Chapter 18
Shelby
He lets go of my face, and all I can do is stand here, my body limp as my eyes flutter open and I see him in front of me. I try to find the word to describe what just happened. I'm trying to go through my whole dictionary of words that I have to make sure that I find the right words. But all I can do is say three words over and over again in my head, and then it just comes out. "Oh my God," I whisper, my fingers touching my lips that he just kissed, and if they didn't tingle, I would think it was all in my head. "It was you?" My head spins around this information. "All this time, it was you?"
He just stares at me, his chest going up and down. "Um, yeah."
"But . . ." I say, shaking my head. "But . . ." It's the only word I can say when I look at him as he stares at me. This man who became my best friend all those years ago while we studied in a little coffee shop where we drank more coffee than we should ever drink. The man who cheered me on when I said I was going to start our company. The man who I call whenever I have to talk things through, the man who I would protect with my life. "But he told me it was him."
Ace shakes his head, putting his hands on his hips. "Incredible. Obviously, he lied to you. No one is surprised there, especially after what happened."
I walk over to the couch and sit down. "I mean, he cheated on me." I look up at the ceiling, trying not to let the tears escape, and I'm surprised that no tears are threatening to come. Instead, what I'm filled with is anger that he fucking lied to me from the beginning. "Chances are, he's been lying to me for a long, long time." My heart speeds up in my chest as I ball my hands into fists beside myself. "Why was I so fucking stupid?" I wait for him to answer my question, but he doesn't. Instead, his feet move toward me.
It takes him two steps before he's in front of me, pushing the table out of the way so he can get on his knees in front of me. "Hey," he says softly. "Don't you ever say that. You trusting him does not make you stupid."
"It should," I reply. "This whole time, I thought the best kiss that I ever had was with Joe."
Ace smirks and then looks at me. "Wait, the best kiss you've ever had?" he asks, and I get up now.
"I need a minute," I tell him. "I'm going to go shower, and then you are going to go shower." I point at him. "And then we're going to talk about this."
He gets up and smirks at me. "You bet your ass we are going to talk about this."
My body shivers at his words. "I'm going to have lots of questions," I inform him, and he just smiles at me.
"I wouldn't expect anything less." I shake my head. "Oh, and I'm going to have lots of questions also."
I nod at him, turning and walking toward the bathroom and closing the door behind me. My head is still spinning, and I touch my lips again. That kiss was even better than the one I remembered vaguely. It was a kiss that I have been searching for, for the last two years. It was a kiss that I thought I made up in my head. It was a kiss that I remembered but couldn't see his face until today. Until he kissed me. "Ace," I whisper to myself and get into the shower. "How did I not know?" I ask myself. "How could you not remember?” Yes, I was drinking. Not only was it New Year's Eve but we had just closed the biggest contract we had ever signed. I grab the plush robe and slip it on, then wrap my hair up before walking out. I stop when I see Roberto there with Ace.
"That sounds like a plan," Ace says, walking toward me. "I need to shower because we have a talk to get to." He walks past me, and I hear the door close behind him.
"I'll get everything set up.” Roberto nods and walks out of the room with the walkie-talkie by his ear.
I don't waste time thinking about anything as I run to the closet and rummage through all the clothes I brought. "What is the least sexy thing you brought?" I pick up the white string thong with a piece of fabric that covers almost nothing. I put my feet through it, hoping that the string doesn’t twist and go into my skin. I grab the matching bra and a little white dress that molds to my every curve. Taking the towel off my head, I look outside to see Roberto setting up a table.
"We are almost finished, Mrs. Shelby." He smiles, and I just nod at him as the door to the bathroom opens, and Ace comes out. He is holding a white towel around his waist as he shakes his head side to side and then runs his hand through his hair, pushing it back. Whatever I was thinking in my head is gone, and the only thing I can do is look up at him up and down.
"What's going on outside?" I ask him, and he stops beside me. All I can smell is his body wash, and my mouth waters, thinking about the kiss.
"You like eating outside," he tells me. "So I told him to set up dinner outside." I turn my head to look at him, my mouth opening. "What?" he asks of my shocked look.
