“Um, yeah. So far.” I picked up my martini and sipped. “But we’re still just friends with benefits.”
“It’s just that you’re really digging those benefits?”
I laughed. “Yeah.”
“Well, maybe you’ll meet a hot guy in Rhode Island who can offer you all those benefits but comes with less baggage.” She tipped up her gimlet. “Although if you fall in love with him before Christmas, you still owe me the thing.”
“How are you even going to collect if I live in another state?”
“You’ll come home for the holidays at some point, right? You’d never stay away from your family for too long.”
“Maybe I won’t tell you about falling in love with the hot Rhode Island guy,” I said teasingly.
Ellie held up one hand. “Please. You are incapable of holding back your feelings. Some people bury them, Win, but you toss them in the air like confetti.”
Our server appeared and set down a plate. “Ladies, the grilled peaches and burrata with prosciutto and arugula.”
“Did we order this?” I looked at the dish, my mouth watering.
“I don’t think we did, but it looks amazing.” Ellie smiled at the server. “Some other table is probably waiting for it.”
The server shook his head. “The chef sent it out for you.”
“He did?” Ellie laughed. “Is it Mr. Lupo?”
“Yes,” the server replied.
“Please say thank you for us,” I said, spreading my napkin on my lap.
The server nodded. “Enjoy.”
Throughout the rest of the meal, extra dishes were sent out to our table—tiny, single-bite amuse-bouches that surprised and delighted us every time. A sautéed scallop dusted with walnut crumbs, a pâté topped with fig and apricot, a roasted baby beet with goat cheese and mint. Our entrées, veal for me and stuffed pork chops for Ellie, were delectable. And for dessert, which neither of us had ordered, our server brought two house-made cannoli.
Although we protested that we were too full to eat them, we took one bite and kept going. When there was nothing but crumbs left on the table, our server came over and smiled. “Did you enjoy the meal?”
“Every bite,” I said. “But I’m beyond full, so don’t bring us any more food.”
He laughed. “How about a digestif? Maybe Limoncello?”
Ellie and I exchanged a glance and shrugged. “Okay,” she said. “That sounds good.”
“I’ll be right back.” He was only gone for a couple minutes, returning with two crystal cordial glasses of icy Limoncello.
“Thank you. And please tell Mr. Lupo how much we enjoyed every bite,” Ellie said. “That was so nice of him to spoil us all night.”
The server nodded, placing his hands behind his back. “You must be good friends.”
“He’s good friends with my parents,” she explained, taking a tiny sip of Limoncello. “I grew up calling him Uncle Nick.”
He looked confused a moment. “The chef tonight is Gianni Lupo. Not his father.”
Ellie’s mouth fell open. “Gianni was the chef tonight? Dammit! If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have eaten all those things he sent out.”
“Right,” I said knowingly. “Because we turn down house-made cannoli all the time.” I looked at the server. “Please let him know everything was wonderful, including the service. Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.” He nodded and backed away. Ellie set down her drink and took out her wallet.
“What are you doing?” I asked her.
“I’m getting ready to leave. Any minute now, Gianni will come out here and gloat that we devoured all his stupid amazing food.”
“Ellie, you should be happy he’s so good. He’s coming to work for Abelard.”
“Well, I’m not. He bugs me.”
“Don’t you think it’s time to move on from high school grudges?” I picked up my chilled glass and took a sip of the sweet, tangy liqueur.
“I would if he didn’t still act like he was in high school and all girls should fall at his feet and everything he does is so clever and cute!”
“Evening, ladies. Talking about me?” Gianni appeared at our table in his white chef coat, looking pleased with himself.
“Thank you so much for everything tonight, Gianni.” I smiled at him while Ellie scowled into her Limoncello. “It was delicious.”
He bowed slightly. “My pleasure. I’m glad you liked it.”
“We loved it.”
Gianni looked at a seething, silent Ellie and grinned at me. “I don’t think your friend here agrees.”
“She does. She just can’t find the words to say how good it was.”
He laughed. “Well, I should get back to the kitchen, but I wanted to thank you for coming in and let you know everything is on the house tonight.”
“No way,” snapped Ellie. “We’re paying for it. Bring us the bill.”
“There’s no bill to bring you.” Gianni shrugged. “Just tip your server.”
“That’s really generous of you,” I told him. “Please come over to Cloverleigh Farms soon so I can return the favor.”
“I’d love to,” he said warmly. “I know the chef there, and I think she’s great. Really smart and creative.”
I smiled. “You’re always welcome.”
He looked at Ellie, and pointed at me. “See, that’s how you treat people, Héloise,” he said, giving her name the correct French pronunciation. “I’m beginning to think it’s good that you work down in a cellar and not front of house.”
“Bye, Gianni,” I said, wishing he’d just leave before Ellie lost her cool completely.
“Ciao, ladies. Enjoy the rest of your evening.” With one last boyish grin, he went back to the kitchen.
“Okay, he’s gone,” I said, watching him disappear into the kitchen. “You can stop turning purple.”
“I can’t help it,” she blustered. “He infuriates me.”
