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  “Hey,” he said, and I heard something in his voice, something I couldn’t place. He shifted on the seat, and I instantly took notice he was acting a little strange.

  “You been watching me this whole time?” I teased, but when he didn’t get rid of that strange expression, I sobered. “Is everything okay?”

  He cleared his throat and nodded. “I saw you come outside.” I knitted my brows at how weird he was acting. “What’s up?” He lifted his hand and ran his palm over his jaw. He had a day’s worth of stubble covering his cheeks, and I felt myself warm. He looked so masculine in that moment, so manly.

  He placed his hands on the steering wheel, and I could see how white his knuckles were, as if he were squeezing the leather far too tight.

  “Are you okay?”

  He nodded but didn’t say anything. I looked back at his hands and saw grease stains on his fingers. “Working on the motorcycle again?” Before his father had passed away five years ago, he’d given Alfie an old, half put together Harley. I knew nothing about motorcycles, but I did know it was special to Alfie, had been special to his father, so Alfie treated it like a treasure, especially after his father passed away.

  He hadn’t been able to work on it fully until he moved back to town, and the thing had been stored in his mother’s garage this whole time. But since he’d been back, had his own place now, I knew he’d been tinkering away at it during his free time.

  He looked down at his hands and the corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. “Yeah. It’ll take me a lifetime to finish it, but I’m slowly chipping away at it.”

  There was this awkward, heavy silence between us for a moment after he spoke, and I cleared my throat and looked down at my shoes. I’d worn these heels to work today, these peep-toe ones that went with my baby-pink skirt. I felt Alfie reach out and take hold of my upper arm, yanking me toward the truck so my body slammed against it. The air left me violently, and I felt my eyes widen as shock filled me. A car whipped by, right behind me, just a couple feet from where I’d been standing. The driver laid on his horn, mixing with the loud music pumping through the open windows.

  Alfie was out of the truck a second later, his hand on my lower back as he kept me pushed against the truck. “Watch it, you motherfucker,” he shouted in this angry tone I’d never heard come from him before.

  My heart was racing and adrenaline pumped through my veins as I watched the car disappear down on the road before turning off onto a side street. He still had his hand on my back, the weight a reminder he was keeping me protected.

  “That fucking asshole. He’s lucky if I don’t find him and beat his punk ass,” he said low, under his breath. I wondered if he’d meant for me to hear.

  After a long second of him staring off at the now long-gone car, he finally faced me. He had both his hands on my waist, a concerned look on his face. “God, Daphne. Are you okay?” He lifted his hand toward my face but then curled his fingers toward his palm, as if he didn’t want to touch me, as if he were too afraid to.

  But God, I wanted him to. I nodded and licked my lips, looking down the street and then back at him. “I’m fine,” I said and noticed several people had stopped on the sidewalks to gawk.

  Alfie must have noticed me looking over his shoulder, because he turned and saw all the people standing around. “What the fuck? Move it along, people.” Some scurried off, and others curled their lip in defiance, but I was too focused on the fact that Alfie was so protective of me.

  “I swear it’s these fucking kids just learning how to drive,” he mumbled, looking at me again. There was so much concern on his face it actually broke my heart but also thrilled me.

  “Alfie, I promise I’m fine,” I said again and gave him a smile. I really was okay, although a little bit shaken up by how everything happened so fast. Adrenaline was definitely pumping through my veins, but I couldn’t blame it all on the fact that I’d almost become an asphalt pancake a second ago. It also had to do with being extremely nervous for asking Alfie out to dinner.

  It wasn’t as if I thought he’d say no, because he probably thought it was just us hanging out as friends, but I was so nervous, because it wasn’t just as friends. It was more.

  I cleared my throat, licked my lips, and in my mind, I was replaying what to say over and over again.

  “Listen, Daphne,” he said and cleared his throat, the gruff sound so masculine I felt every part of me tingle. “How about you have dinner with me tonight?”

  I felt my eyes widen, although I wasn’t sure why. “Dinner?”

  He nodded and gave me a lopsided smile, one I remembered from when we were younger and he was getting into something he probably shouldn’t have. It was a guilty expression, and one I found endearing.

  “Let me take you out tonight.” He sounded more upbeat, that lopsided smile turning into a full-on grin. It had my heart skipping a beat.

  “Okay,” I said softly, maybe too softly for him to hear.

  Well, it looked like he’d been the one to take the leap asking me to dinner, and I liked it. A lot. I just didn’t know how he would react once I came clean about my feelings. Because I should do that tonight, right?

  And for just a moment, as he stared at me with this ridiculously gorgeous grin on his face, I felt like maybe my feelings weren’t one-sided.

  Maybe?

  Hopefully?

  Or maybe it was just wishful thinking. Either way, it felt really good.

  Chapter Four

  Daphne

  Later that night

  My cheeks hurt from laughing so much.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had such a good night. Here I was, sitting across from Alfie, the restaurant slowly starting to empty out, because we’d been sitting here for the last two hours.

