AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Colin’s in my program at Claymore.”
Amusement flooded her mother’s face. “How serendipitous.”
“How indeed,” Allison muttered.
Colin’s gaze snagged hers. “Do you have a way home? I could drop you off.” Having finally extracted himself from her mother, he rested a shoulder against the doorway, his frame loose and relaxed in that way that made Allison’s heart dance against her will.
Damn him and his leaning to the ninth ring of hell.
“What a gentleman.” Her mom smiled. “This saves me a ride.”
“Perfect.” Colin straightened and stepped to Allison’s side. “I can drop you off, then head home myself.”
Her mother balked. “Where’s home?”
“Outside Providence.”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “You’re not driving four hours at two in the morning. I’m sure Allison will appreciate the company, since I’ll mostly be here.”
Allison ignored the implications of this invitation to focus on her mother. “What about work?”
“It’s my weekend off.” Her mom’s wide smile couldn’t conceal the lie. Weekends promised the best tips, and she needed the money. She never took off a weekend.
“I’ll visit him tomorrow, Ma. You go to work.” The words burned as they fell from Allison’s lips.
Her mother swallowed her in a hug. “How about if you go to sleep for now and we’ll fight about this in the morning?”
Conceding was only a step away from acquiescence but Allison was too tired. “Fine,” she muttered.
With one more tight hug, her mom headed back toward the elevator, calling over her shoulder about extra bedding in the closet and English muffins in the freezer.
Which left Allison alone to face the idea of Colin in her house. Overnight. After they’d just kissed.
Suddenly, Jed was no longer the only one with a racing heart.
Chapter 21
The night Allison first had sex with Colin could have been ripped from the pages of a movie script.
There were rose petals and soft candlelight and a fancy hotel room in Newport and they’d been in their formal wear after a posh Christmas party thrown by the father of one of Colin’s roommates.
The hotel’s balcony overlooked the ocean, and Allison could still remember the feel of the winter air pinching her cheeks and slicing across her bare shoulders as she stared out at the shoreline, smeared silver with moonlight, and the white-frothed waves dancing beyond it.
When Colin had joined her outside, he rested his back against the glass door and pulled her close, his mouth angling over hers. His hands grasped Allison’s waist, his leg nudging hers apart, while she clutched at the ends of his unwound tie to draw him in. For what felt like ages, they’d remained on the small balcony, each kiss longer and deeper, each touch more urgent.
They took their time that night, learning each other’s bodies slowly and thoroughly. Allison hadn’t been a virgin, but when Colin kissed her out of her dress, sliding his mouth down every inch of her body until she lay before him in nothing but her red silk panties and the heattinting her cheeks a similar shade, when he pulled those panties down and settled his mouth between her legs, it had been a first for her.
Allison rubbed at her temples with the heel of her hands, trying to chase the memory off. Ever since she’d kissed Colin outside the hospital, she couldn’t stop thinking about all the other times they’d kissed. And everything else they’d done.
And what that might feel like now, after all this time.
This was so bad. She was in her childhood home. Her estranged father was in the hospital. It was late. She should be going to bed, not sitting in her living room thinking about sex with Colin. He was the guy who’d broken her heart. Who’d once almost upended her academic plans. And who now stood in the way of everything she wanted all over again. The last thing she needed to do was sleep with him.
What had happened in his car was a fluke. End of story.
Allison cast her gaze around for a distraction. Something to clear her head. On the bottom shelf of the coffee table, under some old photo albums and her mother’s endless stacks of crossword puzzles, the box of her old Scrabble game peeked out.
Perfect. A way to occupy her mindandkick Colin’s ass. A twofer.
