I had one huge reason sitting right next to me, although since I told my father and my grandmother and especially Andi, it wasn't going to be long before Noah, Hunter and Ryan knew how I felt about Jess. Still, I didn't want to feel like any of my brothers were watching me.
"Actually, I chose this place because I remembered what fun we had in Mexico," I admitted.
She smiled as she looked down, and a pretty pink blush came to her face. The fact that she didn't look embarrassed or concerned about my father, suggested that he’d told her that I had let him know about us.
"Maybe it will be as good as that little restaurant we ate at near Playa del Carmen but without the crazy parrot," I said.
She laughed. "It wasn't just one parrot. It was a whole bunch of them flying loose. I was so afraid they’d poop in my food."
My father belted out a laugh. "Hmmm. Sounds like quite an adventure."
"It was a good time," Jess agreed.
I ordered margaritas for all of us, and they arrived looking even more delicious than I'd anticipated. Most of the time when I had a margarita it ended up looking like a slushy, but these look like the real deal.
"You know my son here likes to go off the beaten path, even if the road is harried. I suspect you found yourself in some unusual positions,” my father said.
I choked on my margarita, not because of the travel comment of my father's, but the one about positions. I'd only had one night with Jess, but we were definitely in a variety of positions before that night was over.
I chanced a look at Jess who was busy reading her menu. "It was nice having a friend there to see things I might not have normally seen."
Her statement took all the wind out of my sails. A friend? Even before we slept together, we’d been more than friends. At least I had. I had to wonder if maybe I was remembering the trip wrong or maybe my experience of it had been so different from hers. But no because that last night, during the times we were recovering from a spectacular orgasm, we did chat. Granted, it wasn't about our innermost thoughts and feelings, but we both shared how we wished we’d gone to bed together sooner on the trip. I pushed all that aside, and tried to focus on the woman that was in front of me now.
We ordered our dinner, and when it came, it looked fancy as one would expect from a nice restaurant in the United States, but I had to admit the food tasted nearly as good as the authentic food we had in Mexico. Jess must've thought so too because several bites she made moaning sounds that I heard straight down to my dick, since they were exactly like I remembered four years ago.
I put my attention on my food, working to keep my hard on down, as my dad told Jess how appreciative he was of her work, and how there had been a time he wondered if he'd be able to ever surf again. Now he knew that it wouldn't be long before he was back on the board.
"I can tell you that me and my brothers are extremely grateful to you. You’ve really helped him. Not just physically but emotionally as well."
Jess had a cheeky smile as she said, "Well, Alex has actually been a wonderful patient, except for the fact of the cookie hoarding."
We all had a good laugh at that.
Having my father here, I think, had made it easier for her, but of course it was frustrating for me. Yes, we were having a lovely conversation, but I wasn't feeling the connection like I had four years ago. Like I’d felt it the other day when I kissed her. It was killing me inside to think that what we once had was dead on her side.
But not the one to give up hope, I took what she was willing to give me. Right now, we were having a lovely dinner, some of it reminiscing about our time in Mexico and other times her telling me stories about my father's recovery. Then there were the embarrassing stories my father was telling her about me as a child.
I lifted my hand to hail the waitress and ordered another round of margaritas for us. If this was all I was going to get, I was going to make it last as long as possible, even if it meant suffering embarrassment.
10
Jess
This entire night felt like an indulgent luxury. The last time I ate out had been in a child's fast-food restaurant playground with Tanner. It wasn’t very often I had an uninterrupted adult conversation. In the evenings, I talked some with Reggie, but usually she had to finish up some of her work she didn’t get to during the day while watching Tanner. So, tonight was the first time in a long time that I had an extended adult conversation.
It didn’t hurt that one of my dates was Carter Strong. I was enjoying this dinner a great deal, but I couldn't deny that it was hard not to get caught up in the memories Carter kept bringing up, or pushing away all the warm feelings I would get as Alex would tell an adorable or hilarious story about Carter when he was growing up.
No one would question that Carter was a strong, fierce man. He was definitely the alpha hero from a romance novel. But remembering the man I’d met four years ago, and based on the stories his father told, and the fact that he had told his father about us, Carter also had a sensitivity to him that many men didn't have. Not sensitive in a way that suggested he was weak or overemotional. Instead, he was a man who was solid in his personhood, and didn't feel the need to hide his thoughts and feelings. He hadn't come right out and told me that he wanted to rekindle what we had, but I'd be an idiot to not have seen it in the way he kissed me or when he looked at me in my bathing suit.
In a perfect world, I would tell Carter about Tanner and he would be over the moon about it, and then he'd sweep us both off our feet and we'd go live one adventurous happily ever after. But things like that just didn't happen in real life. I'd known that HEAs were for novels for a long time. It was the reason we made the deal we did on the ship because in that week we lived the fairytale that didn't exist in the real world. And I had to remind myself now that the fairytale still didn't exist. Carter wanted to reignite a fantasy. But here in San Diego we had duties and obligations that would get in the way of that.
As the evening wore on, I found it harder and harder, though, to keep my heart from expanding with longing and emotion and I realized it was probably from the fact that I was finishing another margarita. I looked over at Carter, and noted that he had hardly touched his second margarita, so at least he was paying attention as the designated driver.
Inwardly, I chastised myself, for having the second large delicious frosted beverage. I had an occasional glass of wine, but I really didn't drink that much, so having a second margarita, which in all actuality was probably the equivalent of two margaritas, I could feel the alcohol going to my head.
I still felt a little fuzzy as the dinner ended and Carter ushered us out to his SUV to drive us back to Alex's home. I hoped that during the ride, my buzz would dissipate so that I could drive home from Alex's house.
When we arrived at Alex's house, Carter escorted his father inside the house but I said my goodbyes there. I walked over to my car and leaned against it as I realized I really probably shouldn't be driving. The only solution was for me to see if I could sleep in one of the guest rooms in Alex's home. I could ask Carter to give me a ride, but in my current state, it was dangerous because I could fairly easily jump him.