Page 67

WAVERLY

P arker hadn’t just bought some tiny lot squished between dozens of neighbors. The rich boy had gone all out, getting a very nice, private strip all to himself.

Keene pulled right up to the sand and left his lights on with the music playing loud. As he and Alec attempted to start a fire in the fancy fire pit that had already been built, Xander took care of opening my bottle of moscato.

“Don’t worry about drinking straight from the bottle,” she said, handing it to me. “I predict you’re going to drain this baby before the night’s over.”

I had my doubts but didn’t argue. When I took a sip, it was fizzy on my tongue but pleasantly sweet with a twang that made me hiss and shake my head.

Grinning, Xander watched me closely as I drank. “Good, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

Pleased, she wrapped her blanket more snuggly around her shoulders and reached for me. “Let’s go wade in the surf.”

Snorting, Keene called after us. “Have fun freezing your toes off.”

“We will,” she called back saucily before hooking her arm through mine and leading me out toward the gulf.

It was dark and breezy by the water, but the lap of gentle waves had a soothing draw that filled me with peace and contentment. I lifted my face to the inky wind and breathed it in deeply.

“So?” Xander asked very leadingly when we paused to shed our shoes. “You seem happy. Having a good Valentine’s Day with Keene?”

I glanced at her as I took a sip of the wine. “I don’t even know how to explain how tonight’s been,” I admitted openly. “It’s been the best night of my life.”

She chuckled, hiking up her pants. “I kind of had a suspicion from the glow on your face.” She took her first step into the water and gasped. “Holy shit! Oh, holy shit. That’s cold.”

I danced in quickly to get the shock over with but still sucked in a surprised breath as freezing wetness instantly hugged my feet. “Oh my God, why are we doing this again?”

Xander laughed as she kicked water at my legs. “Because it’s fun as fuck.”

“Bitch,” I warned, laughing as I splashed her back.

From there, we were complete fools, drenching her pants and the skirt of my dress until we couldn’t stay in the water a moment longer without literally freezing our toes off as Keene had predicted.

We glanced toward the guys to discover they’d actually gotten the fire started. Their two silhouettes stood around the flames, their hands masculinely shoved in their pockets as they talked.

“Tell me everything,” Xander demanded, hooking her arm back through mine to draw me down the beach instead of toward the campfire. “But skimp on the bedroom details, will you? I don’t need that much information.”

I laughed and leaned into her, then took another drink before saying, “He had candles set up all around his room.”

Xander gasped. “No. Keene Dugger did that?”

“Yes.” Nodding, I claimed, “I kid you not. And he got me a dozen roses, and ooh. Check out this necklace.”

I showed her my horseshoe, and she cooed over it appropriately before tilting her head to the side so she could rest it against mine. “I’m so happy for you, Frankie. I must say, I had my doubts when you two started this whole thing, but I think he legit likes you. A lot.”

My chest warmed at her words. I didn’t want to risk believing them and getting my hopes up, but I couldn’t help it. I kind of thought she might be right. He was just so attentive and amazing.

Scared to voice my hopes aloud, I sipped, then nudged her with an elbow. “What about you?” I asked with a teasing hint in my voice. “I caught a bit of you and Alec eating Twix together on the couch.”

“Yeah.” She sighed, only to shudder and wrap her blanket more securely around her. “He’s amazing. And handsome. And sweet. And dorky. But…”

Feeling a maudlin shroud descend on her, I made a face and said, “Liam.”

“Yeah,” she mumbled miserably. “A part of me is still waiting for that jerk to come back, which seems like it’s not fair to poor Alec because he’s just so…”

“Amazing,” I repeated her own words from two seconds earlier.

She snickered and bumped into me. “Alec deserves someone who’s so completely gone for him that she does ridiculous, romantic things like fill their room with candles, not some heartbroken girl who’s still stuck on the past and can’t stop glancing back, waiting for some loser she probably wouldn’t even like anymore to show back up in her life. ”

I nodded and took a big gulp before squeezing my grip on her arm. “Maybe you’ll be able to let go of Liam soon.”

“Maybe,” she murmured, sounding depressed.

And it struck me then how a person didn’t have to die for you to mourn them. Recalling the look of stark pain on Thane’s face when I’d mentioned Nova’s name to him, I blinked, suddenly realizing why life had always been more terrifying to me than death.

Because it went on. The pain just continued. There were still chances to make more mistakes. More failures. More wounds.

In death, the pain ended. You couldn’t mess anything else up. You couldn’t fail anymore. You were just…done.

Except right now, I wanted the chance to try again. Because maybe this time—this time I felt hopeful enough that I might just fly instead of falling flat on my face.

Lifting my bottle, I drank in cheers to attempting flight .

“Let’s head back,” Xander spoke into the night that had gone thoughtfully quiet between the two of us. Shivering, she added, “That fire up there is looking mighty tempting right now.”

