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“I’ve been giving you all kinds of space.” Testing us both, I gripped a handful of the fabric swishing around her thighs. Step one to touching her bare skin. “Doesn’t seem like it’s getting me anywhere.”
“Since when is it supposed to? We’re friends, remember?” There was no missing the thread of desperation in her tone, even with the wind kicking up and making it harder to hear her.
I didn’t need to grasp every nuance in her voice to know how she felt. Her body was telling me with every rigid, unyielding curve. She was holding herself as far away from me as she could, practically leaning over the water.
Her reaction was a clear sign to back off. To steer clear.
Not interested, pal. Hate to break it to you.
I could almost hear her lobbing the words at me even in the heavy silence of the night. But it wasn’t completely quiet. There was the wind, and the lapping water, and my heartbeat thudding crazily in my head. In the distance, people were laughing, and music was playing, and life went on.
Out here, it had stopped. Suspended in a moment we’d never get back.
As if she sensed me moving too close, she whirled around, nailing me in the gut with her elbow then pressing her spine to the railing. Her gaze never lifted above my Adam’s apple. “Here we go. Should’ve known you’d try this. Always gotta close the deal, and so much for giving me space to make up my mind. Ha. Like you or Oliver ever give anyone a chance to say no. You cajole and wheedle and insist—”
I braced my hands on the rail on either side of her hips. “I haven’t said a word about it tonight. You’re the one who has it in your head every time you look at me.” I dropped my voice. “Speaking of, why don’t you try doing that?”
“How am I supposed to not think about it? You didn’t ask me to to go for takeout or on vacation. Hell, you didn’t even ask me to have a crazy fling, as insane as that would be.”
“Alison. Look at me.”
Her eyes flickered up to mine and away, holding on some far off spot while the lights danced along the gold of her irises. She might not be able to meet my gaze for long, but I was riveted on hers. On how she couldn’t seem to take a full breath that didn’t shudder out between her parted lips. I didn’t look lower because I couldn’t. One glimpse of those perfect tits straining the cotton bodice of her dress and I’d be a goner.
When she didn’t make an effort to shift her focus to my face, I gripped her chin in fingers I deliberately kept gentle. I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was.
Hell, any more than I was too at this moment. So much hung in the balance, far more than contracts and deals and egg meets sperm.
“I’m not forcing your hand,” I said quietly, staring at her eyes though she wouldn’t look any higher than my mouth. “I told you what I want, what is important to me and why. Now the ball’s in your court.”
“You can’t make a move like this based on the whims of a three-year-old. It’s not logical. She wants a puppy too. Is that next?”
“Maybe, but puppies are easier to get my hands on than babies. And I’d rather like to see what a combination of our DNA would look like. Gold eyes, maybe, crazy temper, a slightly hysterical laugh? Should I invest in earplugs?”
“Ugh. You’re impossible.” She nudged me back, and I went, but only far enough for her to move to the opposite railing. “Laurie’s going to change her mind, decide she doesn’t want a sibling after all, and then what? My birth canal isn’t the customer service counter at Macy’s. You’ll be stuck with the kid.”
Though my temper jumped to life, I leaned back on the railing. Perhaps if I adopted a relaxed pose, the rest of me would follow suit. “Mind keeping your voice down? There’s not many people out right now, but there’s enough.”
“Are you kidding me? It’s storming. They can’t hear us.” As if she’d called down the rain, lightning forked through the sky and thunder rumbled in the distance.
“Okay, keep screaming. I’m cool with it. And guess what, Lawrence, I want the child too. To complete my family. Not that my family isn’t complete now, but I want another baby. Is that so crazy? If I was a woman, no one would be questioning why I’m doing this.”
“Wrong. Big time wrong. They’d be thinking you couldn’t get a man and wanted a love substitute.”
“Well, that’s not entirely wrong. I can’t get a man, but I have to admit I haven’t tried.”
Her lips twitched. “You’re such a jackass.”
“Yeah, and I can see why you’re wary about crossing streams with me. Hamilton men aren’t easy to take on. Why we all end up divorced and bitter, or in the case of my twin, just the bitter part.” I moved toward Ally, boxing her in again neatly against the rail. Some part of me enjoyed doing that far too much. “Why I’m giving you an escape hatch. Do the deed, make the baby, escape while you can.”
Her lips trembled. “That’s not why at all. You just want the kid, not a woman.”
“Oh, I can assure you that’s not true, especially right now.” I tipped up her chin. “God did me a favor by blinding me to your beauty all these years. Otherwise I would’ve had you under me before we made it out of high school.”
She rolled her eyes. “Do these lines work on other women? Because gotta say, I’m not falling for them—”
My mouth covered hers
just as thunder shook the sky one more time, but the crack wasn’t enough to disguise her moan. She lifted her hands up to my chest and I didn’t press for more, just kept my lips against hers, sucking down her staccato breaths while I gave her the moment to accede or shove me back.
