Fate (6 page)

“I know you would’ve
,
but I felt dumb
.
I thought it’d be better if I just made up an excuse for you
,
but now they’re getting suspicious. Well Grace is anyway. You don’t have to stay the whole night either. Just as long as I get to introduce you to the family
,
and then you can say you gotta go.”

She heard him laugh. “Are you kidding me? And miss a chance to have my hands
and
lips all over you all night. I’m staying until they throw me out.”

“No, no, no,” she shook her head adamantly. “Not around this family you won’t. Trust me
,
unless you really want to get thrown out and I mean on your
ass
, total respect is of the utmost importance. You can hold my hand or maybe place your arm around my waist. I
do
want it to look genuine but nothing more. And I can’t stress that enough. Okay?”

“I at least get a kiss goodnight
,
right? I gotta get something out of this.”

Rose touched her lips, Vincent’s words coming to her as they always did anytime the very idea of her so much as kissing anyone else was brought up. His fingers had traced her lips so many times,
I own these forever
,
a
nd then her unequivocal response.
You own me body and soul, Vincent.
There’ll
never be anyone else for me ever
.

The words might as well be tattooed
on
her brain
…
and
her heart. She’d said them so many times and meant them profoundly. If Ben knew the only lips that had ever touched hers were Vincent’s
,
she’d be mortified. This was exactly the reason why she wanted to avoid therapy at all cost. It would take any therapist all but a few minutes to evaluate her and announce what she’d been denying to herself and everyone else for so long
:
s
he was still hopelessly in love with Vincent. So in love she was beginning to think she’d
never
get over him—Vincent—the very guy who had ripped her heart to shreds.

“We’ll see,” she whispered.

“Rosie, I’m kidding. But ouch! I didn’t think the thought of me kissing you would make you so sad.”

Feeling horrible for an entirely different reason now, she shook her head again. “No I didn’t mean it like that. I just
…
,” she sighed. “It’s the same reason I’ve never wanted to do anything with you, Ben. You’re my friend
,
and I don’t want to ruin things.”

Besides that
,
after having her heart broken so badly once already
,
the last thing she needed was to get into a relationship where she knew that was inevitable. As much as Ben insisted he could be faithful
,
and bless his heart she’d seen him try
,
she knew he was basically incapable.

The conversation moved onto the technicalities of how
,
where
,
and what to say and not to say. With that taken care of she hung up and
lay
down on her bed feeling tired and drained like she had so often lately. She embraced the teddy bear
,
kissing the top of its head.

Staring up at her bedroom ceiling
,
she wondered how other girls did it. Obviously she couldn’t be the only girl in the world that didn’t end up with her first love. Many
,
for sure
,
had fond memories of their first profound relationships
,
but everyone else moved on. Why couldn’t she?

Refusing to allow herself to get choked up for the millionth time
,
Rose thought back
,
once again
,
to a time in her life that now seemed too good to have ever actually happened.
It was a
time when the smallest of things made her so incredibly happy and everything was so ridiculously exciting—an age in her life she wanted nothing more than to relive, even if it always ended the way it had.

As stupid as some would think her, she’d be willing to endure reliving the heartache if it meant getting back the best time of her life
:
t
he almost two years she spent with the one person who’d completely stolen her heart and now seemed impossible to ever forget. What made it especially hard was
the knowledge
that
,
as long as Grace was married to Sal
,
the possibility of seeing him again someday was all too real. Her head knew she should be worried about that
,
and in many ways she was
,
but her heart still skipped a little faster just thinking about the possibility—no matter how painful she knew that would be.

It was only a few years earlier that
she
’d
met him
,
and
yet it
felt like so long ago
.
How could she have known
that he would be the one to show her happiness like she never knew existed
and
be the same person to cause a heartache that would equally match the intensity of her love for him
?

Rose

Then
…

Vincent was an odd one to understand. Having just met him
,
he seemed nice enough
,
yet his family was obviously making it clear that he needed to be watched closely. Sal had even warned him to be on his best behavior
,
s
omething Rose noticed had bothered Vincent.

Even before his explanation about
the
tattoo
,
she didn’t think he looked bad
,
but especially now
,
after having spent some time talking to him
,
she was even more convinced Sal was maybe being a little hard on him. He’d been perfectly respectful except for the few times he slipped and gave way to the foul language. But that didn’t bother Rose. Just about everyone at her school cussed.

They reached the front porch of Alex’s large home
,
and Vincent smiled. “Yep it’s still here.” He walked up the stairs of the porch and sat down on the porch swing then patted the seat next to him. “Have a seat.”

