CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Chris studied Tori, hoping she remembered this place. The spot where he’d finally worked up the courage to kiss her. Liquid courage.

She turned to him with a big smile on her full pink lips.

He tightened his grasp on the keys, letting them dig into the palm of his hand. The dull pain kept him from pulling her mouth to his. It was taking a saint’s patience to give her the date she deserved without jumping her in the truck.

“This place I remember.” Tori scooted closer to Chris, leaning forward and peering out his window toward the lake.

He grinned at her excitement and enjoyed her warm, soft body pushed up against his. Her touch, her presence was making him as giddy as hell. He needed out of the damn truck. He popped his door and jumped. By the time he got to her side, she had the door open already.

“So, you do remember our first kiss then?” He helped her to the ground.

Tori shot him a look that screamed attitude. Her face was scrunched up, eyebrows drawn together. Adorable. She was fucking adorable. “Of course I do. It was the night of your graduation.”

“Mmm.” He nodded and snagged her hand. He pulled her toward the beach with him.

He wondered if she remembered the night the same way he did. Long, tan legs in a denim mini skirt… Blond hair pulled up and away from her face in a high ponytail… Rosy cheeks from the humidity and alcohol… She’d tasted like Strawberry Hill wine coolers and had felt like a teenage dream wrapped around him as they’d explored each other’s mouths. It had been the best kiss of his life. He felt the same way even now, when he had so many more kisses to compare.

He’d been feeling sorry for himself and had sought refuge on an empty boat tied up to the dock. The last person he’d expected to come looking for him was Tori, but it had been the most amazing way the night could have gone.

She swung his hand as they walked around the bend to their high school party spot. It was on the edge of the lake and hidden from view from the road. The makeshift firepit and a few stray beer cans confirmed it was still being used by the high school kids. Parents knew the spot. Local law enforcement knew the spot. Hell, most of them had partied in the same spot growing up. Yet every generation thought this little stretch of land belonged to them.

“How did you know where to find me that night?” Chris asked. It was something he’d often wondered. Everyone else had been too busy partying to notice he was gone.

The smile on her face disappeared and was replaced with a look of embarrassment or maybe guilt. Both were looks that didn’t cross Tori’s confident and stubborn face very often. “I have a confession.” She pushed her wind-blown hair back off her face. “I went off looking for Chip Anderson.” She bit her bottom lip and snuck a look up at him before continuing. “But then I found you on the boat, and you looked like you could use a friend.”

He nodded in agreement. No doubt he’d looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders that night. His mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer the same week as his fucking high school graduation. Wasn’t that some shit luck. He should have been home with his mom and the rest of the family that night, but his eighteen-year-old brain couldn’t focus on anyone’s pain but his own. He definitely couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea that within a year’s time his mother wouldn’t even be around.

“Well, Chip Anderson’s loss was my gain.” He brought her hand up to his mouth and brushed his lips against her knuckles. “Remind me to thank him the next time I see him.”

Her pretty pink lips curled up into a big white smile as she turned and looked out at the water. “Is that yours?”

His heart swelled as he watched her practically burst with excitement. He’d been a little nervous about her reaction to going on the boat, but it was even better than he’d hoped.

“I underestimated you. You are smooth.”

Ha. Now that was something he’d never been accused of being. Nah, he wasn’t smooth. Good-looking, tall, muscular body, accomplished athlete — those accolades had made it so that women had come to him. “Smooth? No. Although, I do seem to have a soft spot for a certain stubborn, fiery woman.”

Once they were settled on the boat, they shared memories from their childhood while Chris pulled wine from the cabinet. Their lives had been interwoven so much over the years. All the big events, wild memories, even the long winter breaks where they’d all claimed to be bored out of their minds, snowed in with only board games and basic television.

She tipped the wine glass back, staring at him intently as the zinfandel stained her lips red.

“I would have gotten a bottle of Boone’s Farm for old times’ sake, but I wasn’t sure my stomach could handle it anymore.”

That wasn’t entirely true. He’d stomach anything for her or give himself an ulcer trying.

“I haven’t had Boone’s Farm in years. Besides, it seems you were paying attention once again.” She tipped the glass toward him. “This is my favorite wine.”

Damn straight, he’d been paying attention.

Tori asked about the apartment, his other current projects, his brothers; she grilled him on every subject. Well, except one. She steered clear of the one topic he knew she was dying to ask about. Louis Kay. Surprisingly, he found he wanted to talk to her about it. He wanted her opinion, the only one that really mattered to him.

“So, I assume my big-mouth brothers have told you about Benny stopping by the worksite today?”

A slight nod of her head was the only indication they had.

“You gonna tell me what you think or not?” he asked when she didn’t speak.

“You want my opinion?” she eeked out.

She seemed surprised. Well, that was two of them. He wasn’t used to caring much about what other people thought.

“Please.”

Tori put down her glass and sat a little straighter. “I think it’s a great opportunity to settle an old score with Louis, if that’s what you want.”

Christ, was that really what she thought? Was that what everyone thought? That he was fighting to settle some sort of score, to prove he wasn’t a has-been? “I don’t give a fuck about Louis. I don’t have some glory-days score to settle.”

She studied him for a moment. The wind whipping around the boat and the water hitting the sides were the only sounds. “Then what do you care about?” she asked quietly.

She looked at him with the same hurt expression everyone had been giving him, as if he’d done something behind their backs. Okay, he had done that last part, but what was the big deal? It wasn’t about them.

“Why have you been fighting for Benny without telling anyone? What exactly have you been trying to prove?” She pushed. A little bit of her fiery tongue was back, and that made him smile. That was his girl.

He tried to think how to explain it to her. “Honestly, I don’t have a great answer. I just felt bored and restless. I can’t explain it. The construction company has taken off. It’s done far better than I ever imagined. And I love it. I love taking a piece of land and building someone’s dream home on it, or rehabbing a home that’s been standing in Sweetbriar longer than I have. That is a great feeling.”

“But?”

“But there is no other feeling like being in the ring. The rush of it. Everything else fades away. It’s just you and one other person, and you can’t allow yourself to think of anything else. One wrong move, and you’re on your ass. I guess I was just looking to capture some of that feeling again, that rush.” He looked up, half expecting her to look at him like he had three heads. Instead, he found her nodding.

“I get it,” she said quietly. “I just wish you had let us be a part of it. We all would have been there to support you and cheer you on. No matter the reason behind it.”

“I’m sorry.” He pulled her to him. “I never dreamed everyone would be so upset about it. It was my own shit to deal with. I wasn’t doing it for the support or applause. I just wanted to feel again.”

“And do you?” She hummed against his chest. “Do you feel again?”

Chris lifted Tori onto his lap, and a surprised smile spread across her face as she looked down at the bulge in his pants.

“You bet your sweet ass, sweetheart.”