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“So w
hat should I do?” he asked her. “How can I make things right?”
“You take each day at a time. You understand that however you feel, her emotions are about ten times as big and she has no experience in dealing with them. You show her love, but you also show her that love means sometimes saying no.” She raised her eyebrows. “It also means saying yes, sometimes. And admitting when you’re wrong.”
“So you think I should tell her she can go to the movies?”
He was close enough for her to smell his cologne. She shut her eyes for a moment, trying not to get distracted. It was important, for Riley and for Nate.
Maybe, just maybe, her terrible experiences might help somebody else. And wouldn’t that be amazing after everything she’d been through?
“I don’t want to tell you what to do as a father, that’s not my place. But if you’re considering it, I could make a couple of phone calls and check that Laura’s mom really will be driving them there and back. I know pretty much everybody in Angel Sands, or at least I know somebody who knows them.”
“You’d do that?”
“After everything you’ve done for me? Of course I would.”
“Thank you.”
Every time she looked at him her heart ached a little more, remembering how perfect that kiss on the beach had been. The details were etched into her mind. The soft whisper of his breath against her lips. The silkiness of his thick, wavy hair as she threaded her fingers through it. But more than anything, she could remember the way he made her feel. The way desire and need tugged at her every time his lips touched hers.
She needed to get over this and fast. He was obviously not going to talk about it, and she wasn’t ready to open herself up and spill her guts to him. That kiss they’d shared earlier might have been the best one she’d ever had, but for him it was a mistake.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself up to standing, grabbing the crutches she’d rested on the table. “I’ll go and make some calls,” she said, needing to put some space between herself and Nate. Because right now all she could think about was that he was the best kiss she’d ever had.
* * *
Nate shut the door to his office and slumped in the black leather chair. Right now it felt like the only room where he could truly be alone. The only room that didn’t hold a high note of Ally’s fragrance, and the only one that Riley didn’t enter unless she knocked first – even at her very worst when she was rebelling against everything.
He reached down to pull out the bottom drawer, before he curled his fingers around the neck of the bottle he had stashed down there. It was still three-quarters full. He twisted the lid open to pour himself out a splash. No ice, no water, just pure bronze liquid. Lifting the glass to his mouth, he closed his eyes, tipping the whiskey in. It slipped down way too easily, warming his stomach, and he let the burn soothe him.
He could hear the occasional squeal from Riley as she spoke into her cellphone, no doubt telling her friends that her dad had relented and she was allowed to go with them to the movies. Ally had been right; banning his daughter from going out with her friends had been foolish. He didn’t want to make her life any harder than it already was.
And then there was Ally.
He shook his head and poured himself out another mouthful of whiskey, swallowing it as quickly as the first. Then he tightened the lid and put the bottle back into the drawer.
What the hell had he been thinking, kissing her? He dropped his head into his hands. It was bad enough that she was an employee, she was also more than a decade younger than him, and living with him, too. He knew how stupid it was to have feelings for her – the kind of feelings that would engulf him if he let them.
Hadn’t he learned from his mistakes with Stephanie? She had been younger too – not as young as Ally, but the difference was enough – and from the start it was clear she wanted different things than he did.
She wanted to have fun. To go out and be seen by people that mattered to her. She wanted to be a twenty-something woman, not somebody burdened by a step-daughter and all the crises and tears that were brought with it.
He and Stephanie had been at totally different stages in life. They’d both thought it didn’t matter, but it did, more than either of them had ever anticipated. Ally was even younger, and she’d want different things, too.
It could never work.
He lifted his head and leaned back on the smooth leather chair, letting a sigh escape his lips. What a damn mess he’d made of things. He’d behaved like a teenager at the beach with Ally, not thinking through the consequences. Just living in the moment, tasting the pleasure of her lips, letting desire mold his every move when common sense should have prevailed.
Yeah, well he wasn’t a teenager – far from it. He was a grown man with the ability to control himself. He’d made a mistake, given in to primal needs, but that didn’t mean he had to do it again.
How long was it until Ally’s elevator would be repaired? Just another week or so? He could hold out until then, couldn’t he? Once they weren’t stuck under the same roof things would be so much easier. He’d be able to breathe without inhaling her fragrance, to relax in his living room without his eyes being drawn to her. And maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to sleep without waking up every hour, his body damp with sweat, his heart pounding against his chest.
Two weeks maximum. He could do this.
17
“I need your help,” Riley said, walking into the living room and collapsing on the sofa next to Ally.
