Gina nodded without looking at him.
Lachlan swallowed. “And you came straight here.”
Without a word, Gina tucked her legs under her and leaned against Lach. He put his arm around her and she gave him her weight. His heart beat hard in his chest but he didn’t dare move or speak, as if he might scare off a shy, wild animal.
“I never pace when I’m here,” she said after a few minutes, her voice low and sleepy.
“You’re right. You don’t.”
He studied her face in the firelight, which brought the red back to her dyed-brown hair. She looked peaceful, younger.
The woman I fell in love with. The woman I still love. My Sunshine.
She stirred and blinked quickly as if she’d just remembered where she was. She looked up at Lach and he was sure that was the end of it—she’d bolt upright and head for the door like she always did. He’d see her at Watchdog in the morning and she’d pretend like the evening had never happened. That she hadn’t let herself be vulnerable, or felt his heart pounding as he held her.
Instead she smiled. Then she kissed him.
It was a gentle, tentative kiss at first, questioning. Asking permission. She'd set the rules, and now she was breaking them.
Lach answered with a soft groan as he tasted her for the first time in years. God, how he’d wanted her, wantedthis, for so damn long. He kissed her with a mixture of hunger and tenderness, trying with every brush of his lips, every lick, every thrust of his tongue, to tell her how much he’d missed her. Craved her. Could not live without her.
Lachlan tightened his arms around Gina, pulling her closer until their bodies pressed together. Gina straddled his lap and ground down on his erection, eliciting another groan. He broke off their kiss and arched his head back as she kissed the most sensitive spot on his throat. He closed his eyes in pure bliss.
And then the soft, hungry touch of her lips disappeared.
“Gina,” he growled, opening his eyes. But he was too late, the moment was over. She stood up, motioned to Fleur, and they were gone.
* * *
She’d avoided him all day, living up to her Spooky reputation. And now, Lach would see her tonight with all their friends, celebrating an upcoming double wedding, knowing that he could have had the same with her.
Bitterness crept up the back of his throat. They needed to talk, and it was about more than about Walker and Kyla.
Lachlan got to Delia’s restaurant early but he still hadn’t beaten Gina there. And yes, she was wearing a little black dress and it was enough to drive him half out of his mind. He studied her through the plate glass window as she stood at the bar toward the back of the dining room. Delia and her wife were standing with her and they were all chatting with the bartender, who looked like too much of a flirt to Lach’s eye.
Oh stop it, old man.
Gina was laughing at something one of them had said. And what drove him the rest of the way out of his mind was how carefree she looked in the moment. A woman enjoying the company of her friends. If only they knew the pressure she was under, the double-life she maintained. Lachlan wanted to bellow at her to stop fighting and let it all go. He almost turned around just then to let her enjoy herself in peace. He knew the moment he walked in she’d be all-business, denying what happened the night before.
Denying years of their relationship.
Fuck it. I’m not running from the truth anymore.
He opened the door. Gina looked up and her face went painfully neutral. He didn’t take his eyes from hers as he crossed the room. He heard the door open behind him and she looked over his shoulder. From the way her expression softened, he knew it was Walker and Kyla.
It didn’t matter. When he got to Gina, he grabbed her arm and directed her through a door toward the kitchen in the back.
“Lachlan—”
“We need to talk.”
“After the party.”
“No. Now.” He walked her straight to the back door leading out into an alley. The metal door slammed shut and then Lachlan had Gina pressed up against it. He took only a moment to study her shining eyes and register that she wasn’t struggling before his lips found hers in a hard, hungry kiss. She reacted by sliding her long, bare leg up the outside of his until it was wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer. Her nails dug into his shoulder as she returned his kiss with double the hunger and passion he felt. He ran one hand down her side and clutched her leg, feeling her soft, creamy flesh under his rough fingers. The fingers of his other hand were entwined with hers, their hands pressed against the door over her head.
Jesus, he was this close to fucking her right here against the door in an alley as their friends gathered inside, just a few feet away. He didn’t care. Gina was his, right now. Nothing else mattered. He inched her skirt up higher and let go of her hand to grab her other leg and lift her until she was wrapped around his waist. She never stopped kissing him. He wondered if he could carry her unseen back to the SUV parked half a block down.
Fuck it. Too far. This’ll do.
