I giggled and gave his shoulder a few light pats. “That’s because you’re not in LA anymore, buddy. You’re home.”
As we got to the end of the street, I stopped walking and turned to face him. “Well, thank you for the date. My place is right up here, so I’ll head home now.”
I didn’t want to risk that awkward end-of-date moment where people didn’t know whether to kiss, hug, shake hands, or simply smile and walk away. Especially not given our history. Instead of waiting for the moment to get awkward, I lifted my hand in a casual wave and walked backward to keep my eyes on his for just a few more paces before I started to turn.
Just before I completed it, I felt his fingers circle my wrist. His hold was gentle, but there was no mistaking it was him. When I looked at him over my shoulder, he was wearing a devil-may-care smirk and his eyes were alive with energy.
“We’re not even close to being done,” he said. “I’m hungry.”
I paused for a beat, knowing it was probably a better idea to turn him down and head home. Despite knowing it was the smart thing to do though, it wasn’t what I wanted. Spending time with him had been fun regardless of the more serious moments. I’d really enjoyed our day together and I wasn’t quite ready for it to end yet if it didn’t have to.
“I could eat,” I said and mentally crossed my fingers when I let him pull me down the street in the opposite direction of my apartment.
Please don’t let me not playing it safe for once end in me getting my heart broken again. Please? I didn’t quite know who I was begging, but I figured I had a better shot if it was open to everyone. I’m especially looking at you, goddesses of love. You know that isn’t what this is, right?
Chapter 17
WILLIAM
It seemed my easily available moves got stale really fucking fast in this town. I’d thought it would be nice to revisit some of our old haunts for our first fake date, but this was just ridiculous.
As had been the theme for the day, we ended up at yet another of our old hangouts for dinner. It was a burger shack right on the water, and while it’d always been good, I kind of wished I could’ve changed it up a little.
There were new places around, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to go to any of them yet, so I figured tried and true worked better. It didn’t hurt that Anna looked right at home here, with one of the restaurant’s blankets over her knees and a cold beer in front of her where we sat out on the patio.
Lights dotted the water, a cool breeze sending a ripple across the surface. The scents of grilling meat and tangy sauce hung in the air, and classic rock played over speakers that had seen better days.
Tendrils of Anna’s hair had come loose and framed her face, and her eyes shone in the light of the flickering oil lantern on the table. There was a soft smile on her lips, the same contented one that contrasted sharply to the resting bitch face of the women I’d known since leaving here.
“I hope I’m not crossing some kind of line, but you look beautiful today, Anna.” I could barely take my eyes off her, and it’d been that way since I’d picked her up. I’d just been intent on not noticing it quite as acutely as I was now. “You haven’t changed a bit since we were kids.”
There didn’t even seem to be any new lines on her face. I didn’t know how it was possible, but she seemed to have escaped the effects of time as much as this island she loved so much.
Her eyes widened, and the soft smile was replaced by a teasing one before she replied. “You have. I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever see you wearing such edgy clothes or with hair that long, but I’ll admit, you look good too.”
“Thank God you think so. Otherwise, there might have been some stylists back in LA who’d have some things to explain.” I joked, but her compliment still made me smile.
Yet again, my mind flashed involuntarily to Angelina. I didn’t remember her complimenting me once, but she’d have my head if I didn’t compliment her twenty times a day.
Why did everything with Anna feel so natural when with Angelina, in comparison, it’d felt forced and somewhat vain? Almost like we’d both been parading around in a movie of our own making.
I hadn’t even been here for very long, but the contrast between my life in LA and the one I’d left behind here was stark. All I’d ever wanted to do growing up was to leave this place, but it didn’t seem all that bad to me right now.
“What are thinking about?” Anna’s voice cut into my thoughts when she caught me zoning out. “It looked like you were pretty far away from here for a while there.”
Raking both hands through my hair, I tightened my fingers against the roots at the back of my head with my elbows sticking out to the sides. My eyes refocused on hers, finding them warm and open.
“It might be weird to answer that question honestly,” I said. “I really don’t want things to get awkward between us after how good today has been.”
“We’ve done a good job of keeping away the awkward, haven’t we?” She angled her head before reaching up and pretending to swipe a cap off her head.
When I opened my mouth to ask what she was doing, she held up a finger, pretended to grab a different cap, and fixed it on her head. Once she was done with her little show, she smiled.
“Okay, hit me. I’ve put on my friend cap. The ex-girlfriend/fake-girlfriend cap is off for now.”
I chuckled, giving my head a small shake. “I’ve forgotten how comfortable you are with being silly.”
She lifted a shoulder, pursed her lips, and shot me a pouty look. “Me? Silly? Never.”
Unexpected laughter rumbled in my chest, but I lifted my hands in surrender, and she smiled again before sitting back, dropping the act.
“Fine. Fine. You win. You’re not silly. You are doing a pretty good job of being a friend to me right now, though.”
