Chapter Thirteen
Jay enjoyed hanging out with Alyssa and her sister and brother-in-law; he was understandably a little wary around her nephew. Aside from the fact that Nicolas had announced the phony engagement to the whole Cabrera family—because apparently telling a five-year-old that something was a secret was a surefire way to get him to shout it out—the little guy did everything at warp speed and full volume. But it was apparent to Jay that the boy adored his Tia Lyssa—and that the feeling was mutual.
For dinner, Steven grilled chorizo sausages that were served with corn on the cob and red rice. The wine and beer flowed freely as the adults enjoyed the warm summer evening, and Nicolas, finally dressed in his pj’s with his teeth brushed, climbed into his aunt’s lap and fell asleep with his head against her breast.
Watching the boy, Jay experienced an unexpected tug of something he recognized as envy. And how crazy was that—to be jealous of the kid just because he was snuggled close to the soft curves of Alyssa’s body?
Yeah, their engagement was a lie. In fact, their whole relationship was a sham. Every part of it, except for his growing attraction to her.
“I should take Nicolas in to his bed,” Cristina said, though she didn’t look eager to move from the sofa, where she lounged with her head on her husband’s shoulder.
“Can I do it?” Alyssa asked.
“Of course,” her sister agreed. “Just don’t wake him, or he’ll be up until midnight.”
Alyssa rose easily from her chair with the little boy in her arms.
Jay had observed her interactions with Nicolas for the past several hours. He’d watched her pushing miniature cars around and shooting Nerf darts at a target and using hand puppets to act out a story. In everything she did, she was easy and natural with the boy, and Jay knew she’d be a great mother to her own kids someday.
He got up to open the sliding door for her, and she smiled her thanks as she passed through it.
“Oh, Nicolas dropped Teddy,” Cristina said.
“I’ve got it,” Jay said, scooping the stuffed bear from the ground beside the chair where Alyssa had been sitting.
“Thanks,” she said. “He doesn’t go to sleep without it, and if he wakes up and can’t find it, his screams will wake up everyone else, too.”
He followed the direction Alyssa had gone and found her tucking the blankets around her nephew in the boy’s room.
Jay handed her the bear, and she slipped it under Nicolas’s arm.
“I thought I should see where I’m going to be sleeping.” He spoke quietly, not wanting to wake the boy.
“Well, you’re not sleeping in here,” Alyssa responded in a whisper.
“I’m not?”
“No.” She kissed Nicolas’s cheek, then tiptoed out to the hallway. He followed. “My sister put us in the guest room.”
“Guest rooms?”
She shook her head. “One room. One bed.”
Warning lights flashed in his brain: Danger! Danger!
“You didn’t object to that arrangement?” His voice was still low, but there was no mistaking the desperation in his tone.
“What was I supposed to say?” she asked him. “Cristina thinks she’s doing us a favor, because what newly engaged couple wouldn’t want to snuggle up under the covers?”
Only a short while earlier, he’d been envying Nicolas’s proximity to Alyssa, with no expectation that he would soon be getting just as close to her. Closer even. Behind closed doors. Alone.
He swore softly.
She just nodded.
“How big is the bed?”
She led him down the hall to another room, nudged open the door and turned on the light.
“Not big enough,” he responded to his own question.
“I’ll bet you’re wishing now that you’d never offered to make this trip with me,” Alyssa remarked.
“Not true,” he denied. “Your grandmother’s tamales alone were worth the drive.”
She smiled at that. “There are moments when I’m really sorry I got you into this mess,” she confided. “And other moments when I’m so grateful you were there when Diego walked into Diggers’ that night, because I’m not sure Liam would have been such a good sport about this.”
“Yeah, that’s me—a good sport,” he said drily.
“You have been,” she insisted.
“It hasn’t been without benefits,” he reminded her.
“Anything aside from my grandmother’s cooking?”
“I would give up her tamales for one of your kisses,” he said.
“I saw you chow down on those tamales,” she noted.
“They’re probably the second best thing I’ve ever tasted.” And though he knew he was playing with fire, Jay pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
And yeah, her mouth was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted. But instead of satisfying his hunger, he found himself wanting more. Needing more.
