Loving You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 2) (33 page)

Annie’s misbehaving body would spend time with Dylan even if he lost to Brad. “If you beat him I’ll include dessert.”

“High stakes.” Dylan’s voice was velvety smooth. Too smooth.

Annie squinted at him. She tried to look beyond his cool exterior to see what he was really thinking. “Why are you here?”

“To see you.”

“But why?”

Dylan reached out and brushed the tip of his finger along her bottom lip. “You’re asking the wrong questions.”

Annie’s lip throbbed where Dylan had touched her. She licked her lips and Dylan’s eyes turned to liquid fire.

He glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “Your hot chocolate is ready. Wish me luck.”

Annie knew Dylan wouldn’t be the one needing luck, but she was happy to indulge his fantasies. For now. She leaned forward and kissed him, slowly and thoroughly. “Good luck.”

It turned out Dylan should have left the bowling alley after Annie lost.

His final score was worse than hers.

***

“Pizza?”

Annie laughed at Dylan. They were standing outside Antonio’s Pizza Place. The smell of garlic, pepperoni and onions was enough to make Annie’s tummy start rumbling. “What’s wrong with Pizza? Even though you didn’t beat Brad, I owe you dinner. Pizza is dinner.”

“Pizza is takeout.”

“Have you ever ordered a pizza from Antonio’s?” Dylan looked at her with the same unreadable expression he’d used when he insisted he drive them somewhere for dinner. “Did you, or did you not, tell me I could choose whatever I wanted for dinner?”

Dylan’s eyes narrowed. “I did.”

“And being Wednesday night in downtown Bozeman, you know your choices are limited, right?”

“Pizza isn’t dinner.”

“Do you trust me?”

Dylan frowned. “Is that a trick question?”

Annie tried to look stern, but a smile pulled her mouth into a grin, and before she knew it she was laughing. Again. “No tricks involved. I promise that you’ll never go back to any old pizza after tasting one of Antonio’s. You can even get gluten free, low carb, low salt, low fat, vegetarian and vegan varieties. What more could you want?”

“And they still call it pizza?”

“At Antonio’s they do.”

Dylan looked at the red brick building and sniffed. “It smells okay.”

“So that’s a definite ‘yes’ for pizza?”

“Lead the way.” Dylan waved his hand in front of him, resigned to whatever fate she had in store for him.

Annie didn’t waste any time. She walked into Antonio’s and headed toward a big man wearing a white shirt and red waistcoat.

“Annie…” Antonio rushed around the counter and enveloped her in a big, warm hug. “It has been too long. What have you been doing with yourself that you couldn’t come and see me?”

Annie hugged Antonio. She’d first stumbled through his door not long after she’d arrived in Bozeman. After that first visit, Antonio and his wife had welcomed her into their extended family. They’d laughed over the silliest of things, cried with her when life got too hard, and helped heal a part of her soul that she thought would never feel whole again.

“I’ve been organizing my new business. I want you to meet someone…” Annie stepped out of Antonio’s arms and smiled at Dylan. “Antonio, this is my boss, Dylan Bayliss.”

Dylan glanced at her. She didn’t know what she’d said to put an amused gleam in his eyes, so she ignored him.

“Buona sera, Dylan. Welcome to my pizzeria.” Dylan shook the hand that Antonia held out to him. “It’s good to see Annie again. I hope you aren’t working now?”

Dylan shook his head. “Annie’s leasing a commercial kitchen from me. I’m more her friend than her boss.”

Annie frowned when Antonio looked more interested than he needed to be. “Don’t even go there. Do you have a table for us?”

Antonio grinned. “For you, anything. Follow me.”

Annie sat in the seat that Antonio held out for her. “How’s Maria?”

“Maria is Maria,” Antonio said. “She keeps telling me I work too hard, that we need a vacation in Italy. She’ll be disappointed that she wasn’t here to say hello.”

“I’ll be back. Would you and Maria like to visit my new business once I’m up and running?”

Antonio passed them a menu and smiled. “It would be our pleasure. If you need anything, Annie, you call me. We can help.”

“Thank you. What do you suggest for dinner tonight?”

“Pizza Margherita or Vegetariana. Maria has cooked beautiful organic vegetables for both dishes.”

Annie looked at Dylan. “What would you like?”

“What about one of each?”

“Sounds good to me.”

After Dylan had ordered a bottle of wine to go with their pizza, Antonio left them to enjoy the evening.

“Antonio likes you,” Annie said with a smile.

Dylan raised his eyebrows.

“He does,” Annie insisted. “He didn’t ask any probing questions about what you do, or where you’re from. If he starts asking about your parents, you know you’re in trouble.”

“And you know this from past experience?”

“Not me. This is the first time I’ve brought someone here. But Sally always brings her boyfriends here. Antonio gives them the once over to see if they’re any good.”

Dylan choked on his glass of water. “Once over?”

Annie passed him a napkin. “You know, figuring out if they have good intentions, or if they’re after something else.”

Dylan undid the top button of his shirt and loosened his tie. “What’s wrong with ‘something else’?”

Annie considered Dylan’s question. “Nothing, I suppose. As long as you both want the same thing. I think that’s the tricky part. It’s not easy working out what you want. Trying to factor in someone else’s needs is impossible if you don’t talk about it.”

“So let’s talk.”

Annie frowned. “What about?”

Antonio brought their bottle of red wine across to the table and poured each of them a glass. “Your pizza will be ready in about ten minutes.”

Annie smiled at Antonio. “Thank you.”

Dylan watched her rearrange her knife and fork. She flicked open her napkin and put it on her lap, then took a sip of wine. It was good, too good. She pushed the glass away in case she had too much to drink before their pizza arrived.

“Annie?”

