He stood on the edge of the big flagstone patio that served as the dance floor, his eyes on the silky-haired blonde in the blue dress as she danced with one of those unknown interlopers who’d shared her table at dinner. As the song ended, Dante stepped up. He was waiting right behind the other guy when the last guitar note faded off.
Gracie saw him—how could she help it? He was three feet away from her and staring straight at her. Over the other guy’s shoulder, she beamed him a smile of pure devilment. Because she knew she made him crazy and she found that humorous.
In the end, he had to tap that fool who had hold of her on the shoulder.
“Oh!” the guy said, like it had never occurred to him that at some point, he would have to let go of her. “Sure...” He gave Gracie a nod. “Thanks, Grace.”
“Ray.” Gracie gave him a smile as she stepped into Dante’s arms. Now that he was holding her, he felt better about everything. The music started up again. It was a fast song, but Dante kept his arms around her anyway, wasting no time dancing her away from her previous partner. “Who was that guy?”
She snort-laughed, like he was just the funniest thing. “Nice to see you, too.”
Was he coming on too strong? Probably. It was a problem he had. He took things way too seriously—even this damn secret fling of theirs that was supposed to be just for fun. Drawing a slow, deep breath, he toned down the attitude. “I was only, you know, wondering...”
“Ray Danvers. He works for Jax.” Aislinn’s husband owned a horse ranch on the Youngs River not far from Astoria. “Ray’s a nice guy.”
“I’ll bet.” He danced her out toward the perimeter of the patio.
“It’s a fast song, in case you didn’t notice,” she razzed him. “What are you doing?”
Probably blowing our cover all to hell. So what? Right at this moment, he didn’t even care. He pulled her closer. “I missed you. I want to talk to you alone and I want to do that now.” He grabbed her hand.
She laughed again, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she let him lead her down the nearest garden path. In-ground lights led the way from one winding stone walkway to another. He followed those walkways, branching left and then right, pulling her deeper into the lush shelter of the estate’s gardens.
“Where are we going?” she asked as the stone path took another turn and they entered a small pocket of shadowed greenery hemmed in by tall trees and accented in the far corner with a narrow, rustic-looking gardener’s shed. The music sounded far away now.
“This’ll do.” He pulled her around in front of him and backed her up until she reached the shed. Her eyes burned into his and her breath came fast. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one glad they were finally alone. He braced his hands on either side of her head and bent to steal a quick, hard kiss. “Nicole and Natalie went home with Tony and Lisa. Spend the night with me tonight.”
She lifted those long, pale arms and rested them on his shoulders. “I was hoping you might say that.”
All of a sudden, the world was a beautiful place and he was a very happy man. “That’s a yes?”
“Um, yeah.” She sounded a little bit breathless. He liked her breathless. He liked it a lot. “That is a yes.”
“Excellent.” And he could not wait another second to kiss her. He bent his head and she lifted that plump mouth at the same time as he clasped her waist and slid his hands lower, until he cradled her perfect bottom. Once he had a good grip on her, he scooped her up off the ground.
With a hot little moan, she wrapped her arms and legs around him. Carefully, he braced her against the wall of the shed and deepened the already drowning kiss as her soft, sweet, delicious mouth opened so willingly for him.
“So good,” she whispered as he lifted his mouth just enough to slant it the other way.
“The best...” He sank into her kiss again, his mind spinning, his body hard and hungry—to be alone, just the two of them, to get out of all these damn clothes. “It’s been too long...”
“Secret flings.” She made a cute little growling sound, nipped at his lower lip and raked her fingers up the back of his neck into his hair. “So inconvenient...”
“We’ll have time tonight. I don’t pick Nic and Nat up from Tony’s until noon tomorrow.”
“Good.” She kissed the word into his mouth. “Very, very good...”
And then they stopped talking. Which was more than okay with him. He kissed her for the longest time, letting himself get lost in the feel of her wrapped all around him, her breasts so soft against his chest, the core of her pressing into his hardness. It was sheer agony of the most spectacular kind.
Until a man’s voice directly behind him demanded, “Just what do you think you’re doing with my little sister?”
Chapter Ten
Dante muttered an oath.
Gracie buried her face in the side of his throat. “Connor,” she said glumly.
Dante stroked her silky hair, wanting to soothe her even though she seemed more disappointed than upset.
She braced her chin on his shoulder and said to the man behind him, “Go away, Connor.” If Connor moved, Dante didn’t hear it. There was only silence. Gracie whispered in his ear, “He’s still there. Your sister’s with him.”
“It’s okay,” he promised her. What else was he going to say? Slowly and carefully, he eased Gracie to the ground. She landed lightly on her feet and gazed up at him, her eyes calm as the ocean on a clear, windless day, her skin translucent in the moonlight. He touched her smooth cheek and whispered, “You good?”
“Never better.” She drew back her slim shoulders and smoothed the full skirt of her dress. He offered his hand and she took it. Together, they faced her brother, his lifelong best friend—the friend he’d beaten the crap out of when he first learned that Connor had been with his sister.
