Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
Icy Reminders
I blink my eyes at his touch. Nodding as he turns and makes his way through a side door, quickly shaking hands with another infamous mental health pioneer. Turning on my heel, I make my way to a seat about five rows from the front and at the inner aisle, wanting to get the best view possible.
I sit through the introductions, and the admittedly boring MC droning on about the speakers for the day.
The first presenter comes out and sits across from the interviewer.
The spotlights shine brightly on them, and I'm quickly swept up in the excitement of it all, impressed at how at ease they look up there.
Though I feel at ease when I'm singing on stage, I don't think I could ever be in their position with thousands of eyes all at once watching me talk.
Worried about how he's doing, I pull out my phone and send Alexander a quick text.
Sarah Bella: Don’t be nervous. Remember, envision everyone’s tits slangin.’
I send the text with a smile, seeing him respond back with a laughing GIF.
Alex: Naughty girl. You’re going to make me mess up my presentation.
Sarah Bella: You can punish me later.
I grin at how comfortable I am at blatantly flirting with him.
The speaker suddenly announces his name to come onto the stage, drawing my gaze from my phone.
The audience begins to clap, but he's not walking out.
I glance back down at my phone curiously.
There's a pause as the three dots come up on the screen, and my eyes flicker again to the stage. No Alex.
The speaker calls his name once more, and I bite my lip, nervously furrowing my brow.
Just then, his text comes through. It's a GIF of a man crowding a woman against a wall in a dark space, and the woman looks up at the man helplessly as his hand comes up to spread itself against her jaw, before sliding to the back of her hair and pulling her up gently for a kiss.
The fact that he'd just made thousands of people wait so he could respond to me first makes my pussy slick with desire, forcing me to press my legs together hard to control it.
Alex: No punishments, not for you.
Suddenly he appears on stage. A thunderous applause reverberates throughout the auditorium, but when I look up, the noise falls away when we lock eyes, somehow able to even amongst thousands of people.
We share a glance for a heartbeat, and he gives me a sexy, mischievous smile before cooling his face into a neutral, pleasant expression.
He rewards the auditorium with a quick glance, holding up his hand in greeting.
“Jesus, that man is so handsome. Do you know he’s single?” I stiffen at the grating female voice behind me.
“For a reason, Susan!" A higher-lilted voice responds. "The man is cold as ice."
"Really? How do you know that? Do you know him?"
"Me?" She laughs. "No. I have a girlfriend who dated him for a month a while back, and he never brought her to his house, never drove her around when they went places, and always had her meet him wherever they went. And he dropped her quickly after maybe five or so weeks?"
The woman gasps. "Really? That's fucking rude as hell."
Her friend hums. "Hm-hm. Said she wasn’t what he was looking for and that’s it. And apparently, he never wanted to sleep with her. Weird.”
“Well, I'd heard he only keeps them around no longer than a month. And he doesn’t date often, but when he does, it’s usually open and shut. I thought I might give him my number while I’m here. Maybe he’ll melt for me?” The other woman giggles.
A sickly hot wave of jealousy hits me, causing my back to stiffen further. Pursing my lips, I fight the urge to turn around and look back at them. Instead, I'm intent on focusing on Alexander, but they just won't shut up.
She makes a thoughtful sound. “I don't think he's all bad, though.
And honestly, my friend is a bit of a slut so she probably did something to turn him off.
" Her friend laughs, but she continues, "You know, he sure has a reputation for having a soft spot for the women clients at his job. My colleague told me he takes more care and consideration with women who lose their kids to the foster care system and spends a ton of his time advocating for them in court. Maybe that’s what you need to do, lose a kid to get his attention?”
"I'll be sure to tell him I have two kids."
At her words, the jealousy quickly gives way to nausea, and I snatch up my purse. Just done.
I turn in my seat and throw them both a filthy look before getting up and moving to another part of the audience.
My face flames, and anger has my movements more jerky than normal.
Alexander pauses in his speech as I gracelessly make my way out into the aisle and a few rows further back, luckily finding two empty seats next to each other.