“Thank you.” She gifted me with a beaming grin before hooking her fingers in a beckoning motion. “So hit me with it then. What was it that was having you looking so broody just now?”
“It’s Angelina,” I replied, carefully watching her expression before I continued.
Some of the light left her eyes, but not in a way that made me think she was sad or angry about me mentioning Angelina. It was more like she’d realized how serious my thoughts had been and was getting into the right frame of mind.
Her smile slipped, leaving only concern and attentiveness in her place. It was odd to be looked at like that again. I had her full attention because somehow, even after all these years and everything that had happened, she actually cared.
She still hadn’t checked her phone once, her gaze didn’t drift away from mine like she was simultaneously trying to see who else had made an appearance at the restaurant, and there wasn’t a single hint that she was annoyed or in a hurry for me to say what I needed to say just to get it over with.
It was refreshing, knowing she was not only willing to hear me out but cared enough about what I had to say that she was patiently waiting for me to formulate my thoughts into words.
Maybe it was that. Or maybe it was because I used to tell her everything and was simply sliding into old habits, but I finally spoke openly to someone about what was really going on inside my head.
“If this gets too weird for you at any point, feel free to stop me,” I said before I got into it. The last thing I needed was to alienate her by giving her more information than she was ready or willing to hear.
She nodded but there were traces of amusement on her expression as she widened her eyes at me. “Stop worrying about me, Will. I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl. If I get uncomfortable, I’ll let you know.”
I’d probably never be able not to worry about her, but I understood what she was saying. Old habits really do die hard.
“Okay, here goes.” I inhaled a deep breath, folded my arms on the table, and mentally prepared to lay my soul bare to my ex about my fiancée. Fuck, this is going to be really weird.
If she could ignore it though, then so could I. “When I met
Angelina, I really thought she was the one.”
I didn’t add that she was the first person I’d managed to feel anything for after Anna. No need to make this even weirder or more difficult than it has to be.
“She was very different from the kind of person I thought I’d end up settling down with, but she was good for me, you know?” Anna’s chin lowered to acknowledge what I’d said, but she didn’t interrupt. I wasn’t surprised. She’d always been a good listener. “Now that our engagement is falling apart and I’m back here, I’m so thoroughly confused that I don’t know my balls from my elbow.”
“Well, see, your balls are those soft, squishy, things…” She trailed off with her teasing remark when I rolled my eyes, and rested her elbow on the table before propping her chin on her open palm. “What are you confused about then?”
“Well, for starters, at this point, I’m not even really sure if we’re engaged anymore. I told her we were done, but she refused to accept it. I thought she loved me, but now I’m not so sure about that either. She came to my house the night after the news broke, supposedly to make up, and you know what she did?”
Anna shook her head, and I let out a self-deprecating chuckle while scratching my neck and ducking my head. “She tried to fuck me. Apparently, she doesn’t see a problem with what she did and thought make-up sex would do the trick.”
I didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone’s eyes as wide as Anna’s went in that moment. “Are you serious?”
“I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.”
She licked her lips, shaking her head as if she was trying to clear it. “Okay, so that’s adding to the confusion about your engagement. What’s so confusing about being back here?”
How easy it is to be with you in comparison to my supposed fiancée. “Things just seem so much simpler here, but this isn’t my life anymore. I guess it’s just making me wonder if she was ever really right for me to begin with.”
Anna stared at me with her eyes slightly narrowed in thought for a long minute before she said anything. “Do you want advice, or do you just want someone to hear you out? I can do either.”
“If I remember correctly, you always gave good advice,” I said, stupidly eager to hear what she thought about everything I’d just told her.
She straightened in her chair, shifting to face me fully as her sparkling green-gold gaze came to a rest on mine. “I think you deserve better than a girl who doesn’t know how good of a man she has. If you’re not sure if she’s the right one, she probably isn’t.”
Her tongue came out to wet her lips, but I could tell she wasn’t done yet. She was just taking a breather, probably to find a more diplomatic way to say whatever she was thinking. “She blew her chance with you, even more so because of her inability to take responsibility for her mistake on a serious level. I hope you know you’re worth more than that, Will.”
Reaching across the table, she laid her hand lightly over my wrist. It was less intimate than taking my hand, while still offering some measure of support. I appreciated the gesture, especially since it was sincere, rather than the seductive kind of grab of someone with ulterior motives.
Then again, this was Anna. I didn’t think she knew the meaning of those two words strung together.
“You can do better than her, William,” she said gently. “Regardless of how beautiful she might be.”
Her words struck a chord deep inside me, and I suddenly found myself longing to lean across the table and kiss her. Our server saved me from myself, delivering our massive burgers at the exact moment I might’ve done something stupid had he not intervened.
I knew it would’ve been stupid, but for some reason, I found myself wondering why. Could kissing Anna Holland really ever be stupid? In fact, could it ever be anything other than completely, totally right?
Chapter 18
ANNA
The day with William had flown by. It was a little after nine when we left the burger shack, giggling as we walked back to my place hand in hand.
