A Second Chance at Forever (15 page)

Angela dropped her arms to her sides. Her hard expression and the stiff set of her shoulders softened. Several heartbeats of silence passed as she watched him.

“Alex, I…” Her voice trailed off. She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”

That she was confused was only too obvious. While he didn’t regret asking her to marry him, he hated that he’d put her in a position for which she hadn’t been prepared. Maybe he’d moved too quickly. Maybe what he needed was to take it a bit more slowly.

He didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He felt like a damn fish out of water, flopping around, struggling to breathe in a new environment, not sure he fit in to that place. It felt too much like he was fumbling around in the dark, hoping to find the light switch by pure dumb luck.

He stroked his fingers over the softness of her skin and decided on another, slightly softer tactic. “Say you’ll have dinner with me.”

Her body trembled against his. Her gaze dropped to his mouth. Those eyes filled with a potent hunger that left him starving for a taste of her.

A heartbeat later, she lowered her gaze to his chest and shook her head. “I have to work tonight.”

Disappointment sank like a lead weight in his gut, weighing down his limbs. He should have expected it, but somehow the expectation of the denial didn’t quite cut through the sting of rejection. Maybe he was pushing.

He nodded and took a step back, stuffed his hands into his pockets as he turned his gaze to the ground. “Right,” he said, unable to keep the disappointment from reaching his voice.

He felt rather than saw her gaze return to him.

“It’s my last night at the club,” she said quietly, a hidden meaning in her tone that failed him right then.

He looked up, offered a smile he knew had to look as phony as it felt. “No, I understand.” He meant it as a reassurance, but even he didn’t buy the false emotion.

She studied him in a way that left him feeling wide open, like all his deep, dark secrets had been laid out before her, which they pretty much had been. A breath later, Angela laid a tentative hand against his chest. Her palm singed his skin through the fabric of his shirt.

“I don’t think you do.” She gave a gentle shake of her head, her voice so quiet he almost hadn’t heard her over the traffic running up and down the boulevard. “It isn’t that I don’t want you, Alex. I want you so much it scares me to death.”

He shook his head in misery. “I’d never hurt you, Ang.”

“I know that.” She nodded, looked down at her feet. “But that doesn’t make it any less scary.”

“No. It doesn’t.” The need to touch her was too strong to deny any longer. He took her face in his palms, for a moment relishing the softness of her skin.

“I do appreciate the gesture, Alex. It can’t be easy for you to admit all that, or even to think about getting married again.”

He stroked his thumbs over her cheeks. “I think we could be good together, Ang.”

A fierce blush slid across her cheeks, and she lowered her gaze, peeking up at him from beneath her lashes. Shy and sweet, yet a soft, subtle heat flared in those big blue eyes that took his breath away. She was so beautiful when she looked at him like that. He wanted to kiss her, to feel her soft body melt against him, but doing so wouldn’t get him anywhere. He needed to take things slowly. One step at a time.

The thought made him want to laugh out loud. The woman made him feel out of control, like he’d lost all track of himself. He wasn’t this impulsive person, jumping into things without thinking through all the angles. He was careful and thorough. His father had taught him that, instilled it in him.
If you’re going to do something,
slow down, take your time, and do it right.

It made him a damn good attorney.

Angela brought something out in Alex that made him lose all track of anything but his need to be with her.

He forced himself to release her, and took a step back, then jerked his head in the direction of the car. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

When he pulled to a stop in front of her house a half an hour later, the two of them remained silent. They sat that way, neither one moving, tension filling the car around them. There was so much he wanted to say. He longed to somehow convince her how good they could be together. Except he knew he shouldn’t say any of it. He had to give her time to make her own decisions, without pressure from him. But neither could he make himself turn and tell her goodbye. He had no desire to leave, didn’t want his time with her, however small, to end.

Doing so meant going back home, where there was nothing but the empty sound of the house around him and the life outside of it that everybody else but him seemed to be living. He’d rather stay here, with her.

Finally, she turned to him. Her mouth curved into a soft but nervous smile. “Brock and Mel are having a barbeque at their place tomorrow night. It’s Katie’s birthday.”