His hands slid down her back and over the curve of her bottom, drawing her closer. She lifted her hands to his shoulders, holding on to him as he deepened the kiss. Lips parted, tongues dallied. Desire pulsed through his veins.
A light tap sounded on the partially open door and she practically leaped out of his arms.
“Lys? Are you in there?”
“Yeah.” She wrapped her fingers around the knob and yanked the door open wider. “I was just, uh, showing Jason where we were going to be sleeping.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Cristina apologized, her eyes twinkling. “I just wanted to make sure you have everything you need and to say good-night, because Steven and I are heading to bed, too.”
“Oh. Um...yeah. I think we’ve got everything. Thanks.”
“Okay.” Cristina kissed her sister’s cheek. “Good night.” Then, her gaze shifting to Jay, she added, “To both of you.”
“Good night,” he replied.
“Oh, and lock the door,” she advised. “Nicolas is an early riser and he doesn’t always remember to knock.”
Then she pulled the door firmly closed from the outside, leaving Jay and Alyssa alone.
* * *
They danced around one another as they took turns in the bathroom to get ready for bed.
Alyssa brushed her teeth first, then quickly changed out of her clothes and into her nightshirt while Jason was in the bathroom. When she’d packed for this trip, she’d included her favorite sleeping tee, because she hadn’t anticipated that anyone might see her in it. If she had, she might have chosen something that was longer than midthigh—or packed a robe.
Instead, she made do with the covers, ensuring she was under them before he climbed into bed. She lay on her back, her gaze fixed on the ceiling, when he came out of the bathroom. She felt the mattress dip as he lowered himself onto the other side, then he switched off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.
She shifted, trying to move closer to the edge on her side. But the bed seemed to dip toward the middle, wanting to pull her in the same direction. She shifted again, fighting the worn springs and gravity.
“Could you stop wriggling around for five minutes?” Jason asked through gritted teeth.
“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “I’m not used to sharing a bed.”
“I’m not in the habit of sharing a bed, either. Or not exclusively for sleeping purposes,” he clarified.
Which substantiated the rumors that Charming knew how to please a woman, but he didn’t do relationships. And even though she was aware of all the reasons it would be a mistake to fall for him, it was getting harder and harder to remember why she shouldn’t fall into bed with him. Especially now that they were already there, and her body was intensely aware of his.
“So, how is this going to work?” she asked.
“You’re going to close your eyes and go to sleep.”
“Oh, okay,” she said sarcastically. “Because I haven’t tried that already.”
“Well, try again,” he suggested.
So she closed her eyes and imagined that she was alone.
But she could feel the heat of his body and hear the sound of his breathing, and her imagination decided that it preferred to go in a different direction, taunting her with the suggestion of rolling toward him rather than away. Tempting her to imagine those strong, talented hands moving over her body, stripping away her panties and nightshirt, caressing her bare flesh. Touching and teasing and—
Her eyes popped open again in a desperate attempt to banish the fantasy playing out in her mind, making her blood heat and her body yearn. She drew in a slow, deep breath, exhaled.
“I’m used to sleeping in the middle,” she confided.
“Me, too,” he said. “So obviously that’s not going to work for either of us.”
Another few minutes passed, the darkness silent and tense, before she ventured to ask, “Do you usually sleep on your back or front or side?”
“How would I know?” he asked her. “I’m sleeping.”
The fact that he couldn’t see her roll her eyes in the dark didn’t stop her from doing it. “What position are you usually in when you wake up?”
That question he answered without hesitation. “Reaching out to silence the damn alarm.”
His terse response made her smile, even as she knew it was going to be a very long night.
* * *
Alyssa drifted off before he did.
Although sleep didn’t come quickly or easily to either of them, Jay sensed the gradual relaxation of her body as her breathing became slow and even. Eventually, his did the same.
He was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep facing the wall, because he remembered deliberately turning onto his side, away from her. Because even when he’d been on his back, with his temporary fiancée on hers, he could see her in his peripheral vision. Even under the covers, he’d been aware of her breasts rising and falling with each breath.
