“Of us? No. Not in the least.” He shakes his head. “Of me not treating you right? Yes. Very much so.”
“Why does he even care?”
“We both grew up seeing our father treat the women in his life like shit,” he says. “Neither of us want to continue the tradition. For Ethan, it means never getting serious with anyone. For me, it means getting things right with you.”
“I think we’re doing fine,” I say. “Considering all of the recent upheavals and the fact that we’ve been dating for approximately two minutes now.”
“Best two minutes of my life,” he murmurs.
He looks into my eyes and, honest to God, I kind of lose touch with reality for a moment. Forget the world and our problems and everything else that matters. It’s not fair. I never stood a chance of not falling far and fast for this man. Then some evil part of my brain reminds me that apparently six women in the room have gotten to crawl all over him naked while I haven’t. And those were just the ones she knew about. Damn.
“Why did you just frown?” he asks.
“I didn’t.”
“You’re not a very good liar, are you? Have you ever considered practicing in front of the mirror?”
“Beck, it’s nothing.”
“I disagree. Something just upset you and I want to know what it is.”
I sigh. “Can’t we just relax and enjoy ourselves?”
“I find honesty very relaxing and enjoyable. Don’t you?” His hands sneak down to cover the uppermost curves of my ass. Our hips couldn’t be any more publicly together without someone getting arrested.
“Fine,” I groan. “Your friend Jenna cornered me in the hallway earlier and said some not so nice things. That’s why I was dancing with Ethan. He walked in on the scene and sent her to her room. Not that I couldn’t have handled it just fine on my own.”
“Of course you could have. I was there when you handed my brother his ass, remember?”
I am validated. Hear me roar.
“What sort of not so nice things did she say?” he asks.
“Can’t we just let it go? Please?”
“No.”
“Ever heard the saying, other’s people’s opinion of you is none of your business,” I say somewhat haughtily. “I actually got that off Instagram. Not sure who said it.”
He just stares at me, waiting.
“Beck…”
“Whatever she said upset you and I’m thinking it might have been about you and me. Now I can’t tell you it’s bullshit and set your mind at ease if I don’t know what it is.”
Dammit. “She said that’s you’ve slept with a goodly number of the women here and are only using me for sex before kicking me to the curb with the morning trash. That’s a rough summation. I may have embellished slightly with the whole morning trash thing. But basically…yeah.”
His jaw tightens.
“Little does she know we’re not even having sex, huh? Joke’s on her.”
He looks away, his mouth a tight line.
“Aren’t you supposed to be setting my mind at ease or something? With relaxing and enjoyable honesty?”
His gaze returns to mine, searching for something. I just smile and hope that’s what he needs. “Alice, I’m sorry you had to deal with that.”
“I’m a big girl. It’s fine.”
“Jenna wasn’t lying about the other women.”
“I know this is going to be hard for you to hear,” I say. “But I never actually believed you when you insinuated that you were a virgin.”
His smile is kind of pained. “I was always upfront with them. I never let them think that I wanted more. Not like I have with you.”
“Good, I’m glad. On both counts.” I link my hands behind his neck. “There are going to be people who don’t like me. And there are certainly going to be people who don’t like us together. But the thing is, they don’t matter. It’s up to you and me to decide what’s best for us.”
He nods all thoughtful-like. “You’re never going to convince me that there’s a situation where you should have to deal with this sort of shit. But you are also very wise.”
“Thank you.”
He leans down and I lift up and we kiss. No tongue so as not to upset his grandmother or other onlookers. But it’s sweet just the same. Kissing him could never not be.
Then I remember. “Oh, in the interest of full disclosure, she also said that she’d heard you’re an animal in the sack.”
“Yeah,” he says. “I started that rumor myself.”
I laugh and on we dance. It’s not such a bad night after all.