But she wasn’t teasing this time. It was the truth. “No,” she said. “It’s my mom’s. This is the ring my dad gave her when they first started dating back in high school.”
Now he smirked as if he knew what she’d done there. Even his playful agitation about her still wearing her ex’s ring while she was on a date with Alex wouldn’t have her getting her hopes up for more than just a short-lived fling with him. One thing Valerie knew about guys was—in a relationship or not—they were territorial. She’d already witnessed it firsthand from his younger brother and the way he acted around Sarah. Valerie didn’t expect any less from the older Moreno whose temper was said to be legendary.
The guy was daunting, no doubt. As big and as intense as she knew him to be now that she’d gotten to know him a little better, back then she almost couldn’t picture him angry.
“What about this one?” He pointed at the gaudier ring on her other hand. The one with the pink glass slipper. “Let me guess,” he said, holding her hand with both of his as he continued to examine it. “You’re a big fan of Cinderella?”
She laughed, pulling aside the strands of hair that blew in her face with the wind. “Close,” she said as he looked up at her those amazing dimples going even deeper with his widening smile. “It is from Disneyland, and it does have something to do with Cinderella, but it’s not because I’m a fan.” He was gazing at her now in a way that stirred up the butterflies in her stomach again. “This one is a gift from Reggie though.” His gaze went a little darker, and even though she knew she didn’t have to explain, she did so quickly. “But it wasn’t anything romantic, and I like it, so I still wear it. He got it for me because of my craze for big shoes—high heels. Kind of a joke actually.”
She lifted her foot up to demonstrate the very high wedge shoes she was wearing, and his attention was immediately drawn to her shoes. She glanced up in time to see his eyes wander slowly up her entire body until their eyes met again, and once again her insides were a hot mess.
The lips that had gone flat when she mentioned the ring was a gift from Reggie began to lift at the corners again, slowly, teasingly. “Your shoes are probably the first thing I noticed about you,” he said. The dimple on one side of his face, the side where his lip lifted the highest, sunk impossibly deeper into his cheek. “Last year,” he added.
That surprised her, and she wasn’t sure she believed him.
“How could I not notice?” he continued as if reading her mind. “Don’t get me wrong. There’s so much more to you to notice, but you were Reggie’s girl. Like most of the other guys on the team, he and I were pretty tight. It wouldn’t have been cool for me to notice much more about you. But those shoes . . .”He peered down at them and then back at her. “It’s kind of hard to not notice a girl walking into a party working shoes that high as effortlessly as you did. It was very impressive.”
Valerie felt the corners of her own lips lift slowly, wondering which party he’d noticed her at. “That was part of the reason why I broke up with Reggie,” she informed him, maybe a little too honestly. “Things like that didn’t feel right.”
As expected, he looked confused. “Things like what?”
“I remember a time or two . . . maybe more when I walked into one of those parties where you were at or maybe you walked in and I was already there, when I was still seeing Reggie.” She paused for a moment, wondering if she should go on, then decided why not? “It felt wrong to not be able to give him my full attention because I was so distracted by you.”
His eyebrow lifted, and she got the feeling maybe this time he wasn’t sure he believed her. “Is that so?” She nodded as she felt the tug of his hand on hers, pulling her a little closer. Taking a step forward, she tried but was unable to keep her eyes off his lips. “You dumped Reggie because of me?”
“I didn’t say that,” she laughed nervously. “I just. . . Well, obviously, I wasn’t that into him if I could so easily be distracted by another guy.”
He stared at her for a moment; then his lips opened but he didn’t say anything as if he changed his mind. Curiously, she waited, and then he seemed to change it again. “Was I the only guy who ever distracted you like that when you were with him?”
For the first time that day, she felt uncomfortable. Why the hell had she said anything about this? The question felt heavy with ulterior motive, almost as if it were a test. If she answered honestly, would that scare him? Make him not want to chance so much as a fling with someone who might get too clingy? If she lied, would he think her a slut—at the very least an insatiable boy-crazy flirt he might lose respect for?
Deciding to stick with honesty as she had all day, she smiled, feeling her face flush. “Yes,” she said softly, hating how vulnerable admitting this made her feel, but then she’d never thought to prepare for this. Being here with him was something she never in a million years thought she’d be doing.
His eyes brightened a little, but he said nothing at first. Instead, he stared at her silently as if deciding if he believed her or not; then he smiled. “I didn’t think a girl like you blushed,” he said, tugging her hand and making her take a step closer. “I never would’ve believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.” He pulled her even closer, making her take another step forward, and she was now standing between his legs, their lips close enough to kiss. “Why does that embarrass you?” he whispered, staring in her eyes.