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“Don’t worry,” Charlotte licked her lips hungrily. “I haven’t lost hope.” She held her in her gaze before answering the other part of the question. “The first time I got naked with someone I was sixteen and Roger Segal had borrowed his mom’s minivan.” She laughed. “He lasted all of ten seconds while I stared at one of those stick figure families on the rear window trying to figure out if it was over before it started.”

Laughing, Alex crossed her arms over her chest. “I sure do hope it only went up from there.”

“I mean, it really couldn’t have gotten much more pathetic. He was okay, though. I taught him a thing or two.”

She winked. “I’m sure his wife thanks me every time they do it. Even if she doesn’t know I’m the reason he learned to stop approaching a woman’s body like he was putting out a wildfire.”

“She owes you a tremendous debt,” Alex decided.

“There’s nothing worse than an unskilled partner in bed.”

Charlotte smirked, drawing Alex’s attention back to the tiny black mark by her lips she was aching to kiss again.

“Have you been disappointed before?”

Instead of continuing down the road she intended, Alex switched gears. “What’s the point of dwelling on the past?”

After dinner, they took their time strolling back to their cars. Not only did they want to be sure that all the drinks had worked their way out of their system after hours of talking over only water, but Alex guessed that neither of them was ready to part.

As they walked, Alex was keenly aware of Charlotte’s hand swinging inches away from hers. Her fingers twitched,

but she couldn’t bring herself to take it in hers.

“So.” Charlotte looked down at the cracked asphalt near Alex’s driver side door. “When do I get to see you again?”

She glanced back at Alex, who was leaning against the car door. “And work doesn’t count.”

With her heart hammering in her chest, Alex took a leap.

“Would you like to come over this Saturday?”

Charlotte licked her lips. “I have to wait a whole week, huh?”

“What is it they say about patience?” Alex asked, her chest tightening with anticipation.

Charlotte stepped in close, her bare leg slipping between hers, parting them. “I don’t know,” she smirked, “maybe that it’s for suckers.”

Before Alex could register her movements, Charlotte’s lips were warm and soft against hers. A rush of heat consumed her, knocking her back until the door’s frame dug into her tailbone. Instinctively, Alex wrapped her arms around Charlotte’s waist. The cotton of her dress was soft against Alex’s open palm as she stretched lower, gripping her tighter.

With a soft moan, the tip of Charlotte’s tongue urged Alex to open for her. Alex was powerless to resist. Her kiss was all consuming.

Alex’s last gasp of willpower enabled her to pull back, but not before taking a swipe at Charlotte’s bottom lip.

“Saturday,” Alex reminded. “Wear jeans.”

CHAPTER 19

“WHERE THE HELL AM I GOING?” Charlotte muttered to herself as she double checked the directions on her phone. She wasn’t familiar with this area of southwest Miami. It was an unexpected country oasis concealed within a sprawling tropical metropolis.

With eyes squinting against the noonday sun, Charlotte was surprised to see three people on horseback trotting down the center of the street. As her car rolled over the bumpy road, she found it more and more di cult to believe that this is where Alexandra chose to live. She’d expected something in a gated community on the water somewhere or maybe a sterile high-rise. Anything without the fragrance of manure in the air.

She wished Jayson was with her to see this. He’d probably put on a cowboy hat and some boots and play at being a grizzled rancher all day. She smiled before pain struck sharp and fast in her chest. Missing her best friend in the world, her only family, was harder than she ever imagined. It tinged every moment with just a little shadow.

“Your destination is on the right,” the computerized voice on her phone announced, pulling her out of her sullen daydream.

Charlotte glanced skeptically at the open gates revealing a farm beyond. “Are you sure about that?”

Taking the phone’s word for it, Charlotte turned onto the long, paved, road leading to a circular driveway. In the rearview window, she watched the gate close behind her.