Chapter Eight
Wednesday
I had no end to tiny dresses from the outlet mall. Yes, they were practically paper, but I only had to pay paper prices for them, which meant if they fell apart during any ‘escapades,’ well, nothing was lost.
Pale pink with a short, flirty skirt, sleeveless but a high neckline—casual but coy, not trying too hard but just enough.
In the work bathroom, I quickly brushed through my hair, trying to remove evidence of my ponytail crease.
Alex wouldn’t care, but I did, and that’s when I realized I hadn’t brought a change of shoes.
Converse it would be. At least it looked deliberate.
I prettied up my make-up in the bathroom mirror, realizing the time was now 2:30—precisely when I’d told her to arrive to avoid Liam finding out just yet—and Alex was probably already here, but I lingered, lingered….
Was I nervous? Why the hell was I nervous? Barely twenty-four hours ago, she was eating me out in the locker room, but that had been in private. This was public. But private was also where I’d been when I’d tossed and turned half the night from nightmares.
Nightmares of El.
Nightmares of Alex.
Nightmares of Alex in El’s place on the ground.
I studied my face in the mirror, facing blue eyes deadened by life. “You’re going on a date,” I said aloud, my reflection echoing it back. “You’re going to have a good time on this date. Nothing will go wrong on this date.”
I gripped the sink for stability, debating the merit of just forcing myself to throw up now and get it over with—
The door swung open as an elderly woman in a walker came in with a small child. No more affirmations. I washed my hands and left.
There Alex was, seated by the front door as I’d expected.
Must’ve been the squeak of my sneakers, but she looked up at my approach. How could I not grin at her double-take? If I was confident in nothing else, it was my looks.
Alex quickly stood. “Hey, Princess.” She came to my side, keys still in hand. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you. You clean up very handsomely.”
There came the fuckboy grin. “Handsomely?”
“If the wrong ears overheard my real feelings, I could lose my job.”
Alex chuckled, then placed a soft hand on my waist as she led me out, the touch lingering even after we’d stepped outside. “Say it now, then.”
I gave her my best bratty pout. “You look too damn hot in those clothes, and I want to rip them off and ride you.”
“There’s the Terra I know,” Alex said, but her grin held a challenge. The car was ahead, and, unfortunately, she pulled her hand off my waist. “My favorite smartass.”
“Oh, I’m not much for smarts, but I do have a nice ass.”
I stepped forward; Alex did not, apparently inspecting it. “You have both in ample quantities.”
I clasped my hands behind my back, obscuring the view. “You’ll get a much better look later.”
Alex winked as she opened the car door—upward, which I would never be used to.
In the few seconds of silence, I realized just how easy it was to be near her. All that anxiety, all that fear…it seemed untouchable beneath Alex’s smile.
When Alex entered, her own door shut automatically.
“I should warn you,” I said, “that I did decide to wear underwear. I’m a coward in a tiny skirt. But it’s a thong, so there will be plenty of ass to see.”
That’s when I remembered…packing.
I studied her outfit, a silken shirt with tailored slacks that didn’t seem like they’d leave too much room for anything underneath, but maybe the nuances of ‘packing’ were just something I’d have to see for myself.
I wasn’t sure how she could fit an entire dildo in her pants, but who was I to question a lesbian with a mission?
“I do need to level with you about something,” Alex said.
She kept her eyes on the road, but my nerves rose at the sudden seriousness of her tone.
“The tabloids haven’t done any scathing exposés on me in a while now, but there’s still a chance you could be photographed for the local news. Are you okay with that?”
“Oh.” Alex was an heiress, but I hadn’t considered the publicity that came from that. “That’s fine.”
“And something else too.” Alex’s slight wince was so endearingly out of character that I had to stop myself from grabbing her hand.
“We went from casual acquaintances to gym hookup really fast, and we made a lot of promises yesterday about how our date’s gonna go, but I want to make sure you know that if you change your mind about having sex, that’s okay.
It’s not why I’m doing this. You sometimes say things that are kind of ambiguous, and honestly, that makes me a little nervous.
I just want everything to be crystal clear, okay? ”
I managed to nod, a deer caught in headlights. This wasn’t danger, so why was I frozen?
Alex’s countenance softened. “Cool. Now that that’s out of the way—damn, you look sexy in the outfit.”
I made a show of tossing my hair, managing to defrost my tongue. “Thanks. I got it out of the clearance bin.”
“Genuinely, I’d have never guessed.”
