“Give it here.”
I handed her back the bottle and she took a swig, making a face. “Whisky is gross.”
“It’s an acquired taste.”
“Shouldn’t things just, like, taste good? And not have to be acquired?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes the best things seem bad at first. Come on.”
We reached the top of the stairs and I pushed out the door.
“Wow,” Alexa whispered.
I had to agree. The door led out onto the roof, and the view of the bay was incredible. We were pretty high, and the night sky was clear, so everything was visible. We walked over to the edge and leaned up against the brick, looking out over the water.
“Beats that shit downstairs,” I said.
“I have to agree with you there.”
“Think your dad will be pissed we left?”
“What do you care?”
“Guess I don’t.”
I took a sip of the whisky. I had never loved San Francisco that much before I left the states, but I had to admit that it was pretty beautiful. Sure as hell beat the shit out of the stinking Thai jungle.
“Why don’t you and your mom get along?” Alex asked suddenly. “Too much of a bad boy to be nice to mommy?”
I laughed, looking at her. “Not exactly.”
“Then why?”
“Does it matter? You just want a divorce from me.”
“I guess not. But we’ll still be stepsiblings after the divorce.”
I leaned closer to her. “I tell you something, and then you have to tell me something. Deal?”
“Fine. Deal.”
“Cindy is an intense woman, but you’ve noticed that by now. She’s been pushing me hard ever since I was a young kid. When my dad died, it only got worse. When I decided I’d rather go into fighting than business, I guess I disappointed her. She hasn’t let me forget that since.”
“That sounds hard. But it’s not like she doesn’t love you.”
“Love,” I snorted. “Love doesn’t win Cindy any influence or power, and that’s all she cares about.”
“What about my dad, then?”
I shrugged, not wanting to tell her the truth, that Cindy was probably just using her dad. “Freak accident, maybe.” I moved closer to her, passing her the bottle back. “My turn to ask a question.”
She sighed. “Okay. Go for it.”
“Why did you marry me?”
I watched her mouth drop slightly as I moved closer to her. She looked away, red coming into her cheeks. “I didn’t think it was real,” she said.
“That’s bullshit. I know that.”
She was quiet for a minute and took a swig of the whisky, making another disgusted face. “I thought you were hot, okay? And fun. Exciting. We were in paradise, you know?”
“Hot?” I whispered, practically on top of her.
“Yeah.” Her lips were slightly parted, and her tongue ran over her bottom lip.
I knew what that meant. She wanted me to bite her gently, right there, and cup her ass.
“You liked the way I made you feel,” I said.
“Maybe,” she whispered.
Our bodies were inches apart. The only sound was her breathing deeply, in and out, in and out, and I thought I could feel the heat coming off her skin.
“You liked that I made you feel alive. You liked having my tongue slip up against your clit until you screamed.”
She took a sharp breath as I grabbed her hips, pulling her against me. “I did at the time.”
“You still think about it every day.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“Don’t deny it. You’re soaked now, like you’ve been soaked every time I’m near you.”
“What happened was just a vacation fling.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ve had flings before. You want more of it.”
My eyes locked on hers, and she tilted her head slightly to one side, practically inviting me in with her mouth. I knew what she wanted, and I wanted it too. I wanted to take every inch of her, tear off that fucking tease of a dress and stick my cock deep inside her tight fucking pussy. I wanted to make her scream out over the bay.
“It was a mistake,” she said, half whisper and half gasp.
“Nothing was a mistake.” My mouth was so close to hers that I could taste her minty breathe.
“All of it.”
And then I kissed her, hard and fast. A buzz ran through my skull and body, and my cock pressed up against her crotch, our bodies intertwined. She threw herself into the kiss as much as I did.
And then we heard a voice. It tore us out of the moment as quickly as we had thrown ourselves into it. “Alexa?” It was a young woman’s voice, and Alex threw herself away from me like I was made of flames.