Just One Night (Black Alcove #2) (2 page)

Because our friends saw
what happened the last time we split up, telling anyone we’ve
started something new isn’t at the top of my list. So it’s been
nothing but a few stolen, secret moments together. Moments we never
talk about to anyone but each other, not even with Kelsey, my best
friend. And I want to tell her so bad.

A part of me likes the
idea of sneaking around. It makes everything between us more
electrifying. Not knowing what will happen, not planning anything
out, just going with whatever emotion I have right then and there
makes me feel free. It’s the total opposite of everything in my
life. Plus, the feeling of being caught gives me such a rush.

Especially right now.
We’re at my father’s house for my twenty-third birthday, and
we’re hiding in the trees on the side of the house. It’s a
beautiful, sunny June day and everyone is in the backyard enjoying
the barbeque he throws for me each year. Still, anyone could turn the
corner and find us.

I love it.

“Sara? Did you hear
what I said?” Logan asks, rubbing my arms and hooking his gaze on
mine.

“Yes, I did. I’m
sorry. I was completely zoning out.”

“I could see that.”
He chuckles.

“If you don’t want
to sneak around, what do you want?” I ask, mentally crossing my
fingers he still wants what he wanted before I left. Me.

His smirk gives me my
answer.

“I’m pretty sure
you already know.”

My heart begins beating
faster as I control my body from jumping up and down, or more
specifically, onto him. My lack of outward excitement doesn’t come
off positively. Logan’s watching me with a worried expression.

“I know you’re
scared, but I think it’s time we make this official,” he says
with a hopeful grin. “I was an idiot to let you leave last year
without at least asking you to stay. What I want in life isn’t
going to just fall into my hands. I have to work for it, and working
for an ‘us’ is what I want.”

“Okay,” I answer.

Logan grips my
shoulders and pushes me away at arm’s length. He looks me in the
eye and a smile I’ve never seen but love already stretches across
his face.

“Okay? As in, okay
we’re officially a couple?”

“Yep.”

My back hits the tree
fast and his lips press against mine. I’m not sure if I’m seeing
stars because my head hit the trunk or because he’s kissing me like
I’m his air and he can finally breathe.
He’s
never kissed me like this before.
His hands start
exploring every part of my body, leaving a tingling trail everywhere
they touch. A giddy feeling rushes to my core as Logan grips my ass,
lifting me until my legs are wrapped around him. With his hands
cupping my butt, he holds me there, pressing me against his hips as
they grind into mine.

What
else has he been holding back?

He breaks away quickly,
breathing hard and lowering my feet back to the ground. Before I can
tell him I want to keep going, he grabs my hand.

“Come on. We better
go before your dad finds me and kills me for sneaking around with
you.”

I nod and step past
him, laughing as he tickles my sides from behind me. I know happiness
is written all over my face. This is it. This is the moment I take a
risk and begin to conquer one of my biggest fears.

Logan

The sound of Sara’s
laughter is the most incredible noise I’ve ever heard. I don’t
care how whipped I sound when I say it or even think it. I’m lucky
as hell she’s giving me a second chance. Between my last year of
college coming up, a student loan that’s falling behind on payment,
a rent check two months past due, and a sister I’ve been trying to
contact but have heard nothing from, luck is something I haven’t
had in a while.

I pull Sara back at the
waist until she’s walking next me. Never letting my hand leave her
side, I sneak a glimpse to admire her. Her blonde hair is braided to
the side. Her peach summer dress falls just above her knees and flows
with each step she takes. The color makes her tan look darker. She
isn’t wearing any jewelry or shoes, which is odd because this girl
loves her accessories.

I watch as a glowing
smile never leaves her lips. She squeezes the hand that’s tangled
with mine as she looks up to me with her light blue eyes. I’m not
just quoting a line when I say that she has the most beautiful and
breathtaking eyes I have ever seen. They are eyes that twist and
break any control I have.