“That’s because you’ve never shopped at a store with a clearance bin, Alex.”
She mimed sliding a knife into her heart. “Damn, just read me to filth, why don’t you.”
I laughed. She joined in, and I thought we made a lovely duet. “I have a question,” I dared to say, having mulled it over all night and day. “Yesterday you said you’d wanted me for…I think it was ‘so long’. So why did you wait?”
“Aside from the obvious social taboo of asking out a service worker, I kind of thought you hated me.”
I cringed as I held up my thumb and forefinger mere millimeters apart.
“Goddammit,” Alex said, but she maintained a bright countenance.
“Not in like a real way,” I clarified, though this grave was well and truly dug. “But you give off fuckboy vibes, and those are my mortal foes.”
“It’s not an inaccurate assessment of my character. That said…” Alex glanced away from the road, daring to catch my eye. “You also said you’d wanted me for so long.”
Dammit. My horny alter-ego had betrayed me. “Maybe a little, yeah.”
“Only a little?”
“Look, I couldn’t admit to myself that I liked you, and that only made you taboo, which made me…” I winced, bracing myself for teasing. “…want you more.”
Alex chuckled. “Why couldn’t you admit it?”
The question came like a slap. “Just…the fuckboy thing. Liam kept teasing me, you know?”
Better than admitting I’d had nightmares of Alex dead on the pavement.
“Let me be clear though,” I continued, “that I very much, with no hesitation or ambiguity, look forward to having sex with you and challenge you to make it as dirty and degrading as possible, okay?”
Something darkened in Alex’s gaze, a shift from infuriatingly respectful date to huntress. “Careful with that challenge.”
Damn my blush.
“Well, unrelated,” Alex said, as she took a turn into Kraken Coffee and Cafe, “hopefully the coffee execs don’t snipe you for perusing a rival shop.”
“You’ll protect me, right?” I grinned as she put the car into park in the lot.
Her reply left me utterly sober. “You know I always will.”
The car shut off. But as Alex put her hand on the door handle, my mind zoomed back to the present, and a question at hand. “Wait.”
Alex obeyed. “Yes, Princess?”
The nickname was becoming a sleeper phrase, crafted to get me, specifically, hot and bothered. I shook that off, along with all my other complex emotions. “…so, packing?”
Alex’s lip twitched into a grin. “Yeah?”
“How does that work?”
Alex glanced at her crotch, then back to me, and shrugged.
I bit my lip, my confidence rapidly returning. “Can I touch it? Is that weird?”
“Totally weird, but sure.”
I held eye contact, curiosity driving me above all else as I reached between her legs and touched something firm beneath her slacks.
“Huh. So, is it tiny? Or are you just really good at tucking it in? Not trying to question your manhood or anything—just curious.” I winked, but Alex was already chuckling.
“I’ve got plenty of practice tucking.” Now it was her turn to blush, and a very weak part of me wondered if we even needed to leave this car to have a proper date. “It’s flexible when it needs to be.”
“I see.” With some reticence, I pulled my hand back. I batted my eyelashes, doing little to hide how hot I was getting between my legs. “Where to next?”
“Inside. I’m paying.”
I scowled the moment she stepped out, but before I could follow, she was already at my door. “Allow me,” she said, and she offered a hand.
A different sort of warmth filled me, this time in my chest, the same warmth when she’d pulled me away from my stalker and whispered reassuringly against my lips. I grabbed her hand, surprised at my own disappointment when she stole it back once I was steadied.
Once inside, the shop gave off an industrial vibe.
My first surprise came when Alex escorted me to a table instead of the counter, but I played along and scanned the QR code menu in the center. “Just a coffee shop?” I teased, and Alex shrugged.
“It’s not not, though they do make their own pastries in-house.”
I feigned a scowl. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“They also,” Alex replied, her grin a challenge, “grind and roast their own beans.”
“Hey, at least we order from a local—” I shut my mouth, realization settling. “Oh my God, we order our beans from here.” A nice waitress approached, and I hid my defeat. “Just order me the nicest thing on the menu.”
Alex’s laughter held victory, and she did just that, ordering a pastry I couldn’t pronounce the name of and a matcha latte—iced, like a heathen. “Trust me,” she said.
“Can I ask something kinda personal?” I pressed, curious about our phone conversation.
“That’s entirely the point of us being here.”
“Well, this might be something you don’t want to elaborate on, so you get a free opt-out, but since I finally tempted you out of your vow of celibacy, I just want to know why that even started.”