He insisted on walking me home because, apparently, I’d had one too many beers. I didn’t think so. My head wasn’t even spinning. There was just this lightness inside my chest that made me want to sing songs about princesses and love.
“Okay, so maybe I am a little tipsy,” I admitted once we turned the corner away from the restaurant. “I just had a thought about singing.”
“If you’re thinking about belting out classics from your childhood, that classifies as you being more than a little tipsy.” He laughed.
I frowned up at him, hiccupping before I could get my question out. “How did you know I was thinking about classics from my childhood? All I said was that I was thinking about singing.”
“Yep, but I know you.” He gave my shoulder a playful bump. “I also can’t believe you still get the hiccups when you drink something carbonated. Why didn’t you just stick with wine instead of beer tonight?”
More laughter came from him every time a wheezing sound escaped me. When we’d been dating, my hiccups always used to make him laugh, too.
God, there was so much laughter in my life when we were together. I sighed happily, just drinking in the moment of being with him again.
A few years after he’d left, I started searching for someone new. Someone else to take his place in my heart, to make me laugh, to wake up next to. There had to be someone else out there I could have this much fun with while doing things I did on at least a weekly basis. Someone else it felt this good to be with.
I hadn’t found him yet, and I knew I didn’t really have William back, but for just this one walk, I was going to allow myself to enjoy having this sliver of what I’d been longing for again for all these years.
“I didn’t drink wine because if I’d had that as fast as I drank those beers, you’d be carrying me home.” I probably shouldn’t have been drinking as fast as I had at all. The conversation had merited it, though. So weird.
But I’d been able to tell he needed someone to open up to, and I was glad it’d been me. It felt good to be able to be there for him again after how badly I’d hurt him.
Even if I had nearly stuck a fork in my eye purely as a distraction after he’d told me about Angelina wanting to have sex with him.
Sex. Jeez. When was the last time I’d done that? I was pretty sure my hymen had grown back by now. Did they do that? Hymens?
Hymen is such a funny word.
“Did you just mumble hymen?” William laughed, and it was such a beautiful sound that it almost brought tears to my eyes.
Remembering the reason for his laughter, I felt my cheeks grow warm as I tried to find an answer—any answer—that would be acceptable. “No real reason. I just think it’s a funny word.”
Nailed it.
When he glanced down at me on the darkened street, William’s eyes told me he didn’t believe me, but he let it be.
Okay, so maybe I didn’t quite nail it.
Luckily, we arrived at the Tourism Center before I could accidentally voice any of the other embarrassing thoughts I’d had. We stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and I pointed up at the A-frame roof. “My apartment is up there.”
His lips quirked. “I know. Come on. I’ll walk you up.”
Before I could argue, he linked his arm with mine and started up the rickety deathtrap that led to my place. The stairs creaked beneath our combined weight, but that was nothing new or strange.
Pausing when we got to the tiny porch outside my door, I lifted my purse and started to fish out my keys when I suddenly realized how close he was standing to me. It was cramped quarters up here under the best of circumstances, and William wasn’t a small guy.
A spicy, expensive scent drifted to my nostrils on the quiet night air, and I took a deep whiff of it before I could help myself. It dawned on me after I’d done it that it was his cologne I was smelling.
I stuck my face down to continue the great search for my keys, but it was too late. William had already seen me tak
ing in his rich scent.
“Did you just sniff me?” A soft chuckle reverberated in the air between us.
“I didn’t know I was smelling you. I just caught a whiff of something nice, that’s all.”
“You think I smell nice?” There was a definite lilt of humor in his tone, but the undertones were something else entirely. Flirty, maybe?
The self-consciousness I’d been waiting for all day instantly made itself known. Oh, crappity crab sticks.
Did I want him to be flirting with me? Did I expect something at the end of the date even though this was all a charade for the media?
I knew it was only a matter of time before someone posted a picture of us online and his fans would start to wonder what was going on in the little town of Mackinac. But did he think we’d be doing things—private things—behind closed doors? Things that were just for us and had nothing to do with the ruse we were orchestrating?
Better yet, did I want those things?
There was a little flutter in my stomach and a tightness between my thighs that suggested I just might. My fingers hit a round metal object that my brain vaguely registered was my keyring while all these thoughts were flying around in my head.
My hand trembled when I pulled the key out and held it up like it was long-lost treasure. “There we go. I found it.”
Nervous energy swirled around me, a fog so thick I was sure he could see it. When he didn’t respond to my statement, all the uncertainty I felt pushed me to keep rambling.
“I thought it might have fallen out somewhere. If it did, someone would’ve brought it right here to the Tourism Center because we run the lost and found for the town. That’s something they don’t have in LA. Do they? Where would you even take something that’s lost in a city that size?”
I turned to face him once I’d gotten the door unlocked, and found him watching me with a dangerous smile on his lips.
The Billionaire’s Second Chance: A Small Town Romance Page 11