Sara’s father’s
house is at the base of Wind Valley’s mountain and is surrounded by
tall oak trees, giving it a slight forest look. Her smiling continues
as we step past the last tree. I squeeze her tiny figure again as she
walks in front of me. At my touch she trips, falling into my
shoulder. I turn her upright, facing me. Right then, she does
something amazing. She stands on the tips of her toes and presses a
gentle kiss to my lips right in front of everyone we know.

Expecting to hear
shouts and hollers, we hear nothing. Glancing to the party, I see
why. Not a single person is looking our way. Sara’s happy smile is
still glued in place.

“And all this time we
always thought someone would catch us, when really, no one was ever
looking,” she says, sounding as shocked as I am. We laugh as we
join the party.

“Did you know Kelsey
and Ethan eloped last month?” I ask, taking a seat around the
eight-person metal rectangle patio set. Sara sits on my left knee,
resting against me as I wrap my arms around her.

“I might have known
that.” She smirks, leaning forward to open the closest cooler to
us. I never let my hands stray from somehow touching her. She hands
me a beer and grabs a Pepsi for herself, flipping the top and taking
a drink. It’s always amazed me that she practically owns a bar, yet
she hardly drinks alcohol. I think I’ve seen her drink three times
in all the years I’ve known her. “You do know Kelsey is my best
friend, right? We don’t really keep secrets from each other.”

She’s lying. She
never told Kelsey about last summer. I would have received some sort
of ass chewing from Kelsey if she had. I smile, cocking an eyebrow at
her.

“Okay, so there are
some
things we don’t
share.” She laughs.

“Yeah, I thought so,”
I say, giving her sides another squeeze as she squeals. It feels so
good to show her how much I care for her to all our friends.

“So, does this mean
you’re finally out in the open with all this?” Kelsey says,
sitting across from us. Ethan takes the seat next to her with a
shit-eating grin on his face, too.

“What do you mean,
finally
?” Sara
asks.

“Like we didn’t
know.” Ethan laughs.

“Everyone knew
something was going on,” Kelsey adds. “We just didn’t know what
exactly that was.”

With her mouth open,
Sara looks over her shoulder at me.

“I never said
anything”—I raise my hands in surrender form—“swear it.”

She rolls her eyes but
smiles at the same time.

“Yes, it does,”
Sara answers at the same time I nod in Ethan’s direction.

“It’s about
freaking time,” Ethan says, winking at both of us. “The tension
between you two was getting a bit ridiculous.”

“Shut up, it was
not.” Sara laughs.

“Oh it most
definitely—”

“If I could please
have everyone’s attention!”

Sara jumps at the sound
of her father’s booming voice. He steps through the French doors
that lead from his kitchen onto the patio and comes to a stop once
he’s next to us. Sara stands slowly and I do the same, holding her
hand tightly in mine.

“As you all know, I
have been working to expand my business for some time now. It may
just be a bar to most of you, but to me it’s how I provide for
myself and for my daughter, and it brings me such joy to share with
all of you today the birthday gift I have for Sara.”

I can feel Sara stiffen
in my arms so I hold her tighter. Her father turns to face us and the
excitement falls from his face when he notices my arms wrapped around
her. He swallows and looks me in the eye for a brief moment before
returning his focus back to Sara.

“Congratulations,
dear. We got the place in Colorado, and it’s all yours.”

Fuck. Maybe luck isn’t
on my side after all.

Sara

I’ve heard the
expressions “timing is everything” and “everything happens for
a reason.” I just thought they were silly because life isn’t
about luck. If you want something, you go after it and you don’t
give up. This gift from my father is proof that theory is true.
I’m
finally getting my own bar!
First I made a commitment to
Logan and now I’m getting what I’ve been working toward. Today is
freaking fabulous.

I let my father finish
his speech before I excuse myself and head inside. A smile is
plastered to my face as I pour a soda into a plastic cup. Managing
the BA has been great, but I never owned it. I’ve always had to
clear everything through my father. Not anymore.
I’ve
got my own bar.
Ah! This day couldn’t get any better.

