скачать книгу бесплатно
The only consolation for Alyssa was that Diego was late, too. Or maybe he wasn’t coming. She mentally crossed her fingers that she could get so lucky.
“I’ll see if I can reach him on his cell,” Sky said.
“Thanks.”
She looked at the clock again.
Nine twenty-eight.
Sky shook her head as she tucked her phone back into her pocket before heading to the other end of the bar to refill Gavin Virga’s drink.
Alyssa sighed.
“Is something wrong?”
She jolted at the sound of his voice so close, then laughed as she pressed a hand to the heart that was hammering inside her chest.
“I seem to have a habit of startling you,” Jason apologized.
“It’s okay,” she said. “My mind was just somewhere else.”
“I can’t imagine anywhere more interesting than here,” he deadpanned.
She laughed again. “Did you want something to drink?”
He shook his head. “I noticed that you’ve been watching the door.”
“I guess I have been,” she admitted.
“Waiting for someone?” He straddled an empty stool.
“Sort of.”
“How can you ‘sort of’ be waiting for someone?”
“Well, there’s one person I’m hoping will come through the door and another I’m hoping won’t,” she explained.
“Now I’m intrigued,” he said.
Over his shoulder, she saw a familiar figure walk into the bar and swore under her breath.
Or maybe the curse wasn’t as restrained as she thought, because Jason’s brows lifted—a silent question that she didn’t have time to answer. Because Diego had spotted her, too, and was moving purposefully toward her.
And though Jason hadn’t been her first choice, she decided that if she could have a fantasy romance with any man of her choosing, there wasn’t anyone more fantasy worthy than her handsome upstairs neighbor.
“I’ll explain later,” she promised as growing desperation pushed aside both rational thought and common sense. “For now, will you please just go with it?”
“Go with—”
She didn’t let him finish the question before she leaned across the bar and kissed him.
* * *
If this was “it,” Jason decided as Alyssa’s mouth moved over his, he could definitely go with it. For now and as long as she wanted, because her lips were soft and warm and seductively persuasive.
He’d be lying if he said that he hadn’t thought about kissing her, because she was the type of woman that any red-blooded man would be attracted to. But he also knew that it wasn’t always a good idea to act on an attraction—such as when the woman who stirred his blood was a friend, coworker or neighbor. Alyssa checked off two of those boxes, so no matter how much his hormones sat up and begged for attention whenever she was around—and there was no denying that they did—he’d mostly managed to ignore them.
There was no hope of ignoring them now.
She smelled so good...tasted even better.
And he wished there wasn’t eighteen inches of polished walnut between them, so that he could put his arms around her and haul her against his body. He settled for circling her wrists with his hands. His thumbs rubbed over her pulse points, finding evidence that her heart was racing as fast as his own.
“I think that should do it.” She whispered the words against his lips before she eased away.
Do what? he wondered, noting that her mouth was moist and swollen from their kiss, her cheeks flushed.
But before he could catch his breath to ask the question aloud, someone spoke from behind him.
“I heard this was a friendly establishment,” the male voice remarked. “Do all customers get that kind of attention?”
The color in her cheeks deepened. “Diego...um...hi.” Then she seemed to gather her thoughts to respond to his question. “And, uh, no.”
“You must be someone special, then,” the man she’d referred to as Diego remarked, his narrowed gaze focused on Jay.
“Very special,” Alyssa chimed in quickly. “Jason is...my boyfriend.”
Though Jay instinctively chafed against the word, the silent plea in her eyes begged him not to contradict her claim. Recalling her promise of an explanation later, he decided to go with it—at least for now.
“And you would be?” Jay prompted the other man.
Alyssa jumped in again. “This is Diego Garcia, a family friend from California.”
“Well, any friend of Alyssa’s is a friend of mine,” he said.
Diego shook his proffered hand, squeezing more firmly than was warranted.
“You’re a long way from home,” Jay commented.
“I’m visiting a cousin in Elko,” Diego said. “And since I was going to be so close, Renata suggested that I stop in to say hi to her daughter.”
“And now you have,” he said pointedly.
Diego nodded and turned his attention back to Alyssa. “If you’re not working tomorrow night, maybe we could have dinner together,” he suggested.
“I’m not working,” she admitted, glancing at Jay, those melted chocolate eyes pleading. “But—”
“But we already have plans for tomorrow night,” he finished for her.
“Plans that can’t be changed to accommodate a friend from back home?” Diego directed the question at Alyssa.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Jay responded. “You see, it’s our three-month anniversary tomorrow and I have a very special evening planned.”
