He lifted her tank top, pulling it over her out stretched arms and throwing it onto the deck beside them. He scooted down and pressed his lips against her belly, slowly making his way up to her perfectly rounded breasts.
God she was delicious. Falling for her would be as easy as breathing if he let himself.
It was the last night they’d be able to be this free and easy in his beachside house and Nate was determined to savor every moment of it. And from the sound of her sigh as he lifted her breast out of her bra and ran his thumb over her nipple, Ally was thinking exactly the same thing.
23
Ally pushed herself onto her elbows, frowning as she looked around her. Something had awoken her, but she couldn’t work out what it was. They were surrounded by darkness, and the air had cooled considerably. She pulled at the sheet that they’d kicked to the bottom of the mattress, tucking it around Nate who was sleeping soundly.
She had no idea what time it was. Her watch was in the living room. She didn’t have her phone either – it was somewhere in the house, forgotten thanks to an evening spent in Nate’s warm arms. Under him, next to him, even over him once or twice, with the help of his strong hands. Every muscle in her body ached deliciously, a reminder of how frantic they’d been.
The stars were bright. She looked up, pleased that they’d removed the gauze curtain when they finally finished their love-making, and saw Ursa Minor twinkling back at her. Then heard the crash of a wave as it rushed its way to shore.
She was never going to forget this night. Bringing the bed out here had been the best idea ever. And thanks to Lucas and his friend Griff popping over earlier in the evening, it had been pretty simple, too. Ember had raised her eyebrows at the request, but said nothing, though her knowing look as she left the house led Ally to believe she’d be facing an inquisition in the morning.
Not that she cared. It was so worth it.
She turned on her side, propping her chin on her hand as she watched Nate’s bare chest rising and falling with his slow breaths. His lips were slightly parted, his dark hair messed up by a combination of her fingers and the pillow as he slept. Her chest felt tight when she saw how beautiful he was. Beneath the moonlight his skin looked like it was sculpted from stone, the ridges of his muscles enhanced by the shadows cast by the sky above.
It didn’t get any better than this.
A loud bang reverberated from the driveway, bringing her out of her sweet reverie. Her heart went from zero to sixty in seconds, and she sat straight up, clutching the sheet to her chest. The motion-activated lights came on, shining down on her and Nate, though he was still in deep sleep.
She reached out to wake him up when she heard a voice.
“Ally?”
Her racing heart stopped dead. Ally slowly turned her head, holding her breath without realizing it, and saw Riley standing only a few feet away.
For a moment she was paralyzed, not a single muscle moving. And then, as though somebody had flicked a switch, her heart started hammering all over again. Was this what it was like to have a heart attack? Her fingers tightened around the sheet she was clutching against her chest – the same sheet that was pooled around Nate’s waist.
Around Riley’s dad’s waist.
“Riley,” she said, her voice ragged. “We weren’t expecting you home until tomorrow.”
Nate stirred against her but didn’t waken. Ally wanted to shake him until he did, but then Riley would see Ally touching her dad and… oh God, this was terrible.
“Riley, honey? Are you okay?” Ally asked. Riley began to shake her head, her face crumpling as tears welled in her eyes. Riley continued to shake her head but said nothing, her lips parting to gasp in oxygen. She lifted her hands up, her palms cupping each side of her face. The way she was staring at them with wide, horrified eyes reminded Ally of Munch’s The Scream.
“It’s okay…”
“Huh?” Nate muttered, finally opening his eyes. He slowly pushed himself up, taking a sharp mouthful of breath as he saw his daughter standing there.
“What are you doing?” Riley said, her voice soft at first. Then louder. “Oh my God, what’s happening here?” Her eyes widened further as she took in the pile of clothes pooled at the side of the bed. “Dad… Ally,” she whispered, her mouth falling open. “I’ve gotta go.” She turned on her heel and ran back the way she came – through the gate that led out to the driveway.
Nate tugged at the sheet, pulling it from Ally’s grasp, then let it go as soon as he realized what he’d done. “Shit.” He clambered over the mattress, grabbing his pants and pulling them over his naked body, and slid his feet into his shoes.
“I need to…”
“Go,” Ally whispered. Her stomach was churning. It was only thanks to the fact she hadn’t eaten anything for hours that she wasn’t bending over and vomiting. Nate ran across the wooden platform, calling Riley’s name, the nighttime swallowing his voice. Ally grabbed her own cl
othes, taking longer than Nate to get dressed, thanks to her cast and the fact she couldn’t run around topless.
She heard the sound of an engine, followed by the screech of wheels. By the time she’d made it across to the gate on her crutches, Nate was turning back. “She’s gone,” he said, his voice short. “I’ll follow her in my car.”
“Gone? How? Where?”
“I don’t know, Ally,” Nate said, his voice short. “I’m not a fucking mind reader.”
She blinked at the anger in his voice. Her chest felt so tight it was impossible to breathe in the lungful of air she so desperately needed. “Whose car was she in?” she asked, trying not to wince at the darkness in his eyes.
“I’ve no idea.” He shook his head again. “Christ, I can’t believe she saw that.”
Neither could Ally. Her whole body shivered at the thought. How would she have reacted if she’d seen Marnie and her dad like that as a teenager?
Pretty badly.
He reached in his pocket and pulled his phone out, frowning as he looked at the screen. “I left it on silent after my meeting,” he told her, turning it so she could see the screen.
Ten missed calls from Riley’s teacher.
“Oh God,” she whispered, covering her mouth with her hand. What the hell had happened? Her brain was too messed up to think straight.
Nate turned his back to her, his eyes as dark as the night. “I’ll call the school from the car. Stay here in case she comes back.” He pulled his shirt on, deftly fastening the buttons. “Call me if she does.”
“Okay.” There was so much more she wanted to say, but none of it sounded right to her ears. How sorry she was. How she couldn’t believe this had happened.
Somewhere deep inside was that tiny part of her that wanted to ask him why he was so angry at her, but she knew she could never ask him that.
Her hands were shaking as he walked back into the house. A few moments later she heard the slam of the door. She was still holding her breath as the car engine came to life with a roar, then the familiar sound of him reversing out of his parking spot drifted through the air. When she heard the creak of the main gates, she made her way back to the big glass doors, glancing at the messed up bed that had seemed like such a good idea only a few hours before.