I pass through the
kitchen and take a seat on the living room sofa. The room is filled
with pictures of me with my parents, most of them with my father. All
moments from my accomplishments, everything from spelling bees in
elementary to graduating college. I excelled at everything in those
years, and I’ve earned today.

The click of the front
door announces a newcomer to the party—someone new I can share my
good news with and relive it again.

“Hey, girl, sorry I’m
late. I was—Hey, whoa, what’s wrong? That’s sort of a creepy
smile you got there.” The couch dips as Beth sits next to me. Beth
Moyer is both a great friend and an employee at The Black Alcove.

“Logan and I are
together.” I glance up. She’s staring me down with her hands
folded in her lap. Something about her red hair, white summer dress,
and the spark in her emerald eyes reminds me of the Little Mermaid
right now.

“That’s great,”
she cheers, clapping her hands.

“My father gave me
the bar.”

“Wow! Even better.”

“In Colorado.”

“Oh, shit,” she
says, every ounce of cheerfulness has left her voice and my head
jerks back at her response.

“What do you mean ‘oh
shit?’” I ask, curious to why she doesn’t she see this as good
news.

“You’re really
asking me that?” Her question makes her sound just as confused.

“Yeah, this is great
news. Unless you mean ‘oh, shit yes, this is awesome,’ I don’t
think were on the same page.”

“Well doesn’t
owning a bar in Colorado mean you have to move?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, if you and Logan
just started dating, how is that going to work?”

I shrug. “He’ll
come with me.”

“Um, are we talking
about the same Logan?”

I never suspected Beth
to be the party pooper. Fine, right now isn’t the ideal time for
Logan to pick up and move, but he’ll do it for me. All he has to do
it switch schools. A transfer won’t be that hard.

“Okay, think about
this: if he moves with you, the two of you are going from not even
dating to living together. Is that a commitment you want to make?”

“Just because we move
doesn’t mean we have to live together,” I point out.
No
need to freak me out with more commitment talk, Beth.

“If I moved to
another state for someone, that’s asking for a huge commitment,”
she adds and I cringe.
She
really needs to stop using that word.

“Sara, are you okay
in here?” Kelsey asks in a gentle voice as she steps into the
living room holding her new baby, Clara, in her arms. I glance back
and forth between my friends trying to decide if “okay” is the
word I would use to describe the outcome of this conversation. Beth
is right, if I ask Logan to move, I’m making a bigger commitment
than I’m ready to make. Thousands of people make long-distance
relationships work every day. Logan and I are no different.

“Yes, everything is
great,” I say with a stoned expression. And it will be as long as
Logan is okay with me leaving without him.

Logan

Fuck.

Just one word says it
all. If I had any gut feeling that Sara’s father doesn’t approve
of me, this confirms it. He wants to keep us apart and I can’t
believe he’s sending her to an entirely different state to do it. I
don’t come from the same background as them. I didn’t grow up
with luxuries and money. I didn’t and don’t have parents who
encourage me or believe in me. Parents who love me. All I have is a
sister who won’t return my letters and Sara. Her father is about to
take away something more important to me than myself, and I think he
knows it, too.

“Logan.”

Ethan’s voice pulls
me back into reality as he waves a hand in front of my face while
everyone else goes about the party like something intense didn’t
just happen.

“That was a little
creepy,” Ethan whispers. “It was like you zoned out. I said your
name probably ten times. I know you have feelings for Sara, we all
do, but your face just told me more than I thought.”

“I know,” I groan
into my hands.

“What are you going
to do? You can’t let her leave, not now. You two just made this
official. Her father is ruining it. I’d be so furious and lost
right now.”

It should freak me out
that my best guy friend sounds like a complete girl, but it doesn’t.
He found someone he refuses to image his life without, and until this
moment, I never knew how that felt.

“Mr. Parker.”
Sara’s fathers clears his throat as he interrupts our conversation.
“Could I have a word with you?”

“Yeah, I need to
check on Kelsey anyway,” Ethan stutters.