Chapter 10 #2
One look at him up close in the firelight, and all my plans for a quick fuck with Monroe went out the window. With that image in my head, there was no way I was getting hard for anyone else tonight. “About what?”
Monroe turned his flirty grin on Alex. “Hey, I’ve heard a lot about you, but we haven’t actually met yet. I’m Monroe Travers.”
Alex turned on the afterburners of his megawatt smile. His face was flushed and his eyes almost glassy. How much alcohol had he consumed? “Hey. My sister told me about you. I’m Alex. I hear you’re amazing on the stick. Rescued my cousin Tommy when he was stuck up on the pass.”
What the actual fuck? Was he flirting? With my hookup?
Too much alcohol.
“You needed to talk to me?” I reminded him.
Alex’s smile calmed a bit. “Yeah. If Monroe doesn’t mind me stealing you for a minute.”
“As long as you bring him back,” Monroe said with a wink. “And you’re welcome to stick around and hang with us. The more, the merrier, I say.”
Alex’s smile came back at full wattage. “Sounds like more than I can handle, but thanks.”
His words surprised me. They were incongruous with the flirty playboy I’d seen in Amsterdam. Or maybe they weren’t. Maybe he was a one-man guy but just wanted the best man available. Whatever that meant.
We stepped away from the light and warmth of the bonfire into the dark, cool night.
“What do you need?” I asked.
There was no longer a trace of his smile, only his wide eyes, still a little glassy but also glancing at me with curiosity. “When were you in Amsterdam?”
The question took me by surprise. “You know when because you were there, too. Three years ago.”
“Yeah, see, that’s what I keep coming back to. Because I was in Amsterdam eight years ago, and I haven’t been back since.”
I studied his face. He definitely didn’t look like he was lying. Alex Marian wasn’t a good liar.
He shifted on his feet and crossed his arms in front of his chest in a defensive posture. It made his arm muscles pop. “Will you tell me why you think we met and why you’re mad at me for not remembering?”
I blinked at him. “We did meet. I picked you up in the bar and asked you to come back to my room. You agreed. And when I came out of the men’s room, you were leaving with another man.”
Alex’s eyes widened as I told the tale. “But it wasn’t me. I promise. Three years ago, I was here. Scoping out property and starting renovations.”
“I know it was you because I looked down at the receipt on the bar, and the last name on the signature was Marian,” I told him, frustration bubbling through my voice.
He jerked back. “But that can’t be! I… shit. Oh, fucking fuck. Hold on.” He held up his finger and pulled his phone out of his back pocket with his other hand, scrolling until he found what he wanted and then pressing a button.
“Pick up, asshole,” Alex mumbled. After a moment, he snapped into the phone, “You’d better check this voicemail and call me the fuck back.
Tell me you were in Amsterdam three years ago and why the fuck you would have blown off the world’s hottest man.
” Then he repeated for good measure, “You asshole.”
He ended the call and scrolled through his phone for another moment as if looking for something else.
I felt a glimmer of hope I’d gotten it wrong. “Are you a twin?”
Alex shook his head. “No, but I have a cousin in South Carolina who looks a lot like me. His name is Jett Marian. Here.” He shoved the phone in front of me.
I stared at the picture of five guys at the beach who all appeared to be in their late teens and early twenties. Only two of them looked related, and sure enough, they looked nearly identical.
Except I could tell right away which one was Alex.
“Fuck,” I said, staring at the photo.
“Jett is…” He blew out a breath. “Let’s just say he likes to sleep around.
He’s a lover of love. Well, maybe it’s more accurate to say he’s a lover of sex.
I’m not sure if there’s a psychological component to it or if he’s just sowing oats, but we’re nothing alike.
Don’t get me wrong. I love him. Mostly. He’s great fun, and he makes a killer teammate for beach volleyball, but when it comes to guys…
Let’s just say we’re complete opposites. ”
I glanced from the photo to his face as I handed the phone back. “How do you mean?”
