Page 19 of Tempting Me (The Asher Family #3)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

LUCA

Pounding on a door before the sun has fully risen should be illegal.

I march to my front door, my steps heavy. Yeah, I’m tired, but it was worth it.

Last night was one of the latest nights I’ve spent working with Shay.

We didn’t talk about the lake, but we did steal touches once we made it back inside, dried off, and got to work.

I even kissed her goodnight. I don’t know what it means yet, but I knew the moment she hit the water that if she was going to give me a chance, I wouldn’t ruin it by not getting work done at The Marina.

So yeah, I stayed later than usual, and aside from paint, new furniture, and finishing touches, the dining room is ready.

I’m not sure which made her smile more, the way I made her come in the water or seeing her dream come to life.

Probably a mix of both .

The pounding resumes, followed by “Luca! Open the door!”

Oh, it’s my brother. Perfect. Our schedules haven’t let us see each other much lately, and I?—

“Luca, open the goddamn door!”

Oh, someone’s touchy.

In nothing but my gym shorts, I swing the door open to see a panicked Miles.

“Jesus, some of us do sleep in the morning. We can’t all be workaholics like you.”

Which is funny because I sort of am as of lately.

“We need to talk.” He marches right past me to my kitchen.

“O-kay, what’s wrong with you?” I ask, following him.

“Oh, what’s wrong with me? So, so many things.” He drops to sit in one of my kitchen table chairs, cradling his face. “Where do I start?”

“There’s a whole story? Hell yes.” I clap and start to make some coffee. It’s not Brooke’s, but it will have to do for now.

“So, you know my thing with Cherry, right?” he starts.

The number one reason we avoid hooking up with tourists. Of course I know her.

“Yep.”

“You know I wanted to avoid her.”

Because Miles forgot about our number one rule last summer.

“Yep.”

“Well, turns out Quinn wanted to avoid some guy, too.”

“Who?”

“Doesn’t matter. ”

“It matters to me.”

I need details. Does he not know me?

“Still doesn’t matter. Anyway, she told her friends, who I don’t think she should call that, that she was dating me.”

“What? She just made it up when she saw them?” I chuckle.

He shakes his head.

“No, she told them last summer.”

He lost me already. Last summer? That’s odd.

“You’ve been dating since last summer?”

“No. Pay attention.”

I hold my hands up in surrender. It’s early, and this is a lot to take on with my own Shay thing going on.

“I’m trying.”

“She told her … people that she was dating me so that they’d stop trying to set her up with this guy. Fast forward to this summer and those people show up here to get married at the lodge, so Quinn came to me with a plan that both validates her story and helps me keep Cherry away.”

“And that was …”

“To fake date. We are fake dating.”

“I fucking knew it!” I stand so fast that my chair flips onto its back. “There was no way she fell for your grumpy ass that fast. Not to mention, you’re always a dick to her.”

All right, so I didn’t know they were fake dating, but I knew something was up with them.

“Anyway,” he goes on, “the fake dating thing has been working out, and Quinn even devised a plan to set Cherry up with the guy she’s avoiding.”

He’s setting Cherry up with who ?

“Whoa, whoa, so you?—”

“But the reason I’m here is because we kissed last night.”

My jaw drops.

“And there may have been more than kissing.”

My eyes go wide.

“We may have taken our clothes off.”

I slap my forehead.

“And I want to do it again.”

My hands cover my ears.

Holy shit. Holy. Shit. Miles and I are basically having the same problem over the same summer, minus the whole fake dating part of it.

Fuck.

Look at us, out here kissing these women and having not a clue how to handle it.

I open my mouth and then close it, pacing the kitchen.

Is this a twin thing? We both changed the course of our relationship with the enemy on the same night.

This would be a good time to tell him about me and Shay, except … she still doesn't want people to know that I’m coming to The Marina to help her. It’s a given that she’d not want people to know anything more.

Shit. That sucks.

“So, are you still fake dating?” I ask, keeping the conversation on him.

“Yep.”

“But not fake fooling around?”

“Is that a thing?”

“I don’t know, Miles. You tell me. I didn’t think fake dating was a real thing until just now. That’s movie shit. Not real life. ”

“That’s what I told her.”

“And yet here you are.” I put my hands on my hips and shake my head. We really are quite the set of twins here. “Wow. And we thought I was the one to make rash choices.”

“I came here for help, not for you to point out my current flaws.”

I grin. “This isn’t a flaw. In fact, I think it’s great.”