She looked up at Dylan. “Yes?”

“Why don’t you want to talk about us?”

She took a deep breath. It was all very well Dylan wanting to talk about their relationship now, but when she’d tried talking to him, he didn’t want to listen. “I thought we’d said everything we needed to say. You want to figure some things out and you can’t be my friend while you do.”

Dylan didn’t look impressed. She thought her summarized edition of their going nowhere relationship was exactly what he wanted. He was being fickle. One minute he didn’t want to see her, then the next minute he was appearing out of nowhere and spending time with her. “What I don’t understand is why you came to the bowling alley tonight? It’s not your usual hang-out. There’s nothing wrong with the warehouse, is there?”

“The warehouse is fine. That’s not why I came to see you.”

“Is something wrong with your kittens? I know they can be a handful, but they’re cute and cuddly. They’ll calm down as they get older.”

He shook his head. “The kittens are okay.”

“Why did you come to the bowling alley, then?”

Dylan took a sip of red wine. “I’ve been thinking. About us. I told you I like you, and I do. Like you, that is.”

Annie looked over her shoulder to make sure Antonio wasn’t in hearing distance. He was still in the kitchen, thank goodness. If he heard what she was about to say, he’d disown her. She moved her wine glass, leaned forward and whispered, “Do you want to be friends with benefits?”

Dylan’s mouth dropped open and a bright red blush hit him smack-bang in the middle of his face.

Annie slapped a hand across her mouth. “Oh, no. You didn’t mean that, did you?”

“I…well, I…” Dylan didn’t seem to know what to say. This wasn’t good.

The kitchen doors opened and Antonio walked into his restaurant carrying two huge pizzas. “One Pizza Margherita and one Vegetariana.
Buon appetito
.”

Annie wanted to disappear under the table, or at least hang her head in shame. Instead, she smiled at Antonio and hoped he didn’t see how embarrassed she was. “Thanks, Antonio. The pizzas look amazing.”

“Anything for my favorite girl. If you need coffee or dessert, just ask.” Antonio nodded at Dylan and left them to their pizza.

Annie put her hands over her hot cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. It just kind of popped out. I take back everything, and I mean
everything
. Wipe it from your memory bank…”

Dylan grabbed hold of her wine glass just before her hand collided with it. “It’s okay. You don’t need to apologize…”

“I feel like an idiot. Why on earth would someone like you want to have sex with me? You must have slept with so many women that you’d have a hard time remembering their names.”

Dylan cleared his throat. “Annie?”

“Yes?”

“I’d stop now, if I were you.”

Annie closed her mouth.

“And just for the record, I haven’t slept with a lot of women, and I do remember their names.”

Annie bit her bottom lip and stared at the pizzas. “That’s good.”

“And I haven’t slept with anyone for a long time.”

She looked at Dylan. “Oh.”

“And I’m thinking about sleeping with someone. If she wants to sleep with me.”

Annie was so disappointed that she nearly cried. She didn’t know Dylan had been seeing someone else. Their touching sessions must have paid off big-time for him. Now it all made sense. He hadn’t come to the bowling alley because he liked her. He’d come to tell her he was in love with someone else.

“I’m happy for you. Really happy…” She looked around the restaurant, hoping Antonio would suddenly appear and give her a reason to leave. She channeled all of her psychic energy toward the kitchen, imagining Antonio walking through the doors…

“Annie?”

She blinked away Antonio’s mirage and looked at Dylan.

“It’s you.”

“Who?”

“You.”

She was confused. “Of course it’s me.”

Dylan smiled. “So what do you think?”

“About what?” She must have missed something while she was imagining Antonio being her knight in shining armor.

Dylan looked at her intently. “About us.”

She shrugged her shoulders. Cool, calm and collected, that’s what she needed to be. She was a modern woman who had options. Plenty of options. Maybe Dylan had done her a favor. If she could imagine herself dating him, then she could date someone else, too.

She glanced at the kitchen door, then back at Dylan. “Well, obviously we can’t see each other again. It wouldn’t be right. I’m sure your girlfriend can pick up from where we stopped…you know…with the touching sessions. It’s been really nice knowing you, but I need to leave.” She pushed her chair away from the table and stood up.

Dylan looked stunned. “Where are you going?”

She picked up her wallet. “Home.”

“You can’t leave.”

Annie started to get annoyed. “Of course I can. I’m not getting in the way of you and your girlfriend.”

“I want
you
to be my girlfriend.”

Annie froze. “Me?”

“Yes, you.” Dylan took a deep breath. “I want to be your boyfriend.”

Annie’s eyes narrowed. “Do you mean boyfriend as in a friend who’s male, or someone you go on real dates with?”

Dylan’s face lost some of its color. “The real date variety.”

Annie sat down and leaned forward. “What about everything else?”

Dylan dropped his head into his hands. “This wasn’t supposed to be so hard,” he muttered.

Annie frowned. “Just tell me what you want.”

“I want a normal relationship with you.”

“Including cuddling and kissing and…things?”

Dylan nodded. He didn’t look too happy about their normal relationship prospects. “I don’t know what will happen when we try to…you know. But if we could take things slowly it might help.”

“When do you want to start?” She asked. Dylan glared at her. She supposed it was his way of dealing with his scatterbrained girlfriend.

“Tonight?”

She pushed one of the pizzas closer to Dylan’s hand. “You’d better eat your dinner. You’re going to need all the energy you can get.”

Dylan grinned and slid the other pizza close to her.

It was going to be an interesting night.

***

Tess smiled at the four bridesmaids in front of her. “You all look beautiful.”

Annie flicked the hem of one of the Cinderella gowns in the air, watching it settle around the bridesmaid’s legs. “We need a bigger petticoat under this dress. It’s not poufy enough.”