I lifted my face and caught the outline of Keene in the distance. My heart leaped with joy at the sight of him, and it struck me just how happy I was. This definitely felt like flying to me.

And the sensation continued when he caught sight of us approaching in the dark, carrying our shoes with our bare feet covered in wet sand.

“There you are,” he called, waving me over. “Damn, Girl Union. Steal my lady from me on the biggest, most romantic day of the year, why don’t you?”

Unable to wait for me, he strode toward us, snagging me from her arms and winding his around my waist to press his brow to mine as he grinned into my eyes.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I whispered back, dropping my shoes so I could hug him, the bottle still in my hand brushing his shoulder.

“Want to dance?” he asked, already swaying me to the song coming from the open windows of his Jeep.

It sounded like “Unsteady” by X Ambassadors was playing.

“Yes,” I said, snuggling closer.

Keene smiled, then closed his eyes with a content sigh.

As we shuffled around in the sand next to the intimate glow of the fire, I glanced toward the other two, only to find Alec offering Xander some water.

Smiling, I rested my face against Keene’s chest and breathed in his sandalwood scent. He was so solid and real under my hands that I found myself starting to stroke his neck and shoulders to prove this wasn’t a dream.

Turning his face in toward my hair he drew in a deep breath and rumbled, “That feels so fucking good. I love your hands on me.”

I smiled, and we danced until the song changed before he drew us over toward the fire, where Alec and Xander were now sitting, sharing her blanket so it draped over both of their shoulders as they talked.

“I should’ve grabbed a blanket for us too,” Keene said regretfully as we settled ourselves across from the other two, where he pulled me into his lap and buried his nose in my hair, just nuzzling as he kept his arms securely wrapped around me.

“Don’t worry,” I promised, shifting my face to the side to kiss his jaw. “I’m not cold at all.”

The moscato had my insides pleasantly warm, and Keene was keeping away the rest of the February chill.

Groaning, he whined, “Dammit. I don’t want to take you home at the end of the night. You should just come back to Archer House with us and stay.”

“Seriously, I can’t believe you still have a curfew,” Alec said, shaking his head. “That’s just wild.”

Xander was quiet, her eyes meeting mine over the campfire.

“I mean, what would your mom really do if you just texted her right now and announced that you weren’t coming home?” Keene wondered.

I snorted and shook my head before taking another drink and announcing, “Probably call the cops to find me.”

“And say what ?” he demanded in dismay. “My legally adult daughter isn’t home yet, and I know exactly where she is and who she’s with. Please bring her back now. Yeah right. I’m sure they’d get right on that.”

“She has her ways of convincing them to do what she wants,” I murmured, knowing she’d toss down the suicide card without pause.

“You know what you should do,” Keene announced suddenly. “You move out. Yeah… Oh! You could move in with us.”

“What?” Alec laughed. “And just who the hell are we kicking out? We don’t have any place left for a sixth roommate.”

“Sure, we do,” Keene argued. “There’s plenty of room in my bed.” Pulling me in tighter against him, he kissed my hair. “I’d empty out half my closet and drawer for you, no problem.”

I sighed over the picture he drew, relishing it. “I do like the big, open-floor kitchen you have at Archer House,” I had to admit.

Alec snorted. “Hear that, Dugger. It’s the kitchen that’s tempting her to consider the idea. Not you.”

“It’s not that,” I argued with a laugh, trying to defend Keene. “Kitchen islands just give me serious anxiety. I hate the one we have at home. I always have to walk a full circle around the whole, stupid thing whenever I go in there to make sure there’s no dead body on the floor.”

A beat of silence followed my slurred admission before Keene exploded, “I’m sorry; what ?”

I paused, wondering why he sounded so alarmed before my loose, fuzzy brain replayed the last five seconds in my head. “Oh, shit,” I announced. “I just said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Keene, Xander, and Alec exchanged stunned glances before Keene answered, “Uh, yeah. You did. Would you care to explain it out loud too?”

With a sigh, I lifted one shoulder. “Not much to explain. I found a dead body on the floor in my kitchen once.”

“Like…just some random dead body?” Alec wondered, utterly confused.

Xander slugged his arm. “Oh my God. Obviously, she knew the person.”

He lifted both hands in a shrug as if that weren’t so obvious to him.

Turning back to me, Xander softened her gaze, saying, “I’m so sorry, hon. Do you want to talk about it?”

When I stiffened in Keene’s embrace, he drifted a hand over my hair. “Not tonight,” he answered for me. “Tonight’s only happy talk. Good memories. She can tell us all about dead bodies later. When she’s ready. And sober.”

Smiling, I arched my face back to look up at him over my shoulder. “Thank you,” I murmured.

He kissed my cheek, saying nothing, and stroked my hair. “Any time, darlin’.”