I couldn’t stop fidgeting. I didn’t mean to, but David and I were out on a date. In public.

With our parents thirty minutes away by car, there was a slim chance of running into them, but then again, the chance of me falling for the guy whose dad was about to marry my mom had been slim-to-none as well. I knew better than to take anything for granted where this relationship was concerned.

Which was why my eyes kept darting to the door of the restaurant.

“Relax.” David picked up his menu, his lips quirked to the side with a knowing smirk. “Our parents aren’t going to come barreling through the door, accusing us of carrying on an incestuous relationship.”

“Shh,” I warned, looking around the cozy space. “Someone could hear you.”

David glanced to his right and then his left and chuckled. Both tables were empty. Not exactly surprising considering it was a Monday night. That had been my concession to this escapade in the first place.

“We’re not doing anything wrong,” he said for probably the hundredth time. “You’re not my sister, Victoria, no matter how much your mother may try to convince you otherwise.”

“I know that,” I whispered, scanning the menu in an attempt to play it cool.

I did know that there was nothing wrong with dating him, yet somehow I couldn’t shake the guilt hanging over me.

The week before, my mother had tried to set me up on another blind date, and I’d not-so-politely decline. It had been the third time in a little over a month I’d rebuffed her matchmaking efforts and she was becoming suspicious.

Then last night as I’d arrived for our weekly dinner, she’d pulled me aside to tell me I needed to move on from my unhealthy fascination with my stepbrother. I’d scoffed and told her she was imagining something that wasn’t there. Afterward, I’d been tense and, despite the meal having been quite good for once, hadn’t been able to touch my food. As I’d pulled out of her driveway at the end of the evening, I’d decided avoiding her—and all family dinners for the foreseeable future—was the best course of action.

But I wasn’t here to dwell on that.

I was here to have a nice night out with my boyfriend, one of the first times we’d been on an actual date. He’d taken me to a book signing, two interesting lectures given by a member of the faculty at the college where he taught, and the farmer’s market near my house, but that had been the extent of our public courtship.

It helped that both David and I were homebodies, preferring to settle down on my sofa in front of the fire with a good book than go out all the time. But I’d sensed he was growing tired of the subterfuge, so I’d relented when he’d asked me to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants.

Unfortunately, I was having trouble enjoying myself. “I’m sorry,” I whispered as the waiter refilled my water glass and then strolled away. “I know this isn’t what you had in mind.”

David’s eyes met mine over the rim of his menu. “It’s fine.”

Sometimes, I felt like David was too good to me. I knew it couldn’t have been easy being in a relationship with someone who treated you like a dirty little secret, but he never tried to make me feel bad about it. Which in turn made me feel even worse. When he’d pushed for this date, it had been the only time I’d seen his easy acceptance of our situation falter. With his jaw set in a hard line and challenge glinting in his dark blue eyes, I couldn’t have said no, no matter how badly I might have wanted to.

“I know it’s fine,” I said, my response laced with a touch of exasperation, “but I wish it wasn’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He set his menu to the side and held up a finger to stall the waiter from coming to take our order.

I stared down at the breadstick on my plate for a few beats before raising my eyes to his. “Doesn’t it ever bother you?”

He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “All the damn time, but I want you in my life more than I’ve ever wanted anything, so I’m willing to be patient.”

“But what if she never comes around?”

I also didn’t have to explain who she was. If my mom wasn’t so damned pig-headed about this, David and I could have gone public a long time ago.

I tried not to let myself imagine what it would have been like if instead of pretending like we hadn’t known each other that morning on Dobbers Island, we’d laughed and told everyone we had just started dating. I never let myself wonder what our lives would be like if instead of being appalled by our connection, our families had celebrated it. If instead of chastising me for my feelings for David, my mom had taken my hand in hers and said that I needed to hold on to love when I found it.

I didn’t want to be bitter and resentful toward her, but I was. I also knew the time was coming where I’d have to make a choice: him or her.

“She will,” David answered my earlier statement with a surety I didn’t feel.

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m charming and incredibly persuasive?” he said, turning the words I’d spoken to him that afternoon back around on me.

“You are, but she’s pig-headed and stubborn.”

David lifted an eyebrow. “And you wonder where you get it from.”

I laughed despite myself. I was pig-headed and stubborn. Save Drew, all us Witherspoons were. Thankfully, it was something David claimed to love about me. He often praised my dedication and tenacity.

“Just relax, Victoria. It’ll all work out.”

With great effort, I smiled at David and perused the menu, putting our conversation on the back burner for the time being. “The risotto looks good,” I remarked, my eyes skating over the options. “Or maybe the tagliatelle.” I looked up to find David gazing at me warmly. “What?”