Alex scraped his lip with his teeth as if unsure how or whether to answer. Finally, he weaved a little on his feet and said, “Jett’s had all the sex. I’ve had none. So, you see? Opposites. And that’s how you know it wasn’t me in Amsterdam.”
Even in the dim light, I could see the red on his cheeks. He was flustered and embarrassed at making the confession, which was crazy. If only he knew how much it had turned me the fuck on.
But it also reminded me of just how much younger he was.
“S-so, anyway,” he murmured. “Just wanted to clear that up. You can go back to Monroe now.”
He turned away, toward the SERA parking lot.
“Wait,” I growled. “You’re not driving.”
He shook his head. “Was thinking I’d sleep it off in the SERA instructor lounge and then drive home whenever I wake up. If I ask someone in my family to run me home, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“I’ll drive you,” I said. “You can catch a ride out here tomorrow to pick up your car.”
Alex’s eyes pinned mine as if looking for a catch. “Why?”
“Because I owe you an apology for being an ass when we first met.”
He stuck his chin up, and it was so fucking adorable I wanted to laugh. “So give me one.”
“One what?” I said, just to provoke him.
He stepped forward and poked me in the sternum with an index finger. “Apology, asshole.”
I grabbed his hand and used it to pull him toward the parking lot, where my vehicle was. “You like calling people that, don’t you?”
“Only when they deserve it.” As we walked, he looked down at our joined hands. “Your hand is warm.”
“You cold?”
He shrugged. “A little. I meant to grab a fleece, but it was so warm this afternoon, I fell prey to the Montana weather trick.”
I laughed. “What’s that?”
“Back home, if it’s eighty during the day, there’s no chance it gets down to forty at night. Montana… not so. It’s a trick.”
When we arrived at my truck, I opened the passenger door and let him in. He glanced at me with a funny look on his face. “You didn’t need to do that. I’m not a child, you know.”
“Yeah, because adults have to remind people of that fact.”
I walked around the truck and got into the driver’s side before turning to look at him.
“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to meet his eyes.
He shrugged. “I get it. You’re old, so you make age jokes.”
I barked out a laugh that made him jump and his eyes go wide.
“I wasn’t apologizing for the joke. And I’m not old. I’m forty, for fuck’s sake.”
The edge of his lips curled up. “And you think that’s young? Cute. No, no, it is. It’s adorable.”
I reached out and took his chin between my thumb and forefinger. “I’m sorry I blamed you for something your cousin did. That wasn’t fair. Instead of assuming it was you, I should have asked.” I couldn’t help but add, “But young people make mistakes, so you should forgive me.”
He burst out laughing, and the sight made my pulse quicken. “You know who mixes up people? Old guys, that’s who.”
I leaned back between the seats to grab a Legacy FD fleece and heard Alex suck in a breath. Suddenly, I realized how close our faces were.
But I also smelled the beer on his breath and remembered he wasn’t sober. And he was a virgin. Fuck.
“Here,” I said softly, handing him the fleece. “Put this on.”
He shivered and did as I said with a murmured thanks.
I put the truck into Drive and pulled out of the lot. Silence sat heavy and full between us for a few minutes. The highway was dark and still, and the night air whistled through the small open gap in my window.
Alex tilted his head back and closed his eyes. I thought he was going to drift off, but then he spoke. “If you’d invited me back to your room in Amsterdam… or anywhere else… I would have gone. There’s no man on Earth who could’ve changed my mind.”
It took all of my self-control to resist his implication. To drive the man back to his place and pull away.
But I did it. Because even if Alex hadn’t been the Marian who blew me off in Amsterdam, he was still too young, too inexperienced, and too under the influence.
It made way more sense for me to head back to SERA and seek out Monroe for a night of fun. But I didn’t do that either. Instead, I went home and got in the shower to wash off the smoke smell.
And jack myself off to the memory of Alex Marian saying he would have given himself to me without question.