And all he could think about was how perfectly those breasts would fill his hands, how arousing it would be to hear her breath hitch when he brushed his thumbs over her nipples. Even those relatively innocent thoughts had aroused him unbearably, and he’d been grateful she was sleeping, so she couldn’t see the sheet tented over a certain part of his anatomy.
But although he was certain he’d fallen asleep facing the wall, he woke up with his arms full of soft, warm female, Alyssa’s head tucked under his chin, her hair tickling his throat. He breathed in the scent of her and felt his blood stir.
He loved her softness and her curves. Though he’d heard her grumble about a stubborn seven pounds that refused to be shed, he thought she was perfect.
And right now, her perfect breasts were crushed against his chest. One of her perfect legs was flung over his. And her perfect mouth was only inches from his own.
Just go with it.
The four words that she’d spoken to him at Diggers’ echoed in his mind. Tempted him.
Of course, she’d been tempting him for weeks now. And the more time he’d spent with her, the harder it had been to resist the temptation—even before he was forced to share a bed with her.
But he was trapped in a web of lies, tangled in so much deceit that he wondered if he’d ever get free. He couldn’t blame Alyssa. She’d only wanted a pretend boyfriend for a weekend. He was the one who’d been goaded by his friends to prolong the charade. He was the one who’d raised the stakes of the game—stupidly, perhaps selfishly, but willingly—believing that if Diego couldn’t respect that Alyssa had a boyfriend, surely he’d back off in the face of an engagement.
And why did he even care what the other man believed or did? Jay wasn’t one of those guys with a hero complex and Alyssa certainly wasn’t a damsel in distress. In fact, she was one of the strongest, bravest women he knew. So how had he found himself in this predicament—in bed with a woman who made him ache and whom he didn’t dare touch?
He decided it was Gilmore’s fault. Though he wouldn’t admit as much to Alyssa, her willingness to turn to the other man had been part of his reason for stepping up to the plate. Because he hadn’t liked the idea of his sexy neighbor playing out this charade with his high school nemesis—especially considering that he’d lost a girlfriend and his job as starting quarterback to the other man already. So Jay had jumped into this game with no preparation and little hesitation.
Still, he could have backed out at any time before Alyssa’s parents made the trip to Haven. And when Renata called, he could have easily made an excuse as to why he couldn’t come to California.
Summer was the busiest season at Adventure Village, and everyone else was working extra hours to cover his duties. But he wasn’t worried about not being on-site. He trusted Carter to stay on top of everything and to let him know if there were any problems, and his partners were as invested in the success of JC Enterprises as he was.
But the truth was, when Renata mentioned the anniversary celebration, he hadn’t been looking for a reason to say no. In fact, he’d been eager to say yes, to have an excuse to spend more time with Alyssa. And that was worrisome.
He’d dated a lot of women in his twenty-nine years, although none for any significant period of time. Nat had been right about that. After a few weeks, the shine of any new relationship inevitably began to dull, and he started to withdraw.
He was all about having fun in the here and now, and most of the women he dated wanted the same thing. A couple of his former girlfriends had accused him of being spoiled and selfish, and they probably weren’t wrong, but he’d had no desire to change who he was.
Until now.
Until he’d somehow found himself more deeply involved with Alyssa than he’d ever intended.
He hadn’t yet decided whether he should blame Nat or thank her—as she insisted he would do—for the situation he found himself in.
His instinct was to pull back from these feelings that were new and unfamiliar, but he didn’t want to pull away from Alyssa. Being with her—whether running in the early hours of the morning or sitting under the stars late in the night or anything else at any time in between—just felt right. When he was with her, he wasn’t just happy but content, and he couldn’t ever recall feeling that way with a woman before. Even after eight weeks of various activities and countless conversations, there was still so much he didn’t know about her, so much he wanted to learn.
Was he falling for her? Or had he already fallen?
Was this love?
Or was it just the sexual attraction that simmered between them messing with his head?
Yeah, that made more sense. Because of the terms of their agreement, she was strictly off-limits to him. And forbidden fruit was always the most tempting. So if he wanted to stop fantasizing about getting naked with her, he was going to have to get naked with her.
It made perfect sense to him.