“How about lunch, then?” the other man offered as an alternative.
“Sorry,” he interjected, though the invitation clearly hadn’t been directed at—or even intended to include—him. “But we’re tied up for the whole weekend.”
“And I’m heading back Sunday morning,” Diego admitted.
“Well, I hope you enjoy your visit with your cousin and have a safe trip back,” Alyssa said, clearly eager for the man to be on his way.
Jay knew that would probably be for the best, but he couldn’t deny a certain curiosity about Diego’s connection to his neighbor. And since Alyssa herself was rather tight-lipped whenever he asked her about her previous life in California, he decided that this was too good an opportunity to pass up.
“But since you’re here now,” he said to the other man, “why don’t you let me buy you a drink?”
Chapter Four (#u11dfc7e5-2c74-5cf8-af82-9436bc7b6811)
What was he doing?
Alyssa frowned at Jason, silently communicating her annoyance.
She couldn’t imagine Diego saying yes, but still—what could have possessed her pretend boyfriend to make such an offer? She held her breath as Diego glanced at his watch, shrugged.
“I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee before I make the drive back,” he decided.
“Make that two cups, honey bear,” Jason said to her.
Honey bear?
But of course, she couldn’t object to his use of the term because she needed his help if her ploy was to succeed. Instead, she forced a smile. “Of course, sugar muffin. I was just about to make a fresh pot—I’ll have Geena bring it over when it’s ready.”
Though his brows lifted, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth before he turned away to guide Diego to a vacant table.
“Sugar muffin?” Sky echoed quizzically.
“It was the first thing that came to mind,” Alyssa admitted.
“I can’t believe you’re fake cheating on my brother with someone called ‘sugar muffin,’” her coworker remarked.
“Your brother stood me up,” Alyssa pointed out in her defense.
“He was late,” Sky acknowledged, pretending to be miffed. “And you didn’t wait half an hour to throw yourself into another man’s arms.”
“Actually, I waited thirty-three minutes,” she said. “Desperate times and all that.”
But even as her words justified her actions, her heart—still racing from that kiss—worried that she might have made a very big mistake.
Sky glanced at the table where Jason and Diego were seated as she continued to mix drinks. “He’s actually kind of cute.”
“Jason?”
“No!” Sky said immediately. Vehemently. “Diego.”
Objectively speaking, her friend was right. But Alyssa was more curious about Sky’s reaction to her question about Jason. “Do you have a history with Jason Channing that I should know about?”
Sky shook her head. “Not personally.”
“Impersonally?”
Her friend chuckled. “No. It’s just that I’m a Gilmore and he’s a Blake—or rather, his mother was a Blake.”
“I’m still not following,” she admitted.
“You don’t know about the feud?”
“What feud?”
Sky shook her head, but before she could explain, Margot—one of the waitresses—came up to the bar with an order of drinks for a party table in the restaurant, and Sky turned her attention to filling it.
While she was busy doing that, Alyssa grabbed a bus pan to clear some of the now empty tables.
Jason and Diego were still chatting, and though she was admittedly curious about the topic of their conversation, she wasn’t worried. She’d made her point to Diego. Now he could go back to Elko—and ultimately to Irvine—cured of any notion that there was a future for them together.
She sprayed and wiped a table, then turned and found herself face-to-face with her mother’s best friend’s favorite nephew.
“I wanted to say goodbye before I headed out,” Diego said to her.
“Oh. Okay.” She tightened her grip on the bus pan as he leaned over to kiss her on one cheek, then the other.
“It was good to see you, even for a couple of minutes, Alyssa.”
“You, too.” And now that she knew he was leaving, she managed to say the words with a believable amount of sincerity.
Or maybe she was too believable, because he tried again. “You’re sure you don’t have any free time this weekend?”
She glanced at the table where Jason was still sitting, watching them, and shook her head. “I don’t know what plans Jason has made—” which was the absolute truth “—but if he says we’re booked, we’re booked.”
“I guess I’ll see you in July, then.”
The expression on her face must have matched the blankness of her mind, because he smiled, and she realized that Sky was right—he was kind of cute. But she wasn’t attracted to him in the least.
“Your parents’ anniversary party,” Diego reminded her. “I assume you’ll be home for that?”
“Oh, yes. Of course,” she agreed.
“Then I’ll see you there.”
She exhaled a long, grateful sigh of relief when he finally turned away and headed out the door—crossing paths with Liam Gilmore on his way in.
