“Where are you going with this?”
She rested her chin in her hand. “Nowhere in particular. I’m just trying to figure out why everything kinda...imploded when your aunt brought it up. I mean, you’ve done tons of dumb shit and you’re pretty open about your mistakes, so this must be something really huge.”
I sighed and sat on the rattan sofa in the corner of the balcony. I patted the cushion next to me, and Lani lifted her dress to join me. “Not really,” I said, leaning my arm over the back of the sofa. I toyed with a lock of her wavy hair as I looked out through the slats in the railings. “I wouldn’t say it’s the worst in terms of some of the things I’ve done, but it’s the thing I regret the most.”
“And you don’t talk about it?”
“Since it happened? No. That’s why it’s called The Thing. Mom referred to it as that once and it stuck.”
I could have been imagining it, but Lani leaned into my side a little more.
“Was it illegal? “ she asked.
I thought about that for a moment. “Not what I did, no. But the things that came after...to an extent, yes.”
“Well, if this is a guessing game, you should know that you’re winning. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I laughed quietly and trailed a finger up and down her bare arm. “No guessing game. Although a part of me wishes you could guess it. Then I wouldn’t have to say it out loud.”
“Why would you want me to guess it?”
“Because now you know there’s something there that I’m keeping from you.” I turned my face toward her and cast my gaze over her profile. The tiny bump on her nose. The wayward eyebrow hair that wasn’t lying flat. “And if I tell you, it’s another reason for you leave,” I admitted quietly after a moment.
She shifted, turning her body toward her. “And go where?”
“Wherever it is you live.”
“Well right now I live in Whiskey Key,” she said, her lips tilting up on one side. “My roommate shipped my stuff and rented my room. She sold my car and transferred me the money. I literally have nowhere to go except my grandma’s house.”
“Isn’t your mom selling it?”
“She can’t. Grandma left the house to me and Connie.”
“She wanted you to come home.”
Lani nodded, diverting her gaze. “I wish I had sooner.”
So did I. I wished for a lot of things. None of which I could change. That was just how it worked.
“I didn’t want to stay here.” Lani tucked her hair behind her ear. “I wanted to stay for a week after the funeral, sort the house, and then go. But then life happened, and now instead of having a thousand reasons to go, I have a thousand to stay.”
I wanted to be a reason for her to stay.
No, I was fucking selfish.
I wanted to be the reason she stayed.
“There’s Connie, the baby...Camille...I want to help Sali and everyone at Hope Building...” she trailed off and then, glancing at me, whispered, “And you.”
I turned on the sofa and cupped her face in my hands. “I want to be the reason you stay,” I said quietly, giving life to my thoughts. “But I don’t know if you’ll want to.”
She rested her hand over mine, her touch as light as a feather. “There’s only one way to find out.”
My stomach tightened. “I know. But...not right now. After. Later tonight.”
She nodded, squeezing my hand, but something lingered in her gaze.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you have any other secrets that may randomly be revealed in the future by your crazy old relatives?”
I smiled. “No. Not that I know of, at least. There are probably some awkward toddler stories hanging around, but just in case, I’ll give you a full run down of my life since you left.”
Her lips pursed, but they curved too. “That works.”
I winked at her and stood. Then I grabbed her hands and pulled her up, drawing her against me so I could wrap my arms around her waist. “Now,” I said, looking into her eyes. “Let’s forget this for the next few hours and go back downstairs where I can return to my usual smug, asshole self.”
“Why do you need to be a smug asshole tonight?”
I smirked. “Because I have you and nobody else does.”
“You’re making me sound like I’m your new puppy.” She raised an eyebrow. “Or a slice of cake.”
“Fine. Then I get to be a smug asshole because you’re mine.”
“Still sounding like I’m a new puppy.”
I held her tightly and touched the tip of my nose to hers.
Her eyes briefly fluttered shut.
I smiled. “Still doesn’t change the fact that you’re completely mine.”
“I kinda like it when you say it that way,” she said softly.
“Good. Because I have no problem telling you that I’m completely yours.”
“So, you’re like my new puppy too.”
My smile changed to a grin that stretched ear-to-ear. “Exactly like a new puppy.”
She laughed, her smile mirroring mine. “You’re crazy, Casanova. And if you say ‘only for you,’ I’m going to punch you.”
“I’m crazy for my new puppy.” I stepped back when she twitched. “I didn’t say it!”
I was pushing my luck though, wasn’t I?
“I sure hope you’re not calling me a bitch.” Her bangs swept over one eye as she fixed me with a steady look.
“Damn it.” I knocked my fist against the top of the railings behind me. “That backfired.”
Lani held the look for only a few more seconds before her wild giggles returned. She tapped my nose with a cheeky smirk on her lips. “Of course it did. I’m female. I can bend anything to go my way. Hell, I could twist steel if I wanted to.”
“Yeah? Well let’s get the rest of this night over with so, if you still want me later, I can take you home and you can show me just how twisty you can get.”
“Was that supposed to be sexy?”
I paused. “It wasn’t?”
She tilted her head side to side before pinching her fingers in front of her face and squinting. The tiniest breath of air was left between her finger and thumb. “Lil’ bit. Not a lot.”
I sighed. “If Aunt Bel was right about anything, it was that of all the women in the world, I had to pick you, didn’t I?”
“Of course.” Lani grinned as she walked toward the door and threw over her shoulder, “I’m fabulous.”
I dropped my eyes to where her dress hugged her butt. “So is your ass in that dress.”
She clapped her hands over her butt cheeks as she disappeared inside the room.
Damn it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
LANI
I leaned back against the wall. Dinner had been over for a while, and now I watched everyone else dance. Camille flirted with Xavier somewhere in the room—hopefully hidden from her brother’s potential view—and Aunt Bel told anyone who’d listen about her gerbil with an allergy to lettuce.
I didn’t know anybody or anything could be allergic to lettuce, but if it had to happen, it would be related to Aunt Bel. Because, crazy.
Even my sister had left, but not before she guilt-tripped me for not calling her since Brett and I figured things out. Well, most things. Apparently one thing still lingered. She didn’t know about that, though, so I apologized and promised to bring her donuts the next day.