  I’d been so nervous asking Alfie to dinner, and although I was sure he probably saw it as two friends spending a nice evening together, it meant so much more to me. I was dipping my toes in courage, trying to work myself up to telling Alfie how I felt, how I was in love with him, had been for years.

  He leaned forward, and we were silent for a second as we stared at each other. He’d been laughing just a second ago, but as the moments passed, his expression sobered. I held my breath as we shared the same air.

  I wanted to kiss him.

  I wanted him to kiss me.

  But things needed to be said before that line could be crossed.

  I was getting worked up, and he wasn’t even touching me. He just looked at me, this strange expression on his face the longer the seconds passed. I felt my nipples press against the material of my bra and shirt, felt myself become wet between my thighs. God, just looking into his blue eyes had this reaction rising up in me.

  I saw the way his throat worked as he swallowed, but the moment was broken when he leaned back. I sucked in a great lungful of air, knowing I had to get control of myself.

  I wanted it to be the one Alfie looked toward as more than just his friend.

  I wanted to be the woman he was in love with.

  Alfie

  I could have stared at Daphne all night long. She was so pretty, gorgeous, perfect. And when she admitted during our conversation that she was going to ask me to dinner but I’d beat her to it, it had me feeling like I was walking on cloud fucking nine.

  The waiter came by with two big plates of double chocolate cake.

  “We fly the chocolate in from Belgium,” the waiter said with so much pride in his voice you’d think he was personally flying over to Europe to get the chocolate himself.

  “It looks delicious,” she said and smiled softly.

  The waiter didn’t move, just stared at Daphne for an uncomfortably long time, and I felt my annoyance and proprietary need toward her rise up.

  I sat up straighter and cleared my throat, staring at the waiter. He finally looked over at me, and I narrowed my eyes and couldn’t stop the growl that left me. “We’re good,” I snapped, not meaning to sound so possessive, but then ag
ain, I couldn’t help myself. He looked over at me and cleared his throat before nodding once.

  “Let me know if you need anything,” he mumbled out and scurried off. The space between Daphne and I became thick, and I glanced at her.

  She looked at me with this stoic expression, but then she started laughing. “Oh my God, you scared the shit out of him.” She covered her mouth, her eyes becoming glossy. I thought she’d cry from her amusement.

  She started picking at her cake then brought some to her mouth. Fuck, she was sexy bringing that sliver to her tongue, a little bit of chocolate on her bottom lip. Damn, I wanted to lick it off.

  She grabbed her napkin, covering her mouth with it, laughing again. She wiped that chocolate off and I nearly groaned in disappointment. But then again, it was probably for the best, because I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself form leaning over and running my tongue along her mouth, licking it off.

  Daphne grabbed her glass of water and took a long drink, watching me over the rim. I still stared at her. I mean, I couldn’t help it. She was gorgeous and smart and perfect.

  She was mine.

  She wiped her mouth once more with the napkin, smiling at me as she set the linen down. “You usually stare at the people you eat dinner with?”

  I felt my heart race. “Nope, I only reserve that for you.” I winked.

  And when she gave me the prettiest smile, I opened my mouth, nearly telling her everything that was on my mind. But I promptly closed it, not feeling like this was the right time. I wanted to be alone with her, for it to be private when I admitted how I felt.

  For the next half hour, we did nothing but talk about mindless things, things that were nonsensical, things that were comfortable and funny and just… perfect.

  “So things have been okay, good the last few years when you lived out of state?”

  I nodded, but the truth was it hadn’t been. “Yeah, for the most part, but…” I cleared my throat and leaned back against the chair.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “I just missed you. So much, Daphne.”

  She didn’t say anything for a second, but I did see the way her pulse jumped beneath her ear. “I missed you too, Alfie. A lot.” Her throat moved up and down when she swallowed, and I wondered what she was thinking.

  A prolonged moment passed, and finally she straightened, giving me this smile that seemed a little… nervous. “What about relationships, connections with people?” She leaned forward, her forearms braced on the table. “Girlfriends?” That last word was thick, almost strained as she said it.

  God, the very thought of seeing a woman who wasn’t Daphne wasn’t even something that had ever passed through my mind. Never. But I didn’t say that. I shook my head. “No.” That one word was now thick, strained from me.

  My heart started beating harder at how she looked at me. I’d been fighting how I felt for so long. Too long.

  We were meant to be.

  I swear I thought I couldn’t fall more in love with her, but as I stared into her big blue eyes, I knew every day I’d been falling in love with her.

  I fucking loved her.

  Chapter Five

  Alfie

  I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Daphne, and it had gotten even worse since we’d had dinner. I might have been a coward and not been honest, but I told myself I was slowly working my way through my emotions so I’d have the balls to tell her how I felt when the time was right.

  But thinking about Daphne was a regular occurrence for me, something that was a part of me, had been for my entire life. My emotions for her were like my arm attached to my shoulder or my leg to my hip. The very thought of not having her on my mind almost seemed abhorrent.

  But after dinner last night, just being with her, enjoying her company, seeing the way she looked at me from across the table, gave me hope that maybe there was something more between us, a spark, a flame of mutual desire. Maybe there would be something that grew from our friendship.

