Lila Kate
LIVE BAY WASN’T a long walk from Nate and Bliss’s house. Which was a good thing because neither of us needed to be driving. The walk helped sober us up somewhat but not completely. It was a nice relaxed feeling. By the time we finished eating at the restaurant in front of Live Bay’s bar, my head was much clearer. My concerns and fears were returning.
“I don’t know if I’m up for dancing tonight,” I told him.
“I don’t think I’m up for the crowd there,” he agreed.
At least he wasn’t going to try and talk me into staying. But returning to Nate’s where I would just sit and worry alone didn’t seem appealing either.
“Let’s get my truck and then go to my apartment. We can watch a movie. I have vodka. I also have some peanut butter ice cream in my freezer that needs to be eaten. It’ll be quiet there.”
That was better. “Okay. Yes, that sounds good. Especially the ice cream.”
He smirked. “And I thought it would be my perfect personality that would win you over.”
“That is just a plus. The ice cream definitely is the ultimate draw.”
The server came, and Eli took the bill for our dinner and paid for it. This had been a date. A real one. Even after our drunken admissions on the beach. We talked about Sea Breeze and his childhood there on our way back to the truck. He had good memories of the place and a lot of friends who sounded a lot more colorful than the ones I had back home.
We didn’t go inside or say anything to Bliss and Nate. Instead, we got in his truck and headed to his apartment which was more of a condo on the beach. Bliss had lived there with him before she got together with Nate. I wondered if he had bought a two bedroom just for that reason—for her.
But I didn’t want to talk about that anymore, so I didn’t ask.
“This is it. Movies are in that cabinet if you want to look through what I have. Or we can rent something from iTunes. Your choice.”
It was a nice. You could tell a female had lived here once. There was a feminine touch that most guys didn’t know how to pull off when they decorated. Or they didn’t care to.
“I’ll see what selection you have first,” I told him walking over to the cabinet.
He left me in there. I opened the cabinet and saw the DVDs were in alphabetical order. He had a great selection. I found Top Gun toward the end and picked it up. I had seen this once when I was younger. It was a classic even back then.
Eli walked back into the room carrying a bottle of vodka, two glasses, and some cranberry juice. “I assume you don’t always drink vodka straight out of the bottle,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“You’d be correct. That was actually a first for me.”
“Figured.”
I handed him the DVD, and he nodded. “Nice choice,” he agreed then set the glasses on the coffee table and the vodka and cranberry juice behind them. “Help yourself. Want me to get the ice cream now? Or later?”
I wasn’t hungry yet. I was still full from the fried crab claws and fries I had eaten. “I’m good with the vodka right now.”
He sat down on the sofa then and waved his arm out beside him. “Then let’s drink. I’ve sobered up, and I prefer the numbness that came with the vodka earlier.”
“It definitely makes you brave. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing,” I said thinking about myself.
He handed me a glass with ice. “Fix it the way you like it. I have club soda too if you prefer that.”
“Cranberry works just fine.”
I poured what I thought was a shot of vodka then filled the rest of the glass with the juice. “We aren’t very good influences on each other, are we?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Why? Because we keep drinking?”
I nodded.
“It’s just the timing isn’t that great for either of us.”
I leaned back and crossed my legs to get comfortable before taking a drink. “No, I guess it’s not.”
He poured at least half a glass of the vodka and added just a splash of juice. Then he stood up and went over to the DVD player to put in the movie. Again, this was comfortable. It was easy to trust Eli.
The movie started, and we drank as we watched it. An hour into the movie, he stood up and went to get the ice cream. I still wasn’t hungry, but I ate it. Another drink appeared in my hand and with it came the smooth, easy feeling. I enjoyed it and let him refill me again.
“Lila?”
“Yes?”
“What happened for real last night?”
I thought for a moment then figured there was no reason not to be honest with him. “We had sex on the beach. You used a condom.”
He sat up straight and I let out a giggle. It was funny now. Or the vodka made me think it was.
“Was . . . was I any good?” he asked and that made me laugh harder. Of all the things for him to be worried about that wasn’t what I thought it would be.
“Yes. You do fine under intoxication. But then I don’t know what you’re like sober.”
His smile was dark and sexy. “We could find out.”
I shook my head. “No, we can’t.”
He sighed and leaned back against the sofa. “Damn.”
I fell asleep before the movie ended, but my night had been fun. The alcohol relaxed me, and I didn’t dream, I just slept.
The sun was just beginning to rise when I opened my eyes. I was asleep on the sofa alone. A blanket was covering me and a pillow was under my head. I stretched, got up, folded the blanket and ran a hand through my hair. I needed to leave. Bliss and Nate were going to assume things that hadn’t happened. Not that I should care. But a part of me did. And it had happened before, just not last night.
I found an old receipt and a pen in my purse.
Thanks for last night. It was fun. I hope it helped.
Lila
I placed the note on the table in front of me and then left. I liked Eli Hardy, and in different circumstances he’d be harder to leave. But his heart was taken even if he didn’t want it to be.
My walk back to Nate and Bliss’s was peaceful. The seagulls were out, and the smell of the salt in the air calmed me. The sun wasn’t boiling yet, and I enjoyed just being alone. My thoughts were all over the place as I walked. So much so that I almost missed the motorcycle parked outside Nate’s house.
When I did see it, I paused. I knew that bike. I also knew the guy straddling it. He turned his head and looked at me. Even though I hated it. Even though I would do anything for it not to affect me to see him there, my heart picked up just a little.
I took a deep breath then resumed walking toward the front door and Cruz Kerrington.
“What are you doing here?” I snapped when I was close enough for him to hear me.
He gave me his cocky grin. “I heard you were taking a road trip.”
“So?”
“Why?”
I didn’t want to answer him. But he was here. He had never come here. “Why are you here?” I demanded.
“Why did you take off?” Cruz countered.
I was the new Lila. I wasn’t the same girl that I had left behind in Rosemary. “Because I don’t want to be that girl anymore. The one you described.”
“So you thought leaving town alone would change that?” He sounded amused.
I hated that. I hated his smug grin and self-confidence. “Yes. This is my . . . adventure. Now leave. Let me enjoy it.”
Cruz didn’t move. He studied me a moment. I started to walk past him toward the front door. “Get on, Lila,” he said and I glanced back at him. He was holding out a helmet.
“Excuse me?” I asked thinking I’d heard him incorrectly.
“Get on the back of my bike,” Cruz repeated.
“Are you crazy?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. But you know that already. Now get on the bike.”
“I’m not getting on that bike.”
He cocked one eyebrow at me. It was a sexy talent. “You said you wanted an adventure. What is more adventurous than climbing on my bike and just leaving?”
“Where would we go?” I heard myself ask.
“Anywhere, everywhere.”
I shook my head again. “My bag is upstairs. My car is here.”
“Yeah . . . but you want change. That’s the old you. Climb on, and we’ll find the new Lila Kate Carter.”
I stood there. My head was telling me how ridiculous this was and that I needed to march inside and slam the door in his face, but my feet began moving toward him. I had nothing but the clothes I was wearing and the purse on my shoulder. I stopped beside his bike and he put the helmet on my head. Then his hand closed around mine. “Get on.”
And I did.