"Nothing," I say, shaking my head. "There is so much going through my head right now. I need a minute to process everything."
"Well, you get five minutes because this is happening as soon as I'm dressed," he informs me, walking over to the closet and grabbing an outfit.
He walks back into the bathroom, and Roberto comes to the open glass wall. "I'll be back with the food," he tells me, and all I can do is nod at him.
I take a step out of the bedroom as the sun is slowly going down, and there are lit candles all over the deck, giving you some light to walk. The sound of the waves hitting the stairs sounds like it's from one of the apps you find on the internet. The sounds of crickets also fill the air. The breeze goes through my hair, and I just take a second to take a deep breath.
I make my way to the table that Roberto was setting up at the far end of the deck. A white linen tablecloth covers the table and hangs to the ground. White chairs are set up facing the water. Little pink rose petals are scattered all around the table with two candle lanterns in the middle with a bouquet of pink flowers at the edge of the table. "At least it's not all white," I hear from behind me and look over to see Ace coming to me wearing blue shorts that are loose on him and a cream-colored long-sleeve shirt pushed up to the elbows with three open buttons at the top. You can see how his fingers went through his wet hair.
"It's not all white." I smirk at him. "And they used pink."
"They didn't have any peonies. I asked." He stops next to me.
"Why didn't you tell me it was you?" I don't wait for him to say anything to me or give him a warning that this talk will be starting a lot sooner than he probably thought it would.
"How did you not remember?" He counters my question, and I look up at him, his blue eyes looking darker in this light. But I now can see them clear as day in my head when I leaned into him. It's as if him telling me that it was him made the box of memories open and escape.
"I sort of did," I admit. "But then I thought it was just my imagination because, well, I've thought about kissing you for a long time, and then I came to see you the next day, and you didn't say anything." I tilt my head to the side; he has to take some blame for this.
"I thought you regretted it," he cuts in. "I kept asking you if you had a good time, and all you could do was nod and avoid my eyes." He puts his hands in the pockets of his shorts. "The question is, how did you think it was Joseph?"
"I ran into him two days later," I tell him. "He kept going on and on about what a great time he had and hoped that I did also. Then he said that he enjoyed New Year's Eve and spending it with me. So, I assumed that it was him, and well, I went out with him."
"Um, not to know any other details." He holds up one hand. "Because there are things I don't want to know, but didn't you notice how different the kiss was?"
"I did." I throw my hands in the air. "But then I thought it was all in my head and that all the champagne skewed it."
He takes a step forward. "Nothing about that kiss was skewed," he whispers, his hand coming up to hold my chin. "The kiss was everything I thought it would be and more." His eyes search mine as my heart speeds up tenfold. He bends his head, and my breath hitches as he comes closer. I'm waiting for him to kiss me, waiting for him to do anything, but all he does is rub his nose with mine. "That kiss was four years in the making, and in three minutes, it was done."
I laugh. "That doesn't bode well if it's over in three minutes," I joke, but his eyes don't leave mine.
"Shelby," he whispers, and right before he is going to kiss me, we hear voices coming closer and closer. Ace groans, letting my face go. "I'm going to do such a heated review on this place," he says through clenched teeth. "It's a honeymoon resort, and they are always popping up."
"Maybe it's a sign." I put my hand to my stomach to stop the way my stomach is fluttering. "Think about it, we kissed two years ago and then went on to date other people. We were going to marry other people." He just waits for me to finish my thoughts, knowing I need to get this out. "And that we are here on this island at a honeymoon resort, and every single time we are going to do anything, we are interrupted." I point at Roberto. "It might be a sign that we shouldn't go there."
"Or," he starts, smirking at me, "it's just giving us the time to come to terms with things because once it starts, it's not going to stop."
"Are we still talking about us?" I laugh anxiously.
"Shelby." He says my name clear as day. "The next time I kiss you." He looks over to see how close Roberto is. "I'm not going to stop. I don't care if the whole resort comes out to watch." He looks at me square in the eye, and all I can do is try to swallow, but my mouth is so dry that it takes a lot. "Take that as a sign."