  I sure as hell hoped so. It had been a fantasy of mine for longer than I cared to admit.

  And so that’s how I found myself standing on her doorstep, a six-pack of beer in one hand and a paper bag filled with all the baking supplies we’d need to make our favorite dessert in the other. I should’ve called her and told her I was coming, given her a heads up—warned her—but I found myself doing all these things before I realized what I was doing.

  And then before I knew it, here I was, my heart in my throat, the prospect of actually being honest at some point making me have all kinds of jittery nerves.

  I brought my hand up and rapped on the door three times with my knuckles. I could hear the sound of muffled music coming through the wood, and a second later, the front door opened.

  Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” became clear as it filtered out through the living room, but it was Daphne standing on the other side in nothing but a pink fuzzy robe, matching slippers, her sandy-blonde hair piled high on her head, and a green mask covering her face, that had everything else fading away.

  God, she was beautiful even when she wasn’t all dolled up.

  Hell, she was beautiful dolled up too.

  There wasn’t a time when Daphne wasn’t fucking stunning.

  Her eyes widened, and I knew if the green mud mask wasn’t covering her face, her cheeks would be pink from her embarrassment that I’d seen her all relaxed and in her element. Surely, she knew I didn’t care about all the makeup and high-maintenance things that went into women getting primped and prepped? In fact, I fucking loved the fact that Daphne was natural in every way. She didn’t care about any of that stuff. Never had.

  “Oh my God, Alfie.” She smoothed her hands down her robe and then looked down at herself, just seeming to realize that’s all she wore. She snapped her head up, her eyes widening impossibly more. “I—I wasn’t expecting you.”

  I knew I shouldn’t have laughed, but I couldn’t help but chuckle. She was just too damn cute. “I should’ve called first. I’m sorry,” I said, my humor dying as I sobered seeing how embarrassed she was. “But I wanted to see you, thought we could even drink some beer and make some of that peach cobbler with the brown sugar crumble topping you’re famous for, like how we used to do when we were kids.” I could tell immediately when her embarrassment started to fade, because the smile she gave me lit up the whole damn space between us.

  She looked down at the six-pack I held in one hand then glanced over at the paper bag in the other arm. “You surprised me, because you wanted to… bake?” she asked then looked up at me, and I got lost in her blue eyes.

  I cleared my throat and nodded, feeling a little bit embarrassed myself that I thought it was okay to just show up on her doorstep like this. “This is obviously not a good time. I’m really sorry.” I was about to turn and go, when she reached out and grabbed my forearm, stopping me.

  I looked down at where her hand touched me, felt electricity, fire moving along my skin. Damn, it felt good having her fingers on me. I snapped my gaze up quickly to look at her face.

  “No, don’t leave. Just give me a minute to wash the goop off my face and actually put some clothes on. Then she smiled sweetly at me, and I felt myself return the gesture before I could stop myself.

  She took a step back to let me in, and I walked through the threshold, hearing the door shut behind me. She was just a foot from where I stood, not moving as we looked at each other. The air was hot between us, and as we held each other’s gaze, I felt myself getting lost over and over again.

  “Yeah, let me just go get cleaned up.” She turned and walked away, and I couldn’t help but stare at her plump, peach-shaped ass as she walked down the hallway before disappearing into her bedroom.

  I thought about her under that robe, if she naked beneath it. I could only imagine her peeling off that pink material to reveal all those luscious curves. I bet her skin was smooth, soft. I bet she smelled so fucking good everywhere.

  I cleared my throat a
nd started thinking about baseball, doing laundry, even washing fucking dishes. I was thinking about anything so my dick didn’t continue to get hard and I wouldn’t be sporting a massive boner when she came back out.

  I headed into the kitchen and set the bag on the island in the center. I popped the beer in the fridge and walked back over to the bag to start pulling out the ingredients. It had been years since we made this dessert. It had been something we’d done when we were kids, something our mothers had tasked us to do probably to keep us out of trouble and out of their hair. But it had become a tradition, something just for the two of us.

  Whenever we made something, it was this, and when we finished, we’d watch a movie and eat the entire cobbler in one sitting.

  God, I missed those days, missed being able to sit on the couch with her with a blanket over our laps, the dessert sitting between us as we dug into it with forks, not even bothering with plates.

  She came out ten minutes later, her face freshly washed and lightly pink, her hair now hanging over her shoulders in loose waves. She put on a pair of lounge pants that had little red hearts scattered all over them, and her white T-shirt formed to her body to perfection.

  Don’t get hard. Don’t you fucking get hard.

  She gave me another smile, and I curled my hands around the edge of the kitchen island to steady myself.

  “Are you hungry? I have a pizza baking in the oven.”

  Good, she seemed oblivious to the fact that I was nearly busting through my jeans with my steadily growing erection.

  She walked over to the oven and opened it, and it was the first time I actually smelled the cheese, sauce, and mozzarella. I’d been so focused on her and everything that had to do with how I felt that I hadn’t even noticed anything else.

  “I was just going to eat some pizza and watch some sappy romance. But I’m all for a good horror, if you want?” She glanced over at me. “It can be like old times.”