The Rivals - Dylan Allen Page 0,328

to a woman who speaks his language in more ways than one. Your pussy feels great, tastes great too. I want more of it. But I’m not going to fall in love or anything... so, you don’t have to worry that I’ll stab your husband.”

Her bark of laughter seems to surprise her as much as it surprises me. “I was thinking more like uncomfortable silences and dark glares.”

“Not my style.” I assure her.

Her lips twist. “Well, then let me speak for myself. I don’t want to end up with my feelings fucked. Clearly, I’m not in the best place emotionally. Maybe…we should just play it by ear. See how we feel once we’re all alone.”

I couldn’t disagree more, but I’m not going to pressure her about this.

“It’ll be great, either way, and I’ll take my cues from you.” I say and I mean it. Maybe when this is over, we’ll walk away friends again. At the very worst, she’ll be excellent company. And I know that we don’t need sex to connect.

From our time in the bakery and that shuttle ride, I also know that Regan will break all sorts of rules when she thinks no one is watching. And we’re going to have plenty of alone time in the next few days.

“I was going to leave at 9, is that too early?” I ask.

She looks at me, her dark eyes twinkling, her smile wider than I’ve seen it since we’ve been here. “Right now wouldn't be too early.” She declares and then jumps up.

“Oh my God,” she screams suddenly and flops onto her back, clutching a pillow to her chest and kicking her legs wildly.

“Woah!” I lurch back in surprise when she pops back up in a flash of dark hair and gleaming white teeth.

“I’m so excited. I’ve never done anything like this. I can’t believe it.”

“It won’t be luxurious like this. I don’t even know where I’m staying in Balandra.”

“But it’ll be an adventure,” her enthusiasm in unflagging.

“Do you speak Spanish?”

“A little?” She says with a nervous grin.

“Okay. Just don’t buy anything without me haggling for you, okay?”

“Okay. So, we’re going? Really?” Her expression is hopeful but tinged with fear. Like she’s just been given the chance to have something she wants desperately and she’s afraid to believe it. It’s the most vulnerable I’ve ever seen her, and it takes my breath away.

In a flash of certainty, I know that I’d move heaven and earth before I let that hope on her face do anything but flourish.

“Yes, really. It’ll be fun at the very worst and at it’s very best, it will be life changing,” I say.

She laughs and rolls her eyes. “I’ll be happy if it’s not a total disaster and I come home with all of my limbs intact.”

“Oh, then you’re going to be ecstatic. Because you’re going to learn things about yourself you can’t know until you go to a place you’ve never been before.”

“Wow. You’re really good at selling the idea of travel.”

“I’m an evangelist for it.”

She starts to dance around the room and as I watch her, I think…maybe living in Houston won’t be so bad. Especially if we can find a way to keep this going.

No.

I can’t let myself start thinking like that. When I move back to Houston, it won’t matter. There, she’s so off limits, it’s not even funny.

No, what happens here is going to stay here.

But as I watch Regan Wilde's sexy ass twirl around her hotel room with that horizon at her back, I get a glimpse of another unknowable destination - one where my future and my past collide, and then click into place.

Chapter 18

Social Butterfly

Regan

“We’re here,” A warm hand on my shoulder jostles me out of the most delicious nap I can recall taking. It takes me a moment to remember where I am. I glance over at Stone and the tender smile on his face makes my toes curl.

I stretch and glance around at the collection of beautifully preserved buildings and the bright colors of the flags that adorn the main street we’re parked on.

“Where are we?”

“Todos Santos, I thought we could stop and grab coffee and take a picture outside Hotel California.”

“Like the Eagles Song?”

“Yeah, but the Eagles swear it’s not. Wait there.” He hops out of the car and I take the opportunity to admire his loose, ground eating stride as he comes around the front of the car to my side.

He opens my door with a bow and offers me his hand