Page 18 of The Best of Us

“And what choices do you plan on making?”Please say they involve me.

“Ohh, I don’t know.”

She fidgeted with the material of her pale-yellow dress that clung to her curves. I did my best not to lower my gaze to her cleavage, to not wonder if she had on a bra since I could make out her nipples.

So, basically, I did notice.

Everything about her.

I could probably clock her pulse rate without even holding her wrist.

I set aside the second glass to try mine. “Damn. This is fantastic,” I admitted, which earned me a smile from ear to ear.

Do that again.

I swallowed, trying to keep it together as the definition of not-the-same stared back at me. “So, what are you studying? Or is that too non-stranger-y for you to share?”

I was grateful the music had changed to be less Ibiza-like and more relaxed and chill. I needed to hear the lilt in her voice when she talked. To listen to how her tone dipped and ebbed with every perfect, harmonious syllable that came from her luscious lips.

“I think we should stick to things that aren’t personal.” She would bite a hole in her bottom lip if she sank her teeth deeper. “If you want to keep talking to me, that is?”

I knocked back the rest of the bourbon, which should’ve been slowly appreciated, then went for the second glass. I could easily make choices that were all my own, alcohol or not. I had a high tolerance, being both Sicilian and a sailor. And it would be a shame for such a smooth pour to go to waste. “I’d very much like that.”

I paid the tab, and we went to a high-top table at the edge of the bar and spent nearly an hour talking about everything except ourselves. She probably didn’t even think I was American, given I hadn’t quite shaken my accent.

But talk about life’s greatest mysteries and the off-limits subject of politics, religion, and even whether there was an afterlife?Thathappened.

We were surrounded by music and people partying, and somehow, we wound up having one of the most profound, intimate, and deep conversations I’d had in my life.

The buzzing of my alarm from my phone in my pocket reminded me I had only a few hours before I needed to head to the airport. I wasn’t ready to leave her, though.

“I have a flight later, which means I have another two hours at the most to hang out.”

Her mouth rounded in a little disappointed O. “So, we don’t have much time to continue tonotget to know each other.”

“Feel like walking on the beach before I leave?” I was trying damn hard to be a good guy and not ask her to spend my last two hours naked with me instead. “I promise I’m safe.”

“Considering I saw you protect that girl, I believe you’re more than just safe.” A shy smile cut across her lips, and she hopped off her seat and came to my side of the table, offering her hand.

I didn’t hesitate. I stood and took it, warmth spreading up my forearm and into my body when our fingers locked.

She looked down at her feet, turning one delicate ankle back and forth. “Walking on the sand in these shoes isn’t easy. You feel like going somewhere else?”

“And where might that be?”

She glanced at the nearby hotel on the other side of the bar. “My villa? We have a private pool right off our living room. We could sit by it and relax. Watch the sun go down?”

Sure. Relax, all right.I let go of her hand and stepped back, tearing my fingers through my hair. “Listen.” I cleared my throat. “I take it you’re, uh, a good girl.” How did I say this without coming across like an asshole? “I don’t want to corrupt you.”And I will. Ten times over.“I am the strangers-in-the-night kind of guy. That works fine with me.” I was good with one-night stands. “Something tells me you’re?—”

“I’m not. You’re right.” She closed her eyes. “I’m the classic definition of a good girl. Studies too hard. No life. I didn’t even drink for my twenty-first birthday tonight. Nothing about me is wild or reckless. Like nothing-nothing.”

That adorable monologue would have had my buddies dropping to one knee to propose. They’d be ready to drag her to the courthouse and get hitched.

“I just want one night . . . well, two more hours . . . to not be her.” She opened her eyes. God help me with those nervous pauses.

“I don’t know.” I smiled. “I’m kind of diggingher.”Would like to know her name.But I could see why that might make it slightly harder when I inevitably walked out of her life.

“Why don’t we just hang out until you have to go, and see what happens?” That was a proposal I could support.

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