Eric #2
I lift us both a little higher in the water as if preparing to dive. Alex is a smart girl, so she catches on fast and holds her breath.
But what do I do? I kiss her instead.
Her surprise lasts, oh, half a second. But then her slippery arms wrap around my neck, and she kisses the hell out of me. Her ankles squeeze my ass, and her tongue slips into my mouth.
Holy cow. That escalated quickly.
Just when I’m settling into the idea of missing our dinner date for an energetic bedroom workout, she jerks back again. “We have a reservation. In half an hour,” she clarifies breathlessly.
“Oh, well,” I say quietly. There are drops of water clinging to her cleavage, and I want to lick them off. “I’d hate to keep the hostess at some restaurant waiting.”
When she smiles, I kiss her again. And again. I thought about her entirely too much today. A man’s mind wanders when he’s bench-pressing almost twice his weight and sweating like an ox.
Our kisses are deep and hungry. And I’m guessing Alex had some inappropriate thoughts of her own between meetings. Or during. This bodes well for my evening, but I pull back, anyway, giving her a grin that I’ve been told is slightly obnoxious. “Better change your dress, then.”
She blinks. “You are such a jerk.”
“Am not.”
“Are so.”
I just smile because I’ve made everything more fun. Tonight we’ll be dining on fine Hawaiian cuisine with a side of potent anticipation. And when the payoff comes, it will be twice as sweet.
“Go on now,” I say, setting her onto the side of the pool. “You’d better go do whatever it is you do with all those products on the bathroom counter.”
She gives me an arch look but doesn’t complain. Rising to her feet, she moves with dignity even while dripping wet.
“I’m a gentleman, so you can use my dry towel,” I add, just to be an ass.
“Such a gentleman,” she grumbles, grabbing the towel and doing her best to stop her dress from dripping everywhere.
I climb out of the pool, and she tosses me the wet towel before heading inside to get dibs on the master bathroom. But do I get a parting glare that makes me chuckle.
I’m still smiling as I head inside myself a few minutes later. But I stop short of the bedroom because I hear a knock on the hotel suite door.
“Yeah?” I call out. But there’s no answer, except for another knock.
Alex peers out of the bedroom, her face wary, and I wave her back. Then I step over to the peephole and take a look into the hallway. And he’s standing right there—Tatum, her ex. He doesn’t look any more appealing through the fisheye lens than he did last time I saw him.
I yank the door open all the way but block it with my body. “And here I thought you and I didn’t really hit it off last night. Now you want to be friends?”
He scowls. “I need to speak with Alex for a moment.”
“She’s in the shower.”
“I’ll wait.”
I sigh. “No, you won’t.”
“That’s not your decision.”
It is, but I don’t argue the point. “Seriously, have you met Alex? If she wanted to speak with you, it wouldn’t matter what I think. She’d be returning your calls.”
His jaw tenses, and I can see that I’ve made my point. “Still, I just need to give her something.”
“What is it?”
“A gift, asshole.” He shows me a small gift bag in his hand. “It’s a fitness band—the kind that my company makes. Alex told me once that my product wasn’t designed well for women. And I told her she was wrong.”
I manage to withhold my surprise.
With his free hand, Mr. Douchewaffle scrubs his forehead. “But after I thought it over some more, I hired a female designer who said all the same things that Alex did.” He offers me the bag. “Here. I want her to know that I listened.”
“Too late, though?” I press.
He flinches. “Just give her the bag. And of course I hope she’ll call me. But even if she doesn’t, I want her to have this.”
“All right,” I agree cheerfully. “Will do.” And then I shut the door on him, which feels pretty good.
When I carry the little bag into the bedroom, Alex is waiting just out of sight. Wearing only a hotel bathrobe, she looks about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
“Did you hear any of that?”
“All of it,” she nods. “Thank you for playing Bad Cop.”
I slap my chest. “I think it comes naturally to me.”
But my joke doesn’t seem to put her at ease. In fact, she looks pale. “Hey, sit down. Are you shaking?” I guide her toward the edge of the bed.
“I know it’s silly.”
“Not silly,” I argue. “But I’ll admit that I’m a little mystified. I heard you give a tongue lashing to a trio of sexist executives last night. But this needle-dick frightens you? He’s not worth it.”
“I know that, but he could seriously complicate my life. And…” She sighs. “Nobody has ever hit me before. It’s like he burst the bubble I was living in, where my wits were always enough to keep me safe.”
That makes me pause. I forget, sometimes, that not everybody feels physically capable of physically defending themselves. “I know he scares you, but you’re going to be okay. You have the resources to defeat him.”
“I do,” she agrees. “And isn’t that just plain lucky?” She takes the bag and holds it up in the air. “He needs money to make more of these. So I’m going to bribe him. That’s all he ever wanted from me anyway.” She makes a face. “And now he’s going to get millions just for leaving me alone—”
She breaks off at another knock on the door. “I think I know who that is,” I tell her. I pick up the gift bag and take it into the living room. When I look through the peephole, I see Gunnar.
I open the door and give him the bag without a word.
Then I go back to Alex, wrapping an arm around her. “They have to check that bag for bugs.”
“Yikes. I was too wound up to think of that.”
“I got you. Can I ask a stupid question?”
“Sure.”
“Have you thought about just keeping Tatum in the dark? What if you just never told him about the baby?”
“Believe me, I’ve had this fantasy many times.
But I can’t disappear to a convent for six months.
During my third trimester, I’ll meet with dozens of industry executives.
It would get back to him.” She shivers. “I don’t want to spend the next year wondering when he’s gonna turn up asking questions.
I have too much on my plate already for that kind of uncertainty. ”
“Yeah, okay.” I notice she has a hand spread out on her stomach. I reach down and cover it. “If you want to keep your secret a little longer, don’t make this a habit just yet.”
“You’re right.” She pulls both our hands away.
“What does it feel like anyway?”
“Well, nothing much. At the beginning, I threw up all the time. Now I’m just hungry. But pretty soon I’ll be able to feel the baby move. They say it’s like a little flutter at first.”
“Wow.” Maybe I’m just slow, but up until now, it didn’t really sink in. There aren’t two of us sitting here right now. There are three.
Until Alex stands up suddenly. “We should go to dinner. I just need to put on clothes.”
Not for my sake. The joke is on the tip of my tongue, but for some reason, I hold back my snark. “All right. Let’s go,” I say instead. “I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
She gives me a weak smile and disappears into the closet.