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He turned to her with a smile.
She smiled back, but she was uncomfortable, he could tell.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just … Is this wrong, to do this? Am I a terrible person? You know, letting them think that I want to talk business with you when they don’t know …” Her cheeks turned pink. “They don’t know what happened last night.”
He reached out to touch her arm, then let his hand fall away. It probably wasn’t the wisest move for him to touch her even in a friendly manner. He had no idea how many people around here would recognize him or her and know either Russ or his mom.
“Do you think I’m a terrible person?”
She shook her head rapidly. “Of course not.” She gave him a wry smile. “I wouldn’t be here with you if I did, would I?”
He had to smile back. “No. But we’re in this together. If this makes you a terrible person, then it makes me one, too. I know it’s not ideal, but what else are we supposed to do? Spending the evening hanging out with them wouldn’t have been any better. At least this way, we’re not pretending that we don’t know each other in front of them, and this will give us a chance to figure out what we want to do.”
Her hazel eyes didn’t shine in the way he’d already grown used to when she looked up at him. “What do you want to do? I …” She looked away before looking back at him. “I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I’m going to do it anyway. At first, all I was thinking about was getting another night. You know, you and me? But … Maybe we shouldn’t?”
Bentley’s heart sank. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about getting another night with her, but now that she said it, he knew she had a point. He’d struggled with the fact that hewanted to turn their one-night deal into a two-night deal. Now, he had to face the fact that one night or two wasn’t the issue.
The issue was that however many nights they decided they wanted, they weren’t going to be able to just say goodbye and walk away afterward. They were going to be part of each other’s lives going forward.
It wasn’t fair of him to make her say it first, but he had to know. “Are you saying that you don’t want to?”
She shook her head slowly. “No. I’m not. I feel like that’s exactly what I should be saying, but I don’t want to.” She bit down on her bottom lip and looked up into his eyes. “But talk about complicated.”
“It is. It’s way more complicated than either of us bargained for. But let’s not stand out here talking about it. Why don’t we go on up? The first thing we need to do is figure out what we’re going to do tonight. Then, we can decide how we want to handle this going forward.”
She let out a short laugh. “Not to put too fine a point on it, but aren’t they both the same thing? Isn’t it the same decision? Doesn’t what we do tonight affect how we handle things going forward?”
“You’re right. I suppose it does.”
She shrugged at him and smiled through pursed lips. “And you’re also right; we’re not going to figure it out standing around here.”
~ ~ ~
Alyssa spotted him as soon as she stepped inside the restaurant. He was hard to miss; he was just that hot. His dark hair was still a little damp from the shower, and that just madeher want to run her fingers through it. He was wearing an olive-green button-down shirt and dark blue jeans – nothing dressy but he still stood out. She wasn’t sure that he’d be able to pull off blending in if he tried – he just drew your eye without even trying.
He was leaning against the bar, talking to Kenzie. That made her heart skitter in her chest. Not because she was worried about what he might say, more because she didn’t know what Kenzie would have to say. She knew that Kenzie was friendly with Ria. It had made her laugh to think of the very proper Ria being friends with Kenzie; they couldn’t be more different. Now, it made her nervous.
As she started making her way to them, Bentley turned as if he’d sensed her presence. Her breath caught in her chest when he smiled at her. Wow! She couldn’t believe that a guy like him was interested in her. The smile that had spread itself across her face faded when reality elbowed its way back in. It wasn’t quite so hard to believe the irony of the fact that for the first time in her life she’d met a really good guy, but he’d only gone and turned out to be her soon-to-be stepbrother.
Kenzie grinned at her as she neared the bar. “Hey, Lizzie.” She jerked her head toward Bentley. “Didn’t I tell you?”
“Didn’t you tell me what?”
Kenzie laughed. “That you should go for it.”
Alyssa smiled at Bentley. “I take it you haven’t said anything. Do you want to tell her or should I?”
She loved the way he smiled back at her. It made her feel like they really were a team. “What are we telling her? That I know your name isn’t Lizzie?”
She laughed at the look on Kenzie’s face. “Or we could tell her that I know your name isn’t Lee.”
Kenzie’s eyes grew wide. She looked at Bentley. “Help a girl out here, would ya? I totally get why you would give a different name, too. What I don’t get is why you’ve both admitted it so quickly.” She let out one of her raunchy laughs. “I mean, the weekend is still young; Saturday night is still young. You’ve got until morning before you need to confess anything, either of you.”
Alyssa made a face at her. “Neither of us admitted it. We were forced to face it this morning.”
Kenzie raised her eyebrows. “How so?”