The same way I think my thing with Shay is. We just clearly have to help our ladies to see that.

“What? How? I just screwed everything up between us.”

I lean against the counter and nod toward the coffee pot. “How so?”

Miles makes himself a cup of coffee and says, “Because we were supposed to fake date and then break up, it was an easy plan. Fooling around and oral sex was not part of the plan.”

“Whoa, spare me the details.”

“I just think you need to know details to see the full depth of this fuckup.”

“You didn’t fuck up, but,” I say and then stop, the biggest smile forming on my face. “I do love the dramatics right now. Is this how you feel when I talk to you?”

It’s been a while since Miles came to me with this much information, and I like it.

“Luca, I need you to be serious.”

“I am. I don’t think you fucked up, Miles. You’ve had a crush on her since the first day you saw her. I’d say this whole thing is overdue. You just had to fake date to get there.”

He groans. “I don’t think you get it.”

“No, I don’t think you do. An opportunity was given to you, and you need to open your eyes to figure out what it is and take it before it’s gone. Now you have two choices: see where this thing goes with Quinn or call the entire thing off. I think we both know which path you’re going to take.”

He nods, soaking in my words.

For the first time in I don’t know how long, I decide to take my own advice.

Somehow Shay and I were meant to work on The Marina together. Whether it was to mend a friendship or to be whatever we are becoming.

Either way, I know I need to be patient and find out.

For Shay, the risk is worth it.

My stomach is a bundle of nerves as I make my way into The Marina.

My instinct tells me to just walk in and kiss her because, hell, I’ve been thinking about her all day. In fact, she’s done nothing but consume my every waking thought for the past few days.

I don't mind it one bit.

I’m eager to see her smiling face right now, and I’m going to make sure she knows it.

With the dining room and main hallway basically finished, I plan to get started on the area she wants done in the store. Hopefully, the cabins are next week, but the more I think about it, I should suggest extending the deck to a full wraparound to the parking lot main door.

I pause outside the back door and take a breath.

But as soon as I step in, one thing is clear.

Shay isn’t here .

If it weren’t for the fact that I’m early, I’d say she was avoiding me after last night.

But fuck, last night was phenomenal.

I had no idea I could feel like that with someone.

Of course it’s Shay.

I have no idea if this means we’re starting something or if it’ll just be for fun or if she’s going to tell me again that she thinks it was a mistake and she never wants it to happen again.

I groan.

I don’t want her to tell me that last part.

Being near Shay is different from the way we started and it isn’t just because of the way she argued with me on everything. It was how she just made my life more exciting.

I don’t want that to go away, but I also don’t know how we are going to navigate this.

I start moving things around in the shop to prepare for what needs to be moved to the cabins so I’m not hauling things back and forth constantly. Our new relationship won’t change anything about my commitment. About twenty minutes in, I hear a noise in the parking lot.

Moving to check it out, I spot Shay, Sadie, and Brooke.

All three women are giggling as they share hugs. I stand in the doorway, leaning on the frame.

Now, I knew they were all friends, but they don’t normally blast it on account of the fact that Shay’s family doesn't care for me or mine now and Sadie is dating my brother, but to see her with my future sister-in-law makes me like her even more.

They look so comfortable around each other. She’d fit in with my family perfectly.

Which is crazy to think about .

We’ve kissed twice, plus a little more, and haven't even had sex. Yet, here I am thinking of how, despite that, I know I need her in my life.

Suddenly, the laughter stops and all three women are staring at me.

“Ladies.” I walk toward them.

Brooke pushes Shay gently from behind.

Sadie waves from behind Shay, who has completely stolen my attention.

She’s wearing a pair of cutoff jean shorts like usual and a T-shirt that hangs off her shoulder. Today’s heat is still high, so her messy bun falls around her face, a strand of hair here and there sticking to her cheek.

I grin as she blushes, her eyes never leaving mine.

“Hi,” she says.

“Hi.”

I can’t help it. I chuckle.

It’s not even weird. Instead, it’s like this greeting is just a tease for the tension that will build up tonight.

I hope we get work done, but I hope we don’t. The look she’s giving me makes me want to grab her and kiss her, and I don’t care who’s watching.

She rolls her eyes, the same as she’s always done, but this time there is a pink tint on her cheeks as she passes me.

I glance over my shoulder to make sure she gets inside safely and then I look back at Sadie. Brooke’s already back in the car.

“Thank you for driving her.”

“Of course. We got carried away, and I didn’t want her walking. ”

“I appreciate that.”