I sighed and picked up my drink. “Come on, let’s finish up and tip our waiter. I don’t want to be out too late.”
“Why’s that?” One of her brows peaked.
“No reason.” I tried to sound breezy as I looked left again. The anniversary party was long gone, but they’d forgotten the balloons. “Fifty years. That’s a long time to be married.”
“It is,” Ellie agreed.
“I wonder what the secret is,” I said. “Like why does it seem to work for some people and not others?”
“Maybe some people just aren’t cut out for that kind of long-term commitment,” Ellie mused. “You have to have a lot of patience. And be really forgiving. And be accepting of the other person’s flaws or even just the things about them that make you crazy. Because there will be plenty of those.”
I smiled. “Are you thinking about your mom and dad?”
“Yes,” she admitted with a laugh. “I love my mom, but she’s just wired so tight, sometimes I’m amazed she hasn’t snapped yet. Or that my dad hasn’t snapped. They’re so different.”
“Yeah, but I feel like your parents have a pretty good time together.” I grinned as I took a sip of my drink. “I mean, judging from the box under—”
“Stop,” Ellie pleaded, her eyes desperate. “I beg you not to finish that sentence.”
I laughed and set my glass down. “Okay. But all I’m saying is, that kind of chemistry matters.”
“Is that why you’re rushing home tonight?” Her eyes danced with light. “To study chemistry?”
“There are worse ways to spend an evening,” I said.
She touched her glass to mine. “I’ll drink to that.”
Dex’s house was dark when I pulled into my garage around nine, so I figured he must have gone to bed already. Even so, I decided to send him a quick text. Hey you. I’m home, but no worries if you’re already asleep.
Setting my phone aside, I gave Piglet some food and attention, but she seemed more interested in her dinner than me. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and was unscrewi
ng the cap when my phone buzzed on the counter.
In bed but not asleep.
I smiled and replied. What are you wearing?
Not much.
Leaning back against the island, I wondered if I should invite him over. What would it take to get you naked?
Also not much.
I laughed to myself. Do it.
Alone?
If you like. Or you could come over and get naked with me.
I swear he knocked less than a minute later. I pulled open the door, backed up, and gasped in mock horror. “It’s the ogre next door! What shall I do?”
He slammed the door behind him. “Run.”
Shrieking wildly, I took off for the stairs, where he caught me around the waist, threw me over his shoulder and took the steps up two at a time. Continuing to howl, I kicked my feet and thumped my hands on his back. Up in my room, he threw me down on the bed and tore my clothes from my body while I did my pretend best to fight back. After ditching his jeans and T-shirt, he crawled over me, both our chests heaving. “Remind me to tell you how to escape a house. You don’t fucking run up the stairs.”
“Maybe I wanted to get caught.”
He shook his head. “Poor little princess. Do you have any idea how loud I’m going to make you scream?”
“And there’s no one around to hear me in this dark, deserted forest, is there?”
“Nope.” He anchored my arms over my head. “You’re all mine to do with what I please.”
“Is this payback for last night?”
He laughed, low and sinister.
My entire body shivered.
“Did you have a good time at dinner tonight?” Dex’s fingers trailed up and down my back.
“Yes.”
“Where’d you go?”
“Trattoria Lupo. The food was delicious.” Almost as delicious as lying here in his arms. “And we ended up getting the whole meal on the house because Ellie’s family knows the owners.”
“Nice.”
“What did you do for dinner?”
“Blackened some chicken. Not on purpose.”
I laughed. “There was a fiftieth anniversary party at the table next to us.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm.” I started tracing his collarbone with a fingertip. “That’s a long time, isn’t it?”
“Fuck yeah, it is. I don’t know how anyone does it.”
I bit my lip. “Can I ask what went wrong with you and Naomi?”
He exhaled. “We never should have gotten married in the first place. We did it for the wrong reasons—at least I did.”
“What were your reasons?”
“You’ll think I’m a shitty person if I tell you.”
“No, I won’t.” Picking up my head, I propped it in my hand, my arm over his chest. “Tell me.”
“I cared about Naomi, but we’d been broken up for like six years at that point. I was home on leave and we ended up messing around—she’d just gotten out of a terrible relationship and I’d just served back-to-back tours, my mom had just gotten her diagnosis . . . both of us were lonely and looking for escape, and reliving old times seemed like the answer. It should have ended there, but we got drunk one night and she threw out the idea of getting married. I thought about it for three seconds and said okay.”
“That’s what you said? ‘Okay?’”
“Yeah. Because I’d never had any real desire to get married before, but you know what I did have a desire to do?”
“What?”
“Succeed at something where my dad failed. Prove I was a better man.”
I pressed my lips together. “Oh.”
“Told you it was shitty.”
“I think it’s . . . understandable, given your background.”
“Maybe. But it’s not a good reason to get married.”
“No,” I agreed.
“We did it fast, before I shipped out again. And she got pregnant with Hallie right away. But the long separations didn’t do us any favors, and being married to a SEAL is tough. She hated the absences, the intensity of the job, the questions I couldn’t answer. She always accused me of being distant, even when I was there. Said I wasn’t a family man.”
