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“Do you want one more walk by the water?”
She nodded happily, making him smile.
“I won’t keep you long, I just wanted to say a proper goodbye for now.”
She stopped walking and looked up into his eyes. “Is it just for now? If you’ve changed your mind and you want it to be a real goodbye, you can just tell me, you know.”
It made him sad that she was already doubting, but he understood why. He tugged her wrist, pulling her toward him until he could close his arms around her. Once she was pressed up against him, and they were touching from their knees to their chests, he brought one hand up to tangle in her hair. He smiled as he let his other hand slide down to cup her ass.
“I haven’t changed my mind. Part of me feels like I should, but I seriously doubt it’s going to happen. I’m trying to be smart about this, but I’m struggling.”
Her eyes shone as they looked up into his. “What would not smart look like?”
He had to chuckle at the mischief in her eyes. “Not smart would be abandoning your car here and flying you home with me. Not smart would be blowing off my trip to New York and coming home with you instead.” He leaned his head down until his forehead was resting against hers and smiled as he looked into her eyes. “I have a feeling that I’m going to be not smart about you all too soon, but for now I’m at least trying.”
She gripped his forearms and rolled up on her toes to press a kiss to his lips. “I have a feeling that you might make me stupid, too.”
“You could never be stupid. We might not be making the smartest decisions here, but you could never be stupid. You’re a smart, beautiful lady, and I want to get to know you better.”
He lowered his head and claimed her mouth in a kiss that he hoped could tell her way more than he dared to say in words just yet. It wasn’t that he couldn’t find the words, just that they surprised the hell out of him, and he didn’t want them to scare her.
He loved the way her fingers stroked the back of his head as she kissed him. He opened his eyes as shivers raced down his spine. He caught a glimpse of two figures up on the road above the beach. He wasn’t thrilled at the thought of people watching them kiss, but it didn’t bother him enough to stop him from lowering his head for more. Alyssa didn’t hold anything back with her kisses; there was no pretense or façade with her. That wasn’t something that he was used to, but it was definitely part of her appeal.
When he finally lifted his head, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look and saw a couple jogging on the road up above the beach. They’d already passed by, their figures retreating rapidly. They looked like an older couple, but they were in good shape. The man was tall and muscular, and the woman ran with an ease of an athlete in her black leggings with flashes of neon pink.
He brought his gaze back to Alyssa. It didn’t matter that those people had apparently stopped to gawk at them. All that mattered was that he only had a few minutes left before they would have to say goodbye. He tightened his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, wondering as he did why he kept doing that.
She smiled up at him. “I know it’s weird; we haven’t even known each other for forty-eight hours yet, but when I drive away from here, I’m going to miss you.”
He brushed his fingers over her lips. “I guess it is weird, but I’m going to miss you too.”
As he lowered his lips to hers again, he made a silent promise to them both that they wouldn’t have to miss each other for too long if he could help it.
Chapter Ten
Alyssa stood in front of the windows, staring out at the apartment building across the way. It wasn’t a terrible view, but she couldn’t help thinking back to the view of the lake from her dad’s house – and from Bentley’s balcony. She loved it there. She pressed her head against the cool glass. Try as she might, she wasn’t fooling herself. It wasn’t her dad’s place or the lake that was playing on her mind since she’d come home. It was Bentley. She had to smile – Lee.
She’d joked with him that Lizzie and Lee could be their bedroom names, but now she was wondering if they’d have need for bedroom names. She hadn’t heard from him since she’d come home. Although, she hadn’t expected to. He’d told her that he would be in New York this week meeting with distributors. And she had a busy week herself.
The first couple of days of this new job had gone well. This client was a tech company. She’d discovered that she enjoyed working with a younger crowd. All the members of the management team she’d met so far were around her own age. It was a refreshing change from the clients she used to work with at her old firm.
She turned away from the window and stared around at the boxes that were neatly stacked beside the sofa. She’d been looking forward to this move. She was proud of herself. She’d lived in this apartment ever since she came to the city after college. She’d had a couple of roommates over the last few years, but she’d managed the place by herself for the last six months.
Now, she was doing well for herself, and she decided that it was time to move more up market. Ever since she’d touredthe new apartment, it had made her heart beat faster whenever she thought about it. It was new, and modern, and it had an amazing view. She was still looking forward to the move, but the excitement seemed to have been eclipsed somewhat.
Since she’d gotten back from her visit to the lake, she’d gotten used to her heart beating faster, but it was when she thought about Bentley, not when she thought about the apartment.
She rushed toward her phone when it started to ring. She really needed to get over that. It wasn’t likely to be Bentley, no matter how much she wished it was.
She wished even harder that it could be him when she saw the nameMumon the screen.
She let it ring a couple more times as she sucked in a deep breath and pulled herself together. As tempting as it was to let the call go to voicemail, it was better to get it over with.
“Hiya, Mum.”
“Hi, Alyssa. How are you?”
“I’m great, thanks. How are you?”