Of course, there was no way it was going to happen in her sister’s house. The first time he made love with Alyssa—because his own proximity rules notwithstanding, he no longer doubted that it was going to happen—he wanted to ensure they had complete privacy without the risk of any interruptions.
But damn, it was torture to be so close to her and not be able to touch her the way he wanted to touch her.
Alyssa shifted in her sleep, sighing softly.
Looking up at the ceiling, he silently cursed his friend. Of course, Nat would laugh her ass off if she could see him now, cuddling in bed with a sweet, sexy woman he couldn’t allow himself to be intimate with. Not here. Not now.
And not for any of the five more nights he’d be sleeping with Alyssa in this bed.
He almost wished he’d been assigned to the bottom bunk in her nephew’s room. Or the sofa in the living room. Hell, even the floor of the garage would be easier than this.
“You’re killing me, Lys.”
His words, muttered through gritted teeth, failed to penetrate the cloud of slumber that continued to envelop her, because she only snuggled closer.
Her breasts rubbed against his chest, the friction causing her nipples to pebble beneath the soft cotton of her nightshirt. A shirt that had ridden up during the night, so that her legs and the sweet curve of her bottom—barely covered by silky panties—were exposed.
Thankfully, he’d had the forethought to bring a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt. At home, he slept only in his briefs, but he didn’t think that was the best choice for her parents’ house. Sharing a bed with Alyssa, he was doubly grateful for the extra clothing barrier between them.
“Lys?” He tried again.
“Mmm.” Her eyelids fluttered open. “Oh.” Her sleepy eyes widened. “Um...”
“I guess we both ended up sleeping in the middle, after all,” he said when she didn’t seem able to complete her thought.
“I guess we did,” she acknowledged, her cheeks flushing prettily.
She eased back and attempted to extricate her limbs from his. Her thigh grazed the front of his pants and her breath caught.
“You’re...um...” Her words trailed off again.
“Aroused?” he suggested drily.
She nodded, the color in her cheeks deepening.
“That’s what happens when a guy wakes up with a sexy, half-naked woman sprawled over him.”
She quickly shifted farther away. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’m not used to...um...”
“You don’t have to apologize,” he told her. “But it would be helpful if you didn’t cuddle me like Nicolas’s teddy bear for the next few nights.”
“Five more nights,” she reminded him.
He nodded, painfully aware of the time frame. “Let’s just try to get through one day—and night—at a time,” he suggested.
She sighed. “This whole thing has gotten so complicated.”
“On the plus side, I think your parents are starting to like me.”
“My parents do like you,” she confirmed. “My grandmother described you as very hot, Tia Deanna used words that made me blush and my sister and cousins all think you’re incredibly handsome and charming.”
“So why don’t you sound happy?” he asked her.
“Because I didn’t expect them to like you quite so much,” she admitted. “They’re all going to be so disappointed when we call off our engagement.”
He lifted a hand to brush her hair away from her face. “I really put my foot in it, didn’t I?”
“I appreciate what you were trying to do,” she said. “And truthfully, it’s not just about the engagement. They’d be equally disappointed to hear about our breakup even if they never thought we were planning to get married, so I guess it’s really my fault for coming up with the pretend boyfriend idea in the first place.”
“At this point, instead of assigning blame, we should focus on getting through the rest of this trip without crossing that line we said we weren’t going to cross. Unless—” his tone turned hopeful as another thought crossed his mind “—you want to renegotiate the terms of this agreement.”
“Or we could say there’s been some kind of crisis at Adventure Village and you have to go back,” she suggested as an alternative.
“What kind of crisis would make me abandon my fiancée at her parents’ thirty-fifth anniversary celebration?” he asked. “Because I don’t think a shortage of paintballs or a malfunctioning laser vest would suffice.”
“Maybe a family emergency,” she began, then immediately shook her head, horrified by the words she’d spoken. “Ohmygod, no. I didn’t mean—I can’t believe that thought even came into my head. And I didn’t mean a real emergency, just that you could make something up.”
“Isn’t making things up what got us into this situation in the first place?” he asked her.
She sighed again. “You’re right. I just wanted to get you out of this increasingly awkward situation.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Except—” he pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed “—to take a very cold shower.”