“I was thinking the same thing. Want to get one of each and we can share?”

“Sure,” I answered, this time with a genuine smile as David hailed the waiter and we finally put in our order.

I snuggled into the warm crook of David’s arm as we strolled back to his car after our meal. It hadn’t snowed yet, but every night was becoming colder than the last, and it was only a matter of time until winter made itself fully known. For now, we could still walk leisurely through town after dark without freezing to death. “That was nice,” I said, pulling the scent of his cologne into my lungs.

“It was.” he answered, dropping a kiss to the top of my head.

I craned my neck back. “Thank you for making me come.”

“We’ll have to do it more often.”

“We will,” I agreed, much to both of our surprise.

I’d been leery at first, but once I’d accepted the world wasn’t going to come crashing down around us, I’d been able to enjoy myself. I loved hanging out with David at his condo or at my house, but being out in public with him was even better.

Drew had told me he was a good teacher, but seeing the way David interacted with others gave me an appreciation for what he must have looked like standing in front of his classroom. He held himself with such obvious ease, and spoke like a man who knew his place in the world. Not to be confused with arrogance, his confidence was one of the sexiest things about him.

And I couldn’t wait to get home to show him just how sexy I thought he was.

“Before you go picking a spot for our next date, I want to show you just how much I appreciated this one.” I eased out from his embrace and took his hand in mine. Walking backwards, I caught his gaze. “And I appreciated it a lot.”

“Did you?” He laughed and I nodded, licking my lips.

“Sooo appreciative,” I cooed seductively. Or at least tried to. Seductive wasn’t exactly my strong suit. Still, it was fun to try on the persona, and David clearly appreciated it.

“But I think I’m still hungry.” My eyes dropped to his belt and then flicked back up. I couldn’t wait to unbuckle it and find the prize inside.

David shook his head, fighting a grin. “Then far be it from me to deny my girl what she wants. Your place or mine?”

David worked on the opposite side of town from where I lived, where Rocky Cove met the countryside, while my office at the newspaper was downtown. From purely a location standpoint, his condo was the more convenient of the two, but from a comfort perspective, my place won hands down.

“Definitely mine,” I answered, as reached his car.

I’d expected David to open the door, but instead he pressed me up against the vehicle, his front warm against my back. With a feather-light sweep of his fingers over my nape, he brushed my hair to the side and kissed my neck. “I’m still hungry too,” he said, nipping at the exposed skin.

I shivered and pushed against him, feeling the hard ridge of his erection through our many layers of clothes.

His eased his hand under my coat and rested the heel of his palm over my mound. Instinctively, I rocked against it.

“I don’t know if I can wait to taste you.” He tunneled his fingers into the waistband of my leggings, and then down, down, down until he reached my throbbing clit.

I saw stars.

I lost track of time as I rode his fingers, my body shielded by his larger one. If anyone happened to pass by, it would be obvious what we were doing. Still, with my head bowed and David’s lips pressed to my neck, no one would see our faces. It gave me a sense of freedom I’d never experienced before.

“Do you see what you do to me?” David asked, pulling me tightly against him, rocking his hips in time with mine. “You drive me crazy.”

“You drive me crazy,” I squeaked, feeling the pressure in my core building with each plunge and dip of his talented fingers.

From the first moment I’d met him, I’d had a thing for his hands. I just hadn’t known how much I’d grow to love them. And I really did. They could do things to me no one else had ever done.

He nipped at my earlobe. “Crazy enough to scream my name in public?”

I screwed my eyes shut as I rode the wave and nodded.

Two fingers slipped inside of me as he reached for that secret spot that only he’d ever been able to find. I began to tremble as I gasped for air, my palms pressed flat to the window.

“I’m coming,” I warned a nanosecond before my orgasm broke free, a wave of pleasure so strong that my knees gave out crashing over me. My body sagged, and David banded his arm around my waist, holding me tight as he petted me through the last currents of bliss.

“Say my name. I want to hear who makes you feel so good.”

“It’s you, David. Only you.”

It was true. I loved him. He was my one and only. My forever. I’d wavered in my convictions, but I knew now my future was by his side. As the last spasms of my orgasm receded, I allowed myself to bask in the certainty of our life together.

I adored my mother, but I loved David. If she forced the issue, I would choose him.

Each and every time.

Slowly, he pulled his hand from my leggings and spun me around to face him. Our eyes locked and he raised his fingers to his mouth, licking them clean. “You’re delicious.”

As he opened the car door and I slid into my seat, I looked up at him. “You’ve got five minutes to get to my house before I lean over and reciprocate.”

He stared at me a beat, and then slammed my door. The clock started now.