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I turned around at the sound of Gemma’s voice and smiled when I was indeed right and it was her standing there, looking more breathtaking than ever. Her hair was lying loose down her back, her face was makeup-free, and she wore a dress that left little to the imagination with its sheer fabric. It was long, passing her knees, but she never needed to wear skimpy clothes for her to look like a smoke show. She was naturally sexy to me.
I didn’t know why I was even going there, though. It wasn’t like it would change anything. I knew what we had was only a moment in time and it was never meant to be anything more. We both knew when our time was up, we had to face reality. Gemma was better at that than I was, though. She knew she was only meant to be here for a short while and stuck to that. Made sure we never forgot that she had her life to get back to and I had my life here with my son, my friends, and my job.
But it was more than a passionate affair. She meant more to me, and I wished she knew just how much it meant to me to be with her.
None of that mattered, though, because our paths were only meant to cross briefly, never to lead to each other.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, ignoring her question and asking one of my own.
“I could ask you the same,” she replied, softly. “You know, we used to come down here often enough and watch the sunrise together.” She blushed, clearly remembering the moments we shared when no one was around.
“We wore a lot less clothes, I remember.” I winked at her, thinking about the little string bikinis I convinced her to wear for me.
She pulled a blanket out of her bag and placed it down before putting her bag on the sand and then sitting on the blanket in the ultimate Gemma move—neat and proper.
I chuckled.
“What?” She eyed me, her expression filled with curiosity. “What’s funny?”
I shook my head. “I’m just glad some things about you don’t seem to have changed. It’s nice.”
“You’re talking about the blanket?” She waited, looking down at it as I nodded. “Well, I did know I was coming down to the beach and I don’t have an urge to be taking sand out of my butt.” She stayed turned to me and sighed. “It seems there’s no avoiding you, by the way.”
I feigned hurt and held a hand to my chest. “Ouch.” I frowned. “You know, that hurts.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Lance. You mean to tell me you like these little run-ins we’re having again.”
Honestly? Yeah, I did. I shrugged my shoulders, though, knowing I wasn’t going to very well tell her that. “I don’t hate them as much as you do, apparently.”
“I don’t hate them,” she clarified, clearing her throat. “I just,” she started and then paused. “I don’t know.” She shook her head and immediately looked away, muttering something to herself.
I chuckled again. “I remember when we first met and all the little run-ins we kept having back then.”
Her head practically snapped back to me and she fixed the way she was sitting on the blanket before responding, addressing the one thing I didn’t dare to bring up. “That was a long time ago, Lance.” She licked her lips. “Out of all the places my sister could have her bachelorette party, she had to pick here, this resort.”
I shrugged. “It’s a nice place.”
She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes again. “Thanks. I think I know how nice this place is. It’s just no one thinks they’re going to run into the man they slept with years ago.”
“Nor do they want to,” I added, knowing she was thinking it.
She nodded gently. “I hoped you would’ve moved on.”
I put my arms around my knees and sat up straighter, the stab right through my gut killing me. “Ouch again.”
She turned and looked at me. “I’m sure you’re not happy about seeing me again. Are you seeing someone?”
I tilted my head. “What makes you ask that?”
“Just curious,” she let her words fall off. “You don’t even have to answer it, though, for me to know that you are. Seeing someone, that is.” She went on, “There’s no way a man like you is still single.”
I knew Gemma well enough to know that the idea of me having a girlfriend was making her stomach churn. I could tell by the way her hand flew to her mouth and she looked away for a moment before I responded.
“You’d be surprised,” I said, nudging her with the side of my arm. Then I decided it needed to be made crystal clear. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh,” she breathed and that one word, that one syllable conveyed so much. She brought her hands to her hair and began fussing with it, nervously. “Well, I’m single, too. But that’s by choice. I have guys lined up back home just, um, waiting for me to—” She cut herself off, her eyes falling to my lips.
I watched as she licked hers before slightly parting them and letting out a sigh. I wasn’t about to make this easy on her, though, so I stayed quiet.
