As usual, Valerie seemed unfazed, but she did do a quick pout. “I didn’t mean to hurt him, but it was the honorable thing to do. If we’d stayed together, it would’ve been worse later.”

“Honorable?” Alex asked, confused.

“Yeah,” she said, spearing a slice of pineapple from her still-loaded plate. “I thought I was ready for the whole exclusive-relationship thing.” She shrugged, looking at him straight in the eyes again. “I was only seventeen. I was still having too much fun going out with my girlfriends and what not—being free. Heck, I still am. Having someone I needed to answer to and not just being able to come and go as I pleased got old really fast. It was suffocating, and I didn’t want to do him wrong, continuing on with him when I had a feeling”—she stopped and the side of her lip lifted in that cute way it did often—“okay, I knew if I stayed with him any longer I’d likely cheat on him. Maybe not sleep with anyone else, but even flirting with other guys or giving out my number or texting and stuff with someone I found interesting felt wrong when I was supposed to be with him exclusively.”

That little brow went up. So did that sweet little chin, the one Alex was already having visions of kissing his way down to her neck.

“Just so you know, I never cheated while I was with him.” Alex’s eyes followed her every movement as she lifted her sexy shoulder then dropped it and stabbed another piece fruit with her fork “The heavy, committed-relationship thing just isn’t for me, not now anyway. I have too many friends—girls and guys I like to do things with—and I don’t need anyone telling me who I can and can’t hang out with. Lying isn’t an option either. So I had to do the right thing and break up with him.”

In hindsight, Alex now felt stupid about how relieved he’d been that day to hear how she felt about exclusive relationships. He’d been so busy back then trying to keep up with his schoolwork and football the last thing he had was time to worry about dealing with a full-time girlfriend—one who would likely make demands on how much together time they had and would require him to give up all the quickies he had so much access to from eager cheerleaders and classmates in general. Hell, there was no shortage of them anywhere. A man, especially at that age, has needs but no time for anything complicated. So quickies, with no strings or hurt feelings attached, sounded ideal.

He’d been an idiot to think he’d be fine with that kind of arrangement with Valerie. The first clue should’ve been how taken by her he’d been from the moment he met her. But she’d reiterated her philosophy about relationships often and even in recent months had made a comment about loving her freedom. Of course, she’d been drunk and pissed when she said it. Though he’d heard more than once that drunks don’t lie. He and Valerie had been playing this game for too long. Like tonight her actions spoke louder than words. She’d be as accepting of Alex being free to go out with other girls as he was accepting of so much as seeing her with someone else.

There was no doubt about it. Things had been changing between them for some time now As busy as his life still was—as much as he had going on—he welcomed the change. Seeing Valerie with someone else had always ended explosively or close to it. All those times she hadn’t even been doing anything more than what she’d been doing tonight at the party. But all it took was a few stupid retorts from the guys she happened to be hanging out with, and fists would start flying.

Of course, Valerie would be angry, and they’d argue heatedly. Not always but most of those times, the night would end just as heatedly but in a good way. It was how things had been for years, and they were used to it, but Alex didn’t think he could deal with the not knowing for sure anymore. He was fairly certain he’d made his unspoken claim on her loud and clear. Valerie was his—always had been—but he needed more now. It was time to grow up.

Much later, after Alex had pored through all the old photos of him and Valerie, he was still staring at the one he’d forgotten Sofie took of him and Valerie that first time he met her. They were sitting in that booth while they ate. Sofie often did that even now, take photos with her phone of customers and employees interacting so she could pin them up on the wall in the back room.

Valerie stretched, groaning a bit. “What time is it?”

Alex put the photos aside and snuggled up next to her. He slipped his arms around her naked body, holding her firmly in his arms and kissing her neck from behind. “Does it matter?” he murmured.

“Yeah, it matters,” she said. “It was already late when you showed up at the party. I have last-minute cramming to do tomorrow, and you have to work.”

“So what?” he said again, kissing the side of her neck. “Stay here. You can study while I’m at work. I’m only working half a day. I’ll bring you food, and we can hang out when I get home.”

Valerie turned to study him for a moment curiously, and Alex knew what she must be thinking. He rarely asked her to hang out for the whole weekend. He was always too damn busy. When it wasn’t one thing, it was another.

“My study material is at home.”

“So we’ll get it in the morning,” he said, feeling hopeful that she just might say yes, “but come back and wait for me here.”

With her brows slightly furrowed, the corner of her lip began to lift. “Why?”

“Because,” he whispered, kissing her softly, and he knew what he was about to say next would surprise her even more, but this was part of the change. He was initiating this right now because he was ready for this. “I don’t want you to leave. Stay with me . . . please?”