Chapter Eleven #2
“I know she did.” I focused on my breathing as I mentally organized my thoughts. “And I accepted her apology. But…I just don’t trust her…with the truth. Not yet.”
The air in the car turned thick, and thankfully Alex did not push the issue.
Eventually, the tension began to leach from my bones over the silent miles we traveled.
With a Fleetwood Mac album playing through the speakers, we made it out of Tucson into the desert that stretched until Phoenix.
I was so relaxed that I jumped when Alex spoke.
“So, Puerto Rico.”
I groaned, briefly tapping my forehead against the steering wheel. “I hope they didn’t embarrass you. As you can tell, my parents have never met a stranger. But just because they can be overbearing doesn’t mean you have to feel any sort of pressure to go.”
“But I think I want to.”
Glancing at him askance, I frowned. “Why?”
“Why not?” He snorted. “Santiago and Carmen seem like exactly the kind of people to visit Puerto Rico with. They’re native Puerto Ricans.
They are fluent Spanish speakers, while my own Spanish is subpar at best.” Alex held up his hand, ticking off the points on his fingers.
“And lastly, and more importantly, their daughter is my friend. And I’d like to visit for the first time with a friend. ”
Stupidly, I blinked at him before jerking my eyes back to the road. “You don’t think you should travel with your sisters first?”
Alex shook his head. “Camila and Elena have both visited on their own. Elena and Jenny actually honeymooned on the island.” He ran a hand over his head, and I wondered if his short locks were as silky to the touch as they appeared.
“Because of the NBA season, I’ve never been able to plan a trip with them.
And truthfully, the Scorpions schedule will make it hard to plan a June trip, but not impossible. ”
“Oh.” I rolled my lips as I considered what to say.
His tone was the equivalent of a yellow flag when he said, “Would you rather I not go? I don’t want to encroach on the time you spend with your family, so if you’d rather this random dude you met on TikTok leave you alone, you won’t hurt my feelings.
” His dimple flashed in his cheek. “Well, not too much.”
Words of assent stuck to my throat, and I bit my cheek until I was certain I wouldn’t blurt them out. Alex is your friend and nothing more, I reminded myself. It did me no good to appear too eager.
Visions of wandering on the beach, the sun-warmed sand streaming between my toes as I walked next to Alex, taunted me from the corners of my mind.
Alex, in swim trunks that hung off his trim waist, a pair of sunglasses shielding his dark gaze as he smiled down at me.
Every pair of eyes around us glued to the firm, chiseled physique I knew hid under his clothes.
With a flip of my fingers, I cranked up the air-conditioning a degree. Friends didn’t daydream about each other naked, my brain argued. My overly flushed body didn’t agree.
Biting down harder on the inside of my cheek until the pain was all I could think about, I finally shrugged.
“As long as you don’t agree to the trip just because you don’t feel comfortable saying no to my parents, you’re more than welcome to come.
” I flashed a quick smile. “My parents are great tour guides, and we’ll have fun. ”
His inspection felt tangible, and I did my best not to let my unbothered expression slip. Eventually, Alex returned his attention to the road in front of us. “It will be fun.”
For several miles we chatted about Puerto Rico and the sites Alex wanted to visit, and then I told him about my family who lived there and who he would meet. At one point, his cell phone rang and Alex made a harsh noise when he looked at the screen.
“Sorry to be rude, Sofia, but I have to take this.”
“No worries,” I said, focusing on the road and doing my best not to listen to his conversation.
“Yeah, Sean was going to put together several highlights to be shared on Reels and TikTok this week—” He paused but then nodded his head. “Excellent. Please tell him I said ‘Great work.’ ”
Something about his easy praise made my heart ping in a bittersweet way.
A bit of praise was never amiss, and in that moment, I realized that my efforts at Desert Media 360 had gone unrecognized and unappreciated by management long before Josh had stolen my work.
Alex didn’t seem like the kind of manager who would tolerate an environment that would support such a theft.
He thanked his employees for their hard work even while driving down the interstate.
“So are you going to stick to the posting schedule we discussed, or did you want to mix things up?” Alex listened for a moment and then nodded.
“No, I like that. Good thinking. So one highlight post and two calls to action tonight? And another highlight post in the morning? Nice! We can look at the numbers and calibrate at the nine o’clock meeting. ”
A string of chatter sounded from the other end of the call, and Alex hummed in agreement. “Sounds like a plan. Thanks for taking the lead on this, Steph. You are rocking it.”
After a quick goodbye, Alex hung up his call and set his iPhone on the console next to mine.
“I’m guessing you guys have a big week coming up as you prep for the Scorpions’ playoff series next weekend,” I said, dropping my speed as we reached the outer limits of the Phoenix suburbs.
“Yeah, we’re going to have our hands full all week, especially because it’s a home game.
” Alex scrubbed a hand across his brow. “In addition to our social media campaign, which Steph—whom I was just speaking with—is leading, we have a whole television and print campaign rolling out, which is in conjunction with pregame and halftime activities.”
“That’s a lot, but it also sounds like fun.” I sighed wistfully. “That’s one thing I miss about working on big campaigns. The execution and watching the results roll in was so rewarding.”
Alex smiled. “You’re right. It is a great feeling.”
I squared my shoulders, preparing for him to add You can feel it again. There’s lots of marketing positions out there. But Alex didn’t say that. Perhaps he understood my comment was just an acknowledgment of my experience and nothing more.
“So I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Alex said after a while. Although I didn’t turn to look at him, his leg bounced up and down, and I battled the urge to pat his knee. “Would you be interested in going to Saturday’s game?”
My mouth fell open. “Really? I thought the tickets were sold out.”
“They are.” Alex slowly raised a brow. “But you know someone with connections.”
The laugh I barked should have turned me ten different shades of red, but Alex’s dimples bracketed his grin, and I was helpless not to smile back. “A real perk of being your friend.”
His smoky brown eyes moved over my face, and I almost asked what he was looking for. But before I could, Alex settled back into his seat. “So what do you say?”
“I’d love to go,” I said automatically. Excitement stretched my cheeks taut. “Would it be just the two of us?”
“Yeah.” His forehead crinkled when he looked at me. “Unless you think Denise would like to join us, too. That would be great.”
It would be great. The three of us would have a lot of fun.
But God, I wanted it to just be Alex and me.
I wanted to be the focus of his attention.
The reason he smiled. Perhaps he would stretch his arm on the seat behind me again, and I could lean into it, just a little, without worrying about my friend’s knowing eyes judging me.
But that was why Denise had to be there. The dangerous emotions and urges I had been wrestling with could not be allowed to have a night alone with Alex.
“I’ll shoot Denise a text as soon as I get home, and I’ll let you know what she says.”
“Sounds good,” Alex said, his gaze lingering on me a second longer before he fixed it on the city welcoming us home.