“Okay, okay. So bossy,” she hissed, but I heard a smile in her voice. “Give me an hour.”
“I can do that. See you soon.”
I’d spent so long trying to somehow will away the affect PJ had on me, but I was done fighting the impossible. Maybe others would think it was wrong, and I probably would make the same ignorant judgment of a twenty-six-year-old man and an eighteen-year-old girl—a girl he’d known since the day she was born—falling for each other. But when I’d kissed her and she sighed into my mouth, as if she’d been waiting for my kiss for her entire life, it was nothing but right.
An hour later, I pulled up in front of the Garcias’ driveway, relieved as fuck it was empty. The annoying thing about hiding something, even if unintentionally, is that you were always on edge. Sneaking her across the street unnoticed would be a challenge, but I’d figure that out later. My only worry at that moment was if PJ would like the birthday present I’d just picked up for her.
When she’d turned sixteen, I’d bought her a sketch pad and charcoal pencils since she was always drawing something, and I still remember her eyes filling with tears as she’d said thank you. When I’d told her “you’re welcome,” my gaze caught hers, lingering a few inappropriate moments too long. That’s when everything had shifted and I’d become veryawareof PJ. I’d notice her enter and leave a room, fighting like hell to tear my eyes from the sway of her hips and how fucking beautiful she looked. But she’d been a kid, and what the hell was I doing leering in the first place?
I wasn’t surprised she’d wanted to go away to art school after she graduated.
Away.
I’m ashamed to admit how relieved I’d been when Jack told me. The temptation to touch her wouldn’t be as strong, or intensify like it was, if she and her petite, curvy body were out of state. Now, the word made my stomach sink. We were doomed to be complicated, weren’t we?
“Hey,” PJ chirped as she climbed into my SUV. “Dad has a double shift, and Mom is out with Aunt Kate. You can breathe out now.” Her auburn hair poured across her bare shoulders as she fastened her seat belt. As usual, my eyes raked down her body, over the pale blue strapless dress that left just enough smooth, olive skin exposed to drive me crazy. She sat straight up and looked toward the road without glancing in my direction.
I cupped her neck and kissed her. Hard. I didn’t care if neighbors saw us or if they reported back to her parents. PJ stiffened at first and then melted into my arms, her fingers sifting through my hair as she whimpered into my mouth.
“Someone could see. Are you sure you’re okay with that?” she murmured, breathless, against my lips, trying to pull back from the kiss, but I wouldn’t let her.
“That people think you belong to me? Very fucking okay.” I nibbled down her neck and dragged open-mouthed kisses across her collar bone. “Because that’s what you are, Patricia. Mine.” I bit her earlobe and smiled at the chuckle vibrating against my lips.
I covered her mouth with mine again, stopping before I pulled her back onto my lap and had a repeat of last night’s activities in broad daylight.
“This is nuts, right?” She panted against my neck when we pulled apart. “For it to be this intense, this fast?”
“Maybe it is fast, but not for us, baby.” I took her face into my hands. “For us, it’s time.”
* * *
When we arrived at the restaurant, I grabbed her hand to help her out of my truck and didn’t let go until the hostess led us to a table. I caught a raised brow from PJ from behind her menu.
“What’s wrong?” I nudged her foot under the table. “Why are you eyeballing me?” I winked.
“You’re a little…clingy today.” She held my gaze as she took a sip of water, and her lips on the ridge of the glass was enough to put me into a trance.
“Well, I need to make sure all the turned heads in this place know that you’re with someone.” My lips curved until her smile faded.
“I missed you. After I opened my big stupid mouth and you cut me off, I hated you and missed you like crazy at the same time. Well, I didn’t hate you. I could never hate you,” she whispered as her voice dropped. “But I was really mad at you.” She gave me a half smile that squeezed my chest.
“I know,” I whispered. “I hated me, too. But … at the time, I thought it was the only way.” I reached across the table to take her hand. “I thought if I let you down easy and lied, what I felt for you would go away. But it didn’t.”
She nodded, not meeting my eyes, as she perused the menu.
“Do you know how hard it was? The torture of keeping my eyes off you every time we were in the same room? Every day, you became more beautiful, and every fucking day, I had to remind myself of all the reasons why I couldn’t have you.”
She dropped the menu, her glossy gaze finally on me.
“That day you told me how you felt, I wanted you all the more. You had guts, fire. You were braver than I ever could be. I wanted to grab you, kiss the hell out of you, and claim you right there. You … you’re gorgeous and tough, and I love that. Why I couldn’t let anyone else take you. And I won’t.”
She dropped her gaze back to the menu, a beautiful blush creeping up her cheeks. “They’re going to kill us.”
“Well, killme.” I shrugged. “It’s … not going to be easy for a while.”
Or ever.I blinked away the intrusive thought.
Her eyes darted from mine as she nodded. All the obstacles paraded through my mind: her father, her brother, our mothers were best friends. With our lives already so tangled together,beingtogether made it all a thousand times more complicated.