He nodded. “She’s turning six. Brock mentioned it.”

“Will you be there?” She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and bit down as she folded her hands together in front of her.

That she asked meant she wanted him there. She offered an olive branch. One he couldn’t resist.

Alex nodded. “I’ll be there.”

Relief visibly washed over her features. “’Night, Alex.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ang.”

Chapter Eleven

Angela stood in Brock and Mel’s kitchen the following evening. She was putting the finishing touches on Katie’s birthday cake. The birthday girl had requested vanilla with pink strawberry icing, and Angela had added roses along with inch tall ballerina dolls.

Outside the window, the rest of the family sat on the deck. Brock manned the grill, of course. Mom had made her famous potato salad. The kids had the water guns out, as usual. It was a warm day, the sun was high in the sky. Everybody seemed to be in a good mood.

Angela glanced down at the cake and sighed. She ought to be out there with them, but she attempted to keep herself busy. Alex had yet to arrive. She found herself wound up like a top. She didn’t know how to feel, or how to react. Her entire body buzzed with barely contained excitement, yet her stomach twisted with nerves.

The image of him as he’d looked yesterday morning kept tormenting her. She couldn’t stop seeing him, the way he’d stood in the parking lot of the doctor’s office, the sun glimmering off his dark hair, his arms held open like a silent invitation for her to step into them. He’d looked every bit as scared as she’d felt.

His proposal yesterday had come as a surprise. It had flat out terrified her. Her first instinct had been to run and not look back. He was sweet to offer, but standing in the doctor’s office, she’d been sure he’d only offered because he’d thought it the right thing to do.

She’d done the marriage thing once and failed. She and David had seemingly started off “the right way”. Or so she’d thought. What chance did she and Alex have when all there was between them were two children they hadn’t planned on having in the first place and great sex? They couldn’t pin a marriage around mutual attraction. The attraction would eventually wear itself out. She’d learned that lesson the hard way.

So she’d told Alex no, positive he offered for all the wrong reasons.

Then he’d come to her in the parking lot. No man had ever offered himself up to her like that. He was broken, and he knew it, but he gave her all of himself anyway, broken bits included. She’d been tempted beyond belief to fall into those open arms and take that chance, because she liked how she felt when she was with him—comfortable and safe. She could be herself with him, wounds, fears, and all. He seemed to take it in stride. She yearned to give him the same in return.

Angela piped the last rosette onto the edge of the cake and sighed. The real question was, was she ready?

The doorbell sounded through the house, but before Angela had time to set the pastry bag onto the counter, a streak of pink and the sound of little feet thumping the floor darted past her.

“I’ll get it!” The birthday girl herself, six-year-old Katie, disappeared around the corner into the next room. A moment later, she let out a squeal of excitement. “Uncle Alex!”

Angela froze. Her hands began to shake. Oh God he was here.

“Hey, sport. How’s the birthday girl?”

The butterflies in Angela’s stomach took flight. Setting the pastry bag on the counter, she fought the sudden desire to run and hide. What in the world did she say to him? Did she even know how to act around him anymore?

Like a moth to the flame, though, she moved to the entryway that led into the front room. She found the two of them by the front door. Alex stood just inside the house, Katie already in his arms, her back to Angela.

The sight of them hit her hard enough to make her sit up and take notice. She found herself transfixed, unable to stop watching the scene unfold before her. This was a side of Alex she’d never seen before. Katie obviously adored him. The way he looked at the small child told Angela the feeling was mutual. It filled her with warmth and hope. She held her breath as she watched them, waiting to see how he’d react to Katie.

“Is that for me?” Katie twisted in his arms and pointed at the tiny present Alex held in one hand, a wide smile on her face. No bigger than a ring box, it was wrapped in pink paper, Katie’s favorite color, of course—because “ballerina’s wore pink tutus”—and topped with a single white bow.

Shifting Katie into one arm, Alex clutched the gift to his chest like a cherished item he hadn’t yet decided to relinquish. “Maybe….”

Katie bounced in his arms, making her blond pigtails wave wildly around her head. “Is so, is so!”

Alex chuckled, the sound sending a thrill through Angela’s tummy. He handed the present into Katie’s eager hands.