Thankfully, he begins talking again when I settle, but his words are more stilted than they were prior to me relocating.
My playful mood of the morning evaporates, and I sulk, trying to keep my attention on Alex, who's now regained his stride and is answering all the interviewer's questions confidently.
Assessing his reaction to the questions, I take a few seconds to observe his demeanor on stage and note that he is rather cold: his blue eyes are icy, and his responses are clipped, short, and to the point.
Alexander finishes up his set and then exits the stage to another round of thunderous applause.
I clap along with them, then curiously turn my head to see the woman from the seat I’d left eyeing him hungrily.
Another wave of jealousy hits me, and I curl my lip, ignoring the pain in my back as I cross my legs.
I pull out my phone and text Vanessa about the interaction, having just hit send when Alexander appears and slides smoothly in the seat next to me.
I glance over at the two women. They're still caught up deep in conversation and haven’t noticed him enter the back of the auditorium and sit next to me.
He leans into my ear. “Hey there. Why did you change seats?” he asks. He spreads out, draping his arm along the back of my chair.
I turn my phone slightly when I see Vanessa respond with a very long text. The scent of his cologne has me clench my legs together tightly. A dull, achy pressure moves through my thighs. They've been getting quite the workout the last couple days.
“There were a couple of women behind me who wouldn’t stop talking, so I moved,” I say, lying by omission.
Not wanting to embarrass him that others were talking about him in that way.
I become very still as his fingers suddenly touch my shoulder in a gentle, soothing caress, making my heart skip a beat as a hesitant pleasure fills me at the contact.
“You did great up th-there by the way." I stammer. "The people in the audience loved you.”
When he turns his head, his eyes pierce mine, and he gives me that same sexy grin from earlier. "Thank you. I imagined someone naked."
Oh my God.
My eyes widen. "Y-You mean everyone...not someone," I stress. Because surely…
His grin gets a little wider as his eyes flicker to my lips, and his voice goes deeper. Lower. "No…I said it right. I meant someone. Singular."
My heart begins to race out of control, and my breath hitches as we lock eyes again.
This weird tingling sensation fills me, and before I know it, our faces are slowly tilting towards each other.
He's so close his breath washes over my lips.
His hand tightens on my shoulder, pulling me slightly into him, and my pussy becomes heavy and hot with need.
My clit pinches with arousal, as do my nipples, which draw tight under my blouse.
His are slightly hooded and single-mindedly focused on mine.
The sounds of the audience dull to a slight murmur in the background as everyone and everything falls away, leaving just the two of us and this moment.
His hand slides up from my shoulder to cup my nape warmly under my hair, causing me to break out in goosebumps.
"Come here…" he whispers, bringing me in even closer.
Just before our lips touch, the room explodes in another round of applause, forcing me to jerk away and breathing hard.
I don't miss the frustrated groan or the searing hot look of desire he gives me before he scrubs a hand across his jaw and places his arm back around me.
His fingers begin a calm rapping, and as I glance over, I see his foot is bobbing along to the same beat of his fingers.
I'm aware that whereas I meditate to calm myself, he uses music.
And he's no doubt probably going over a piece in his head.
We watch the next two speakers, and I fidget, wanting to open my phone and look at Vanessa’s response.
Even tell her about our almost kiss. But I hold off, not wanting to risk him seeing it.
I breathe a sigh of relief when the host announces a brief intermission, and I get up quickly, wanting to read the text message.
I look down at him shyly, not quite able to make eye contact.
“I’m going to stretch my legs and use the restroom, and maybe look at the mental health flyers they have over there,” I say, carefully sliding by him as his long legs preclude me from easily brushing past him.
Alexander stands up anyways right as I make it past him. “I’ll join you,” he says, lazily smoothing his hand down his suit jacket before following me out to the aisle.
I draw to a stop just outside the aisle, tensing up as a tall, older gentleman accompanied by another younger man suddenly comes out of nowhere, stepping forward and thrusting his hand at Alexander with a big, familiar smile on his face.
“Dr. Richardson!" The man drawls in a deep southern voice, making me smile. "So nice to see you!”