“Are you sure he’s your choice?” he asked her. “Vanilla can be so very dull.”
“Fuck off, Coulter,” Alec snapped.
The other dom’s laughter, although nowhere near the earth-shaking quality of Leland’s, drifted to them as he walked away and disappeared into the shadows.
“So now I’m boring and vanilla, am I?” Alec asked quietly, a razor-thin smile curving his lips.
“Julia said that—not me.”
“What were your words?” he pressed.
“I said you were sweet. Among other things.”
“Referring to the couch or the bedroom?”
“It was just girl talk,” Emily hedged.
“In that case, you should have no problem telling me.”
Emily pressed her lips together, carefully considering what to say. She didn’t want to hurt him. She just wanted to be truthful—without ruining everything.
“At this rate,” Alec said dryly, “we’ll be here all night.”
Emily’s throat tightened. She stared at the grass instead of his eyes. “I didn’t give her specifics. I just asked her why what happened on the couch was… off-the-charts, and the other… wasn’t.”
His silence settled heavy between them.
“Last night was nice, Alec. Really.”
“Sweet and nice,” he remarked, tonelessly. “What every dominant wants to hear.”
He moved closer, and she instinctively retreated a step.
“Remember, I don’t have a lot of experience to draw from.”
“Disclosure’s a good place to start. Fill me in—what experience do you have?”
She paced him step for step as he advanced, her retreat taking her off the sidewalk and onto the manicured lawn. She didn’t stop until she came up against the cool chain-link fence wreathed in fragrant vines. His hand flattened beside her head, caging her gently.
“Aside from yesterday with you, and what I witnessed here Saturday night... nothing. I’ve read a few books,” she admitted.
“If you tell me one of them wasFifty Shades, I might have to hurl myself off the dock. Gators be damned.”
She bit her lip, unwilling for him to become alligator bait.
He closed his eyes and exhaled. “So, I’m competing with fictional billionaires and their private helicopters,” he said dryly.
It didn’t seem fair, but she couldn’t deny it.
When Alec opened his eyes, they were steady and serious. “This isn’t fiction, Em. It’s real. Are you willing to explore it with me?”
Julia’s words echoed in her head:What better way to put it to the test?
Still, she wavered, the choice a crossroads. Loneliness if she didn’t try, awkwardness and potential failure if she did. And the risk of ruining their friendship just when they’d found their way back to each other.
A voice inside chided her negativity, but her past had taught her too well to expect the worst. Fear had kept her safe, yes—but also small, trapped, and alone. Where had it everactuallygotten her?
If she threw caution to the wind and jumped in with both feet, wasn’t it possible they might get what they’d both wanted all along? Something real. Something bright. Love. Happiness. A future.