Katie glanced down at the gift then up at her uncle. “Can I open it?”

Alex frowned and shook his head. “We should probably go ask your mom first.”

Katie let out a dejected sigh. Opening presents wasn’t until after dinner. Mel liked to get every moment on film.

“Okay. Can I have a piggy back ride?” Katie clasped her hands together and begged, “Pretty please with sugar on top?”

Angela swallowed the giggle that rose within her. She knew that tone. Moreover, she didn’t need to see her niece’s face to know that she was likely giving Alex “the eyes.” Cute as a bug’s nose, and Brock and Mel’s only girl so far, Katie was the light in her father’s eye. The little con artist had learned to get her way by offering her father a smile so sweet that Brock usually had trouble telling her no.

Alex set Katie on her feet, then turned and squatted down in front of her. “All right. Hop on.”

Katie clapped her hands in glee, then took a flying leap onto his back, nearly knocking Alex over in the process. He managed to catch himself by bracing a hand against the door as Katie latched her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist.

“You on?” He glanced over his shoulder.

She bounced on his back. “Giddy up!”

When Alex actually whinnied like a horse as he rose to his feet, Angela had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stifle the giggle that wanted to burst from her lips. She’d seen Alex and her brother playing a lot of things over the years, but she was pretty sure pony wasn’t one of them.

Reaching his hands back to hold the child securely by her bum, Alex gave his body a fierce shake, as if trying to throw off his rider, and took off at a gallop through the living room.

Angela moved back to give them space as he came galloping into the kitchen. Katie bounced and giggled on his back. Two steps into the room, Alex spotted Angela and came to an abrupt halt.

One corner of his mouth quirked up, a light flush tingeing his cheeks. “Heh. Hi.”

His hair hung in his eyes. Angela had a sudden yearning to brush it back. Right then, he reminded her so much of the boy he’d been. Memories flooded her mind. How many times had he come running into her mother’s kitchen like that, shouting something or other at Brock?

Except the boy had grown up into a man who made a thousand butterflies take flight in her stomach every time he looked at her.

Angela couldn’t stop the smile that twitched at the corners of her mouth. “Hi, yourself.”

“She likes horse back rides.” He shrugged a shoulder, the flush in his cheeks deepening.

“I noticed.” She couldn’t resist teasing him. “You make a good horse, Alex.”

Growing up, they’d teased each other relentlessly. He’d been at her mother’s house so often that he’d become part of the family. She found the old familiar teasing came back easily.

It wasn’t until that lone brow shot up into his hairline, however, that she realized what, exactly, she’d said. Or rather, what she’d implied.

Angela bit her lip, sure her face had gone seven shades of red, because her cheeks suddenly caught fire.

When a grin spread across Alex’s face a moment later, a stone of dread dropped in her stomach. He reminded her of that boy he’d been, who’d enjoyed tormenting her a little too much. Angela jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare say it,” she said, her voice trembling with a sudden case of nervous giggles.

He seemed to disregard her demand, however, for he cocked his head to the side. “Want a ride?”

The way the words rolled off his tongue, his voice low, husky, and suggestive, had a fine, sweet tension spiking in the atmosphere. Desire flared between them, a smoldering ember that burst into flames.

The playful expression drained from his face. Angela struggled to breathe in the suddenly sweltering room, her whole body trembling with the need that wound inside her—an acute yearning to press along his length and seize those lips.

Alex broke the spell a moment later, however, when one corner of his mouth quirked up. He jabbed a finger at her. “Remember, you started that.”

“You gonna give Aunt Angie a ride too, Uncle Alex?” Katie, arms still clamped around Alex’s neck, bounced on his back.

He darted a mischievous glance at Angela. “Oh, I don’t know, sweetheart, she looks awful heavy. I don’t know if I can pick her up…”

For good measure, Angela made to cuff his head, the way she used to growing up. Alex chuckled and ducked out of the way, then jiggled Katie on his back. “Come on, let’s go find your mom.” He resumed his trek through the kitchen, but before moving out the back door, paused and turned to look at her. “Good to see you, Ang.”