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He was right. Cole nodded slowly. “Well, I won’t be telling anyone; I don’t know a thing. I haven’t seen you in months.”
“Thanks.” He knew that he’d have to call Cole once he was back home in Napa. He needed to explain, but he didn’t think that he should do that with Alyssa and Laura standing there.
Laura smiled at Alyssa, and then her eyes widened. It was almost comical to watch. It would be comical if he and Alyssa weren’t in such a predicament.
“You’re Russ’s daughter.”
Alyssa nodded as she said, “Yes, that’s me.” She looked up at Bentley, clearly feeling uncomfortable.
He hated that, hated that she was in this situation. Okay, so, they were both in the situation. But Cole and Laura were his friends. He doubted he’d ever feel uncomfortable with them, no matter what.
He tightened his arm around her shoulders. “We’re not doing anything wrong, you know.”
She raised her eyebrows at him, and he knew exactly what she meant, but he believed what he was saying. It might be an awkward situation. They might not want their parents to know how they’d met. They might not ever want to tell them. But there was nothing inherently wrong with them seeing each other. They might, technically, become stepsiblings when his mom married Russ, but even then, it wouldn’t be wrong for them to see each other.
Alyssa pursed her lips at him and then looked at Cole and Laura. “I appreciate that you’re not going to say anything, and since you guys are obviously good friends, I’m going to ask for your opinion. Bentley says that we’re not doing anything wrong. I want to agree with him, but what do you think?”
Bentley could tell from the way Cole smiled at her that he liked her. Laura was smiling too. He had a lot of respect for her; she was the kind of strong, independent woman that he hoped to meet himself someday. He glanced at Alyssa; so was she.
“I, for one, need a bit more information before I’d feel comfortable telling you what I think.” Laura laughed. “Although, I don’t need any more information to tell you that you guys are cute together.”
Bentley rolled his eyes at Cole. He wasn’t sure that he’d ever been referred to as cute in his life before. Now, it’d been twice in one night. It didn’t bother him nearly as much as it should, perhaps because of the way it made Alyssa smile.
She pulled herself together and answered Laura’s question more seriously. “I guess the information you need to know is …” She looked up at him, and he nodded.
“My dad, Russ, he owns the gym.”
Laura nodded. “I know who he is … Oh!”
“Exactly,” said Alyssa.
“And they don’t know? Why not? Why don’t you tell them? How long have the two of you been seeing each other?”
Alyssa looked up at him again, and Bentley felt that he should be the one to answer that. He tightened his arm around her shoulders, hoping that it would reassure her. She nodded slightly, letting him know that he was okay to tell them.
“Since last night.”
Cole barked out a short laugh. Bentley could understand why, but Laura slapped his arm again.
Alyssa blew out a sigh. “Dad invited me to come visit on the same weekend that Ria had invited Bentley. They wanted us to meet and get to know each other.”
Cole was smiling at Bentley through pursed lips. Bentley knew exactly what he was thinking; that they hadn’t expectedhim to get to know Alyssa in the way that he had. He made a face at his friend.
“We didn’t know,” he explained. “We’re both staying here at the resort. We met in the bar last night.” He smiled at Alyssa. “And the rest, as they say, is history.”
Laura frowned. “So, you met before you each knew who the other was?”
Alyssa nodded.
Cole raised an eyebrow at Bentley, and again he knew what he was thinking – and he was right. They’d also slept together before they each knew who the other was.
Laura pursed her lips. “I bet that made for an interesting scene when your parents introduced you to each other.”
“You could say that,” said Alyssa.
“So, why … Oh!” Laura looked at Alyssa. “You weren’t expecting to see each other again?”
Alyssa glanced at him as she shook her head.