He may be polite and sweet
,
but one thing Rose had noticed
was that
he was also smooth. She knew the type. Here she’d never even held a boy
’
s hand
,
and yet she was already sure Vincent had done
much
more. Even at only sixteen and even though they’d just met, Rose could’ve sworn there’d been a few times he may’ve been flirting with her
.
She even caught the way he’d checked out her legs
,
and
he
wasn’t at all fazed when he realized she’d seen him do it. Instead
,
he’d smirked in response to her goofball
,
embarrassed expression. He must think her so lame especially after her, “anti-drugs” rant
: t
his after he’d just finished telling her he’d tried them and
had
even got
ten
a tattoo in the process. Sure he’d regretted it
,
but she still could’ve spared him that
and
her, “my body is
a
temple” speech.

Determined to leave a better
-
than
-
lame impression, she cleared her throat
,
ignoring her very inexperienced fifteen-year-old pounding heart and walked up the stairs.

He stood up just as she reached the porch swing. When he realized how close she actually was and
that
their faces were now only inches apart
,
she saw the corners of his lips lift slowly into one of the sexiest smiles Rose had ever witnessed. “That wasn’t very
chivalrous
of me.” Without taking his eyes off hers
,
he waved his hand over the swing
,
making her heart pound even harder
,
“Ladies first.”

She prayed he didn’t hear the enormous gulp she took as she sat down. Trying to understand why she was suddenly so nervous when she’d been just fine in the backyard with
him
by the koi pond, she mentally chastised herself for being such a baby. Plenty of the girls on both the soccer and volleyball team
s
at school had boyfriends
,
a
nd she sat next to boys at school many times. She could do this without going into cardiac arrest for the love of Pete.

“What was that?” Vince smirked as he sat down next to her closer than she’d expected.

Her eyes grew wide as mortification set in. Had she said that aloud? She often thought out loud without even realizing, especially when she was nervous.
Grace caught her all the time.

“Huh?” She raised her eyebrows feigning confusion and wondering how much of it she’d said aloud, trying desperately to appear cool about feeling his thigh against hers.

“You love Pete?” He sat so close to her she could feel the heat of his body radiate off him, and that sexy crooked smile of his wasn’t helping. “Is that your boyfriend?”

“No uh,” she shook her head feeling like a complete idiot
,
“
i
t was nothing. I was thinking about something else.”

“Of a guy named Pete?” He pressed, humor lacing his eyes as he waited on Rose’s response.

“Well, no it’s,” she stammered the frustration mounting as his smirk grew bigger watching her make a total fool of herself. She never got this tongue
-
tied
e
ver
. “It’s just a saying. You know ‘for the love of Pete.
’
” She shook her head. “Never mind
,
b
ut no
,
I wasn’t thinking of any guy
,
and I don’t have a boyfriend.”

He smiled even bigger now. “Really? Why’s that?”

Mercifully Sal and Grace came around the corner
,
and Rose loved them at that moment for their timing.

“Checking up on me already?” Vince
nt
teased. “I told you I’d be cool.”

“The food’s here
,
” Sal said without smiling at Vincent’s playfulness. “Why don’t you guys come
get something to
eat?”

Vince
nt
turned to Rose
,
lowering his voice. “You don’t wanna go back into that circus yet
,
do you?” Lowering his voice even more, his next words made her literally tingle. “Stay out here with me a little longer?” There was a sudden gentleness in his eyes. “Yeah?”

Unable to even speak for fear her voice would be a squeak
,
she nodded
,
and he smiled
,
turning back to Sal
to inform
him
that
neither of them were hungry and they’d grab something later.

Rose managed to look away from Vince
nt
’s profile just in time to see Sal frown and lift his hands midair, parting them as if parting the
R
ed
S
ea. “Can you get a little space between the two of you? C’mon, Vin. There’s enough room on that swing.”

Vincent laughed
,
glancing back at Rose who was sure her face was as red as it
was
hot. “You’re kidding me right?” But he scooted away from her a little, her pounding heart ever grateful. Maybe now he wouldn’t hear it.

For once today Sal’s distrust in Vincent had come in handy
,
n
ot that Rose minded him sitting so close. The good looks obviously ran deep in this family
,
and Vincent was certainly no exception. She’d never been so close to such piercing and incredibly sexy eyes. But that was just it. When she first laid eyes on him
,
she immediately dismissed
the thought
that a guy like him would be interested in her.
S
he knew nothing about him
,
yet
the polo shirt he wore
looked so out of place with his jeans, shoes, hair and just his entire character
that
she hadn’t been surprised when he mentioned he’d been forced to wear one of his dad’s shirts.