She trained the light on the bag while Trevor unpacked the telescope and tripod. He set it up and punched a few numbers into the remote. He’d already preprogrammed it for their location.
“He was a good man, your grandfather?” Allie asked.
“Yes.” Trevor looked into the eyepiece. “I spent my holidays at his pile outside Kent.”
“What about your mom and dad?”
He raised his head from the finderscope and pulled her to him. “Look at this, Allie. It’s magnificent.”
She stepped toward him and lowered her head. “It’s beautiful.” She stayed that way for some minutes.
“Let me move it a little for you.” He hit another button on the remote. “Should be able to see Sirius.”
She leaned her head down to the scope. “Your grandfather was right. I do feel insignificant.” She stepped back and let him have a turn. “So you never spent any time with your parents?”
“My mother used to take me for a week, sometimes two. I rarely had her undivided attention. You know how she loves drama. So if by chance she was getting along with her husband du jour, she would make a big show playing happy families. But it was always a cockup. Either my stepsiblings and I didn’t get along, or she and her husband would fight. Eventually, I told her if she wanted to see me, she could come visit Grandfather. She rarely did, unless she was between husbands. I think I just saw a shooting star. Come look, maybe you’ll see one too.”
“You’re supposed to make a wish, I think,” she said, scooting in front of him.
“Wishes are for children.” He placed his hands on her hips as she gazed at the sky.
“What about your dad?” she asked.
“He’s very much a child.”
Allie scoffed but didn’t raise her head. “No, did you see him at all?”
“He would come up to school every once in a while and take me to dinner. He would say a hell of a lot of nothing, give me some pocket money, and before I knew it, he was married again. Then I wouldn’t see him for months on end.”
“I think they’re here for you, Trevor.”
“The stars?”
“Your parents.”
“I thought they just wanted to annoy the shit out of me. And they’re doing a smashing job.” He stepped back and looked up into the sky. “It’s amazing that all those lights are made of gas and dust.”
“They love you.”
“Stars don’t love. Look.” He pointed. “The Little Dipper.”
Allie tipped her head back. “See it.” She wrapped her arm around his waist. “They are self-absorbed. But they’re trying to make amends.”
Trevor grabbed her ass. Such a nice, firm little thing. He gave it a squeeze. “Ever fucked out in the desert, beneath the stars?”
“Ever given me a straight answer?”
“I’ll take that as a no,” he said. “I brought a blanket.”
Allie shivered. “Too cold.”
They spent the next hour looking through the lens at the stars. When Allie’s teeth started chattering, Trevor wrapped his arms around her.
“Thank you for this.” She leaned her head against his chest.
He kissed her crown. “You’re welcome.”
“Take me home to bed.”
Home. He liked the way she said that, as if she belonged there.
He dismantled the telescope while she held the flashlight. “I’ll just say this and then I’ll drop it,” she said.
He stopped to look at her. “Allison, you’re a terrible liar.”
“You’re right. I’ll keep bringing it up until you listen to me. You don’t have to be best friends with them, but I think you should forgive them.”
He finished packing up the equipment and zipped the bag closed. “I’m sure it would be good for my soul.” He stood and took the flashlight from her hand and began walking toward the car.
Allie jogged to keep up with him. “I miss my mom so much, and if I thought she’d died without my forgiveness, that she’d tried to make something right and I’d shunned her…”
He stopped and stared down at her. “I’m letting them stay in my bloody fucking house. What more do you want from me?” He blew out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair.
Allie stood on her toes and kissed his chin. “I want you to be happy.”
Chapter 19
When Allie awoke the next morning, he was gone. The filtered light shone through the curtain, and the dent he’d left in the pillow was cold. Since Trevor had started sleeping in her room, Frances hadn’t been coming in to wake Allie in the mornings, probably at Trevor’s request. When she looked at the clock, she realized that if Frances didn’t wake her up, she would have to start setting an alarm.
He’d kept her up half the night, accepting her challenge to his sexual prowess, as he put it. She had been a big fool to tease him about having only two orgasms. And last night he’d been out for vengeance.
“Just to put your mind at ease, darling, I’m going to make you come again,” he said, grinning, his head between her legs.
“No,” she said. “You’ve proven your point. I can’t come any more. Let me have some rest, for God’s sake, man.” She had only been half joking. He’d already made her come three times in a row and she didn’t think she could take any more. She was on sensory overload by that point. But once again, Trevor proved her wrong.
His tongue and fingers drew a response from her, making her cry out as she held his head in place, her hands pulling at his hair. By the time he was finished, he climbed up to lay next to her, sounding very smug. “So, what’s better than exceptional?”
“I promise, I’ll never question your sexual stamina again.” She lay like a limp rag, beyond sated.
Trevor pulled her against him and wrapped his arm around her. “See that you don’t, Miss Campbell. I told you, I take my fucking very seriously.” He kissed her temple and fell asleep.
Now, Allie crawled out of bed, a little stiff from last night’s sexual gymnastics. By the lateness of the hour, she knew Trevor had already finished breakfast, so she took her time getting ready. A long, hot bath soothed her delicious aches. When she finally made her way downstairs, she found Mags in the drawing room, nursing a cup of coffee and flipping through a bridal magazine.
“Good morning, dearest,” she said.
“So, where’s Nigel?” Allie asked.
“Sunning himself by the pool. He wants to have tan legs for the wedding.”
“Do you think Trevor will ever forgive you?” Allie asked, plopping down next to Mags.
She gazed up from the magazine, a vulnerable look in her eyes which she quickly blinked away. Taking a deep breath, she thrust her shoulders back. “I think so. And if not, well, Nigel and I enjoy Las Vegas. We can stay indefinitely.”
“I’m sorry, it’s really none of my business.”
“Of course it’s your business, darling. Everything about Trevor is your business.”
“Please don’t say things like that. Trevor is…fond of me. But that’s it. I don’t want you to think there’s anything permanent between us.”
Mags’s eyes traveled over Allie’s heat-filled face. “You know, dearest, I’ve been thinking about the hen party.”
Allie sighed. Trevor didn’t fall far from the avoidance tree. “What about the hen party?”
“I think we should invite Karen.”
Allie straightened. “Guidance counselor Karen? My dad’s new girlfriend Karen?”
Mags smiled. “Yes, exactly. It would be a nice way to get to know her.”
“No. Absolutely not. It’s a terrible idea.”
“Oh.” Mags pouted prettily. “Of course, it’s your decision.”
Allie relaxed. “Good.”
“I just thought since it was my hen party, I could invite whom I wanted.”