“So she asked you to leave?”
“Yeah. I probably would have stayed in it for the kids’ sake—or to prove I wasn’t my dad again—so in a way, it’s good that she ended it. Put us both out of our misery.”
“Yeah.” I put my head down again. “I suppose that took a lot of guts for her to do.”
“And it was all for the best. Now she’s going to marry Bryce, and he has to put up with her nagging. Meanwhile, I get to enjoy my freedom and the occasional romp with the princess next door.” He tugged on my hair. “I was lying there thinking about you when you texted.”
I smiled. “What were you thinking about?”
“That I wished you were home already, so I could come over and ravage you. You’re moving out soon, and what if the next neighbor who moves in isn’t as cute as you? I might not want to get naked with them.”
Giggling, I slapped his chest. “You’re not even going to miss me, are you?”
When I tried to roll away, he caught me from behind and wrapped me up tight in his arms, his erection pushing against my ass. “Ogres don’t miss anybody. That’s the best part of being an ogre.”
“Let me go, I can’t breathe,” I protested, squirming in his embrace. “Go back to your lonely ogre cave.”
“I’m going.” He flipped me onto my back and reached between my legs, where I was still warm and wet. “But not yet.”
Playfully, I fought back, beating my fists against his chest as he moved between my thighs. After sliding inside me, he pinned my hands outside my shoulders.
I grinned up at him, but he wasn’t teasing anymore. His eyes smoldered in the dark as he moved above me, and my smile faded. He didn’t kiss me, but his face hovered above mine close enough that I felt his breath on my lips. I dug my heels into the backs of his muscular legs and wove my fingers into his hair. For the first time tonight—maybe the first time ever with us—none of this felt like a game.
Not his body buried deep inside mine. Not the fiery heat between us. Not even the words he spoke as he rocked his hips above me.
“I don’t love you.” His voice was low and raw, straining with urgency. “I don’t love you.”
And he crushed his mouth to mine before I could say it back.
Afterward, he rolled out of bed quickly and yanked his jeans on. “I have to work tomorrow, and I pick up the girls on Sunday. Will you be around?”
I tried to keep things light, even though the intensity of our last round had me uneasy. “If you’re lucky. So do I have to walk the ogre out?”
“No. That’s another good thing about ogres.” He pulled his shirt over his head. “We are very self-sufficient. I’ll lock the door. I can’t have anyone else messing with my princess.”
“Thank you.”
He came over and kissed the top of my head. “Night.”
“Night.”
When I heard the door shut downstairs, I flopped onto my back and lay there for a moment starfish-style. My heart continued to pound in a way that scared me, every beat telling me that this was something special, this was something different, this was what love songs were written about.
This was it.
I bolted upright.
“No, it’s not,” I said quickly, scrambling to the edge of my bed and hopping off. “I’m not listening to you, heartbeat. This is not it.”
I hurried into the bathroom and drowned out my heart with running water while I washed my face, then the buzz of my electric toothbrush. Back in my room, I sang “Yankee Doodle” loudly and off-key while I put my pajamas on, because it was the only song I could think of that wasn’t about love.
Then I jumped into bed and buried my head under the pillow.
On my nightstand, my phone vibrated, and I sat up to reach for it. When I saw the text, I started
to laugh.
What the hell is going on over there?
That’s my singing voice.
Jesus.
My choir teachers used to ask me to mouth the words at concerts.
Can’t say I blame them. Should I put some earplugs in or is the concert over tonight?
I guess it’s over. Unless you have a request.
My request is that you stop singing.
I’m done.
Thank God. Night.
Laughing to myself, I set my alarm and put my phone back on the charger. Wrapping my arms around my pillow and hugging it close, I took a few deep breaths.
Hello, heart? This is brain. We’d like to remind you of the rules on this ride.
In order to stay safe, you must keep your hands, feet, and feelings inside the cart at all times. We cannot be responsible for items that are lost or stolen. In case of an emergency, please use the nearest exit.
But my heart refused to listen.
Late Sunday afternoon, there was a knock on my front door. When I opened it, I saw Hallie and Luna standing on my porch. They wore nice clothes, as if they’d been to church, and Hallie’s two French braids were perfect and even—pretty, but I sort of liked Dex’s lopsided pigtails better.
“Hi, girls! How are you?”
“Good.” Luna beamed. “Daddy painted our room. Pink and purple.”
“I heard. Do you love it?”
“Yes!”
“But we came to tell you something even better,” Hallie said.
“What’s that?”
“We’re getting a cat!” Luna said excitedly. “We went to the adoption place right after church today and picked him out.”
“Yay!” I clapped my hands. “Come in and tell me about him. Does your dad know you’re here?”
“Yes,” Hallie said as they followed me to the kitchen. They climbed onto the stools at my island. “He said we could knock on your door, but if you weren’t home we had to come right back.”
“I’ll send him a quick text.” I grabbed my phone and sent Dex a note letting him know the girls were with me, then set it aside. “Okay, tell me everything.”
Ignite: A Grumpy Single Dad Romance Page 21