Page 41 of What I Like About You

“Did you sleep with her?”

Dalton swallowed hard. He knew he had to be honest with her, and he didn’t have anything to be ashamed about. He was a single guy, and Staci had made it perfectly clear all she wanted was a night of fun. It’s not like he’d been cheating on anyone, and yet somehow, that’s exactly what it felt like he was admitting to.

“Yes, she and I did hook up.”

“In the boathouse?”

“No, in her room in Barracuda tower.”

“But the boathouse is your go-to hookup spot.”

“I have been known to bring female company there,” he admitted, trying to word it so it sounded slightly less sordid.

“Stop being coy!” she said. Her voice warbled as if she were fighting back tears. “You took me to the place you take every other hookup. Like I was just another notch on your belt.”

“No,” he said, stepping toward her. She took a step back, keeping the distance between them. His stomach sank a little as she did so. So much for everything he’d thought changed last night. “I chose the boathouse because it was the only place we could go to be alone that didn’t require going near the bonfire. I was trying to avoid everyone else so it could be just us, like you asked. I’ve never taken anyone up to the roof before. That's my spot. It's been the place I go to be alone and think, so I’ve never brought company up there. The few individuals that I have taken to the boathouse only ever made it as far as the mechanic’s bench. And before you ask, I haven’t slept with as many women as you think. I’ve made out with plenty, don’t get me wrong, but that’s usually where it begins and ends.”

“But you slept with this Staci,” she threw back.

“I did,” he admitted. This wasn’t really where he wanted to have this conversation, but laying it all out there was the only thing he could think to do now. “Last night you asked about who I am now, and I told you that I’m a bit of a cad. You thought I was joking, but I wasn’t. I’ve been the resort’s good-time guy, the flirt, living it up like I had nothing to lose when it came to personal relationships. Because I didn’t.” He sucked in another harsh breath before continuing. “I was with the same girl for two years in college. Her name was Kateri. She was cute, and we had fun. But I broke it off with her, because no matter how cute and fun she was, she wasn’t you. Since then, I’ve gone from girl to girl, and none of it mattered, because none of them were you.”

“I don’t know that I can believe you,” she said, still fighting back tears. “I thought last night was special. That we were discovering something between us. I let you do things to me that no one has ever done. Only to find out that was standard operating procedure for you? That none of it was real?”

“What part of last night do you think wasn’t real? When I told you that you were in charge?” he asked, his frustration mounting. How many times were they going to do this? Every step forward was turning into two steps backward, and it was starting to wear on him. “Or when I said that I just wanted to hold you? And proceeded to do just that. Because I sure as shit never told anyone else that!”

Zara simply stood there, arms crossed, glaring at him. The hurt she was feeling was written all over her face, and he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss it away. But he also needed her to trust him and believe him when he told her she was special and that she was the one he wanted. If she couldn’t do that, then there was no reason to continue to try and repair this relationship.

“You can choose to believe it was all a lie or some kind of game. Or you can choose to believe that that was the real me last night up there on that rooftop,” he said, not even trying to hide his own pain. She wasn’t the only one hurt here, and he needed her to know that. “Up to you. You’ve got a whole boat ride to figure it out. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a safety talk to give.”

* * *

Slumpingdown on the little bench across from the bar, Zara threw her head back in exasperation and sighed heavily. She wasn’t sure how she got on this merry-go-round, but she wanted off. Now.

Truth be told, she had no idea what was bothering her so much. It wasn’t like they’d been in each other’s lives all this time. They hadn’t spoken in ten years. He’d been perfectly within his rights to do whatever he wanted with whomever he wanted. He wasn’t cheating on anyone, especially not her. And it wasn’t like she was a virgin. She might be able to count her boyfriends on one hand, but that still gave her no room to talk. She hadn’t exactly been saving herself for him to magically show back up in her life.

“And once you have your life jacket over your head and the waist strap around your middle, this really long fellow goes…wait for it…between your legs!” Dalton’s voice carried over to her from the front of the boat where he was giving his safety lesson. The sound of his sweet southern drawl was comforting, even if oddly out of place down here.

Everything about last night had been comforting, though—his words, the look in his eyes, and especially his touch. It was real, all of it. He may have taken her where he’d taken every other girl, but he didn’t treat her like he’d treated them. Right? She believed him when he said that he hadn’t. That the rooftop had been sacred, and that it meant something for him to share that with her. She knew for a fact that he had a hard time opening up to people and that it took a lot to break down those walls. He always was the master of hiding his real self behind some charming facade. She knew because she had always been the one person he’d let see the real him. There was no way he’d ever brought someone else up there and let them in on his secrets, if the rooftop really meant that much to him.

Even if he’d taken hundreds of other girls there to fuck them senseless, did it really matter? That was before. Before they had reconnected. And that wasn’t why he’d taken her there. He’d taken her there to be alone with her, to make her feel special. Just like she’d asked. And he asked for nothing in return.

Can I really be upset with who he was when I didn’t know him?

All his words came flooding back to her as she sat there, feeling the rush of the wind as the boat picked up speed. Every single dirty word he’d said had sent sparks through her, and every touch had made her feel like she could combust. Yet, all of that was background noise to what he’d told her when he’d broken their kiss. “We won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. I’m more than happy to just hold you in my arms all night long.”

Just thinking about those words now, she felt a shiver run down her spine. He respected her. He cared for her. He let her call the shots.

So why did it still make her feel so agitated?

Because if she was being honest, the person she was actually upset with was herself. She wasn’t so much mad at Dalton as she was looking for a reason to be mad at him. It was easier to be mad at him than to admit that she was developing feelings for him. No, that wasn’t right. These feelings were not new. They had always been there. Deep down she knew she’d always loved Dalton and always would.

Unearthing those emotions was leaving her feeling raw and exposed, and she much preferred to slip into her default of making Dalton the enemy. But she couldn’t keep doing this. She didn’t know what being back in each other's lives looked like after this week, but she did know that she wanted it. She didn’t want to go back to them being strangers to each other. She wanted her friend back.

Fuck, she wanted more than just her friend though. She wanted him. All of him. She wanted his kisses, the feel of his hands all over her, and she most certainly wanted what she’d felt in his pants last night. There was no question that he had the power to rock her world—hell, he’d done it last night. And she wanted to experience that more than words could say.

She just didn’t know what to do now that she’d admitted that.

“I'm sorry, you shouldn’t have had to hear that,” Drea said as she sat down next to Zara, pulling her from her thoughts.