He snorted. Which she could see very clearly at this close distance and from so far below.
Even his nostrils were attractive. It was highly unfair.
Nevertheless, she made her closing statement with what she considered laudable aplomb. “Which means, of course, that my looking at you causes more neck pain than your looking at me. Thus, you are a bigger pain in the neck than I am. QED.”
“QED? Really, Wren?” He laughed down at her, and then—oh, asshole—casually leaned over and rested his forearm on top of her head, as if she were a console in his damn car, and he was going to pay—
“Excuse me,” a voice said from behind Lauren. “Are you Alex Woodroe?”
In a doomed attempt to recover her lost dignity, Lauren slid out from beneath Alex’s arm and backed several steps away, allowing the fan to greet him without an interloper.
The woman was a pretty redhead, maybe in her early twenties, and the usual conversation occurred. He confirmed his identity, thanked her for her gushing admiration, and agreed