“So he thought it was your fault.”
“Everything was my fault.” She cursed under her breath. “By the third time around, we were having screaming matches about how much money we were wasting on all of this while I was too stubborn to quit my job.”
“Which helped you de-stress, I’m sure.”
“Totally.”
“Fucker,” Matt growled. “And he sure as hell could’ve picked a more graceful way to exit.”
Dara laughed. “Yeah. He could’ve.” Her smile fell, and she stared up at the sky. As she let her eyes follow a satellite, she said, “I guess it’s both of our faults that it ended badly. He didn’t have to cheat, but maybe we both could’ve bowed out gracefully when things started falling apart.” She paused, watching the satellite disappear into the night. “In hindsight, though, I’m kind of glad he did it the way he did.”
“Really?” Matt turned his head. “Why?”
“If he’d left a few weeks earlier, I never would’ve had the procedure. I wouldn’t be having this baby.” She smiled. “I might not be here with you right now.” Just saying the words hit her in the gut. The reality that he’d been out of her life for all that time, and how easily things could have stayed that way.
He was quiet for a long time. At least a minute, maybe more. “Why did we wait so long to get back in touch?”
Dara’s heart thumped against her ribs. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”
“Neither do I. To be honest, I was so caught up in my work, I didn’t even realize how much time had passed.”
“I guess I did the same thing you did—I jumped into my work and my marriages, and woke up one day to find out that ten years had passed since I’d talked to my best friend. I even told myself a few times I needed to get in touch with you. But life happened.”
“Yeah, it sure did.”
She chewed the inside of her cheek. “I guess life happened again, and here we are.”
He ran his thumb along the side of hers. “Yeah. It did.”
Her heart sped up, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. For several minutes, they silently watched the stars, hands clasped between them.
Eventually, she whispered, “God, it really is beautiful up here.”
“One of my favorite places in the world.”
“I can see why. How did you even find it?”
“Just randomly exploring when I was a kid. As soon as I had my license, I started coming up here. Spent a lot of evenings out here.” He paused. “It’s kind of funny—all the times I came up here, this is the first time I’ve brought someone else.”
Dara turned her head toward him. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
She could see just enough of his outline to know that he was looking at her, and though she couldn’t see his eyes, she could feel his gaze on her.
Then he shifted, turning onto his side and facing her fully. She mirrored him.
It was impossible to say who moved first, or if they both moved in at the same time. Maybe the air between them just vanished. All she could say for certain was that one moment, she was gazing at his outline in the darkness.
And the next, she was wrapped up in his arms and lost in a kiss that made her skin prickle and her toes curl.
She tugged at his shirt. He slid a hand beneath the back of hers, the warmth of his fingertips sending a shiver right through her.
Her heart was going crazy. This reminded her of her younger days, back when every moment of privacy with a guy had been a stolen opportunity, one they’d had to make the most of because there’d been no telling when it would come again. Those frantic, breathless gropefests had been hot and exciting—the thrill of doing something forbidden and hoping to God they didn’t get caught.
And at the same time, lying here in the truck bed with Matt, kissing and touching and stripping away clothing, felt like something completely new and amazing in its own right. There was no risk of getting caught. As far as she was concerned, there was no one to catch them. No one was watching except the stars overhead, because no one existed beyond the side rails. As desperate she was to get him out of his clothes and into her, the hunger wasn’t because they might run out of time or be discovered. It was all for him.
The realization that Matt Coolidge—her best friend since the dawn of time—was the one turning her inside out like this didn’t even surprise her anymore. Here, tonight, as the clothes fell away and hot skin met hot skin, of course it was Matt. Who else could it be?
They separated long enough to kick off the last of their clothes, and when he pulled her into his arms again, there was nothing left between them. The cool night air didn’t give her as many goose bumps as his lips on her neck or his breath on her shoulder.