And really, to be fair, Connor had given as good as he got that day. Dante might have fractured one of Connor’s fingers, but Connor had broken Dante’s nose.
Right now, Connor was giving him some serious stink-eye, but at least he was restraining himself from throwing the first punch.
For Dante, it was a moment of uncomfortable truth. He recalled his boundless fury at Connor all those years ago for daring to get something going with Aly.
And right now? He had no idea what Connor might be thinking. Probably nothing all that good.
Back at the party, the band was playing the Avett Brothers’ “No Hard Feelings.” Gracie’s hand was cool and soft in his and he felt like crap for putting her in this position. Still, whatever happened next, he was glad for every moment he’d held her in his arms, for every night on the deck, just the two of them, under the moon, for the sweet, free sound of her laughter that always made him feel that the world was a better place than he’d ever realized before.
What happened next was that Aly snickered. “We knew there was something going on with you two. You’re not fooling anyone.”
Connor gazed at him steadily. “I meant what I said last month at Fisherman’s Korner. We’re good.” At Dante’s slow nod, Connor added, “But we couldn’t resist giving you a little taste of your own medicine.”
Aly taunted, “Tell me, big brother. How does it feel to have your best friend all up in your face because you had the nerve to get together with his sister?”
Dante considered the question and then answered it honestly. “Not so great.” He was equal parts embarrassed at his own past behavior and resentful that his sister and brother-in-law had interrupted a completely amazing stolen moment with Gracie.
“Okay, you guys.” Gracie waved a dismissing hand. “Whatever your point was, I’m guessing you’ve made it.”
Connor said, “He gives you trouble, Gracie, you come to me. I’ll set him straight.” He was only half joking, and Dante got that message loud and clear.
“Move on,” commanded Gracie
.
Aly slipped her hand in Connor’s. “You kids have fun, now.” Together, they set off down the path.
Dante waited until they’d disappeared around the next bend before turning to the woman beside him and tipping her soft chin up with a finger. “So much for the families not finding out.”
She gazed up at him with the strangest look on her beautiful face—a sad look? He wasn’t sure. She shrugged. “What happened at Fisherman’s Korner?”
“I apologized to your brother for being an ass way back when he and Aly first got together.”
“Wow. About time, huh?”
“Past time.”
She studied his face for several seconds before asking, “So, then. What now?”
He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her up nice and tight against him. “Right now, all I want to do is get you home alone.”
* * *
Dante got back to the house first, put the truck in the garage and then stood out in the driveway to wait for her, impatience thrumming through him with every eager beat of his heart.
Finally, her little SUV turned in and rolled to a stop a few feet from where he stood.
She leaned out the window with a silvery laugh. “How am I going to park if you’re in the way?”
“Come to my place.”
Her eyes shone so bright. “Will do.”
She parked in her space by the cabin. He met her midway between his house and her car. She paused and gazed up at him through the moon-dappled shadows made by the tall trees. “You’re blocking the driveway again.”
He couldn’t wait to kiss her. “Come here.”
With a husky giggle, she swayed toward him. He took her by her silky bare shoulders and pulled her into his waiting arms.
Nothing compared to this—holding Gracie. It never got old. Every touch, every kiss, every breathless little sigh was a new revelation. Now he had her close, it kind of didn’t matter what happened next. He could have stood there in the driveway beneath the giant trees, kissing her, holding her, kissing her some more.
She was the one who finally pulled away—but only far enough to ask against his parted lips, “Are we going to stand here all night, just kissing and kissing?”
“Yes.” He caught her lower lip between his teeth and pulled on it gently.
She laughed and kissed him some more, turning in his arms at the same time. Still kissing, they started walking toward the house.
“You want anything?” He asked as he ushered her in through the side door.
“Just you...”
And they were kissing again. He guided her backward, his mouth fused to hers, through the mudroom, the kitchen, the living area and on down the hall to his room.
“Where’s Owen?” she asked as he untied those little bows at her shoulders.
“At the dog sitter’s. He’s staying over—and I really like this dress. Mostly because I’ve been dreaming all night of getting you out of it.” He peeled down the front. She was naked underneath. “No bra...”
“It’s built in.”
He pretended to frown. “And here I was thinking you went without one just to drive me crazy.”
“Did I drive you crazy?”
He bent close and caught a pretty little nipple lightly between his teeth. When she moaned, he smiled against her soft, pale flesh. “You have no idea...”
* * *
Much later, satisfied and at peace with the world and everyone in it at last, holding her close, skin to skin, he couldn’t help wishing they could just do this every night. Be together, in and out of bed, whenever they felt like it.
No sneaking around.
And why not, really? Why couldn’t they have more?
He asked the question of himself—and automatically, the answers came to him. He’d tried having more, making a family, sticking with it no matter what. And look where that had gone. He was no good at the true-love-forever thing. He didn’t want his daughters’ lives disrupted, couldn’t stand for them to develop a close relationship with Gracie and then have it all go to hell.
And what about Gracie? She was young and fresh and ready for anything. The last thing she needed was to tie herself down to a grumpy cop with a ready-made family...
She shifted against him, lifting her head, bracing up on an elbow to gaze down at him. “What?”
He caught a lock of that pretty pale hair and rubbed it between his fingers. “Not a thing.”
She gave him that smile, the one that said he wasn’t fooling her one bit. “Liar.” But she said it softly, with affection, and then tucked her head beneath his chin again.
“Tired?”
She made a small, throaty sound in the affirmative.
He reached over and turned off the light.
* * *
“The guy is so hot.” Erin took a contemplative sip of the white wine Grace had chosen to go with her chicken alfredo. “And those arms. Those shoulders...” Erin put down her wineglass long enough to kiss the tips of her fingers in a gesture of sheer appreciation.
Carrie tossed her head back with a moan. “Officer, cuff me now!”
No, Grace hadn’t said a word to either of her girlfriends about her secret fling with Dante. But he’d been out on his deck grilling dinner when Carrie and Erin arrived. And Grace’s BFFs loved nothing so much as discussing the do-ability of a good-looking man.
“I hope your secret boyfriend is something really special, because I can’t believe you’re not all over that.” Erin sounded downright accusing. “I’m disappointed in you. I mean, you and Dante are friends and he’s single. And you’re single. He lives—what?—fifty yards from your front door? You wouldn’t even need your car to get to him. Talk about a missed opportunity.”
“We are so disappointed in you.” Carrie faked a sulky face.
“So sorry to let you down,” Grace replied, sounding not the least apologetic. Really, she did feel a little bit guilty for not admitting that she was totally on top of the hot cop situation, both literally and figuratively. Because they were her friends and when it came to guys, the three of them had always confided in each other.
But Dante was such a private man. It seemed wrong to discuss their relationship—or whatever the heck she should call what they had—with her friends.
How had it become so complicated? She was constantly stewing over how she wanted more from Dante. And yet she still wasn’t willing to take a chance and tell him how she felt.
A walking cliché. Oh, yes, she was. Friends with secret benefits! Terrific idea! What could possibly go wrong?
She just didn’t want to talk about it. Not right now. There was nowhere to go with it except in a circle.
Erin leaned forward in her chair. “You’re too quiet about this. And what is that look on your face?” She turned to Carrie as understanding dawned. “Do you see what I see?”
Carrie’s eyes got wide. “Oh. My. God. I see it.” She shifted her gaze to Grace and accused, “It is so on between you and the hot cop single dad.”
Grace kept her mouth shut as she tried to decide how much to say.
“He’s the one, isn’t he?” demanded Erin. “He’s the guy you’re seeing that you’re not telling us about.”
“Wait,” commanded Carrie.
“What?” asked Erin.
Carrie reached across the table and gave Grace’s arm a squeeze. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay.”
“Speak for yourself.” Erin glared at Carrie. “Talking is good. She needs to talk about it.”
Carrie held her ground. “Say the word. We’ll shut up.”
Erin threw up both hands. “I can’t fight you both. Fine, Gracie. You don’t want to talk about it, say the word and we won’t.”
“Much,” smirked Carrie.
Grace bit her lip and shook her head. �
��There’s not a lot to say. It’s a temporary arrangement that we agreed to keep just between us.”
“But now we know,” said Carrie.
Grace blew out her cheeks with a hard breath. “You guys and Connor and Aly. And Harper and Hailey. And just possibly the rest of our families by now. Maybe others. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“So as for the secret part,” Carrie concluded for her. “You’re saying not so much at this point.”
“Essentially, yeah.”
Erin said, “And you don’t even care who knows—I mean, the secret thing is his deal?”
“Exactly. And even Dante’s kind of accepted that the truth has gotten out.”
“Is he pulling back from you, now that people know?”
“No.”
“And you still want to be with him?”
“Yeah. I do. I really, really do.”
“Then why are you wearing your sad face?”
“I’m not.”
“You so are.”
“You like him a lot?” Carrie suggested. “Maybe too much?”
Why deny it? “Yeah. And I don’t think he’s up for anything beyond what we have already.”
“But you want more?” asked Erin softly.
Carrie was nodding. “Gracie. It’s written all over your face.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think I’m getting more.”
“Oh, babes!” Erin cried as she and Carrie jumped from their chairs and surrounded her. Bending down, they hugged her from either side. Carrie stroked her hair and Erin patted her shoulder.
Carrie said, “Whatever you need, you just let us know.”
“I love you guys,” she whispered and hugged them back.
When they returned to their chairs, Erin announced, “Just for the record and then I’ll leave it alone—he’s an idiot if he walks away from you.”
Their Secret Summer Family (The Bravos 0f Valentine Bay Book 7) Page 14