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“I like your PJs, baby,” he said low and appreciatively with an amused lip curl that made me curl.
“Thank you.”
I shivered with pleasure, and just like that, light returned to eclipse the darkness. The cracks in my wall couldn’t withstand him. No part of me was immune to him. The unsettled feeling from my bad dream faded into the background.
“You shouldn’t have run away.” He pressed his lips together, the curl flattening, and so did I.
“I left a note,” I said lamely in my own defense.
“We’re not temporary,” he said, his gaze hard.
“That’s what he told me,” Ally said. “Earlier, when I called him with your phone, and he thought I was you.” Her light blue eyes twinkled when she was pleased, just like her father’s.
“Okay,” I said carefully. “Someone needs to tell me what the hell is going on, and who knows what.”
I came around to the front of the couch. Studying the two of them side by side, I realized the similarities were striking. They had the same hair and eye color, plus an identical dip between their dark blond brows.
“I’ve been getting Champion up to speed on my life.” The earnest dip in Ally’s brow deepened. “We had a lot to catch up on. I told him everything about Carlotta, her drug abuse, and how I left home to get out of a bad situation.” Her bottom lip started to tremble. “Champion never knew I was born, El. My mother lied to me and him.”
“He knows he’s your father?” I asked incredulously, my eyes rounding when she nodded.
“We talked a bit about Carlotta and how I met her in high school.” Champion glanced at me briefly before returning his full attention to Ally. “I told Electra about my father. How hyper-focused he was on me being the best football player. How everything else in his life and mine was secondary. He saw Carlotta’s pregnancy as an obstacle to his plans for me. Carlotta’s parents were against her keeping the baby too. I felt differently. I tried to convince her to keep the baby—you.”
His gaze softened on Ally.
“But by that time, Carlotta and I had a falling-out. She started hanging with a bad crowd. When her parents sent her away to a private school, I just assumed it was because of the drugs. I never once considered that she lied to me and kept you.” He took Ally’s hands. “Forgive me.”
His voice cracked, and so did the confidence that he wore like armor or—I had a sudden epiphany—a wall like me.
“It’s not your fault.” Wetness sheened Ally’s pretty eyes. “It’s my mom’s, mainly, and my grandparents’. They were always pressuring my mom to marry someone well off like them. She married, all right. Repeatedly. But not to please them or to take care of me, to fund her drug habit.”
Ally shrugged a slender shoulder as if her mother’s neglect wasn’t a big deal, but it was a big deal that left a permanent mark on her.
“None of her exes want anything to do with her or me. I haven’t heard from her since I took off. I don’t know where she is, and I don’t care to know.” Ally’s features hardened. “I don’t think she cares where I am either.”
“I wish I’d known.” Champion looked like he wanted to give Carlotta a piece of his mind. So did I. That Ally was so sweet, given her circumstances, was a miracle.
“My dad wants to take us out for a late breakfast before we go to work.”
Ally gave Champion an adoring look, and he gave her one right back. Both were smitten.
Warm tears filled my eyes.
“It’s a plan, but I need to talk to Electra first.” Champion stood but kept his gaze on Ally. “I’m so glad you called me, honey.”
“I’m glad I did too.” She glanced over at me. “I was nervous, but I took a chance.”
I shook my head at her, though I got the point she was trying to make. Even with her newfound father and her world certainly topsy-turvy, she was looking out for me. Man, I loved her.
I glanced at Champion. “You two should go together. You don’t need me tagging along.”
“You are going,” Champion said, giving me a narrow-eyed look. “We’re continuing what we started on the island. It’s already decided.”
“You can’t decide for me.” I put my hands on my hips.
“I can.” He took a step toward me. “I will. And I am. Do you want to give me a hard time about it?”
He tilted his head. His eyes had a gleam to them that scared me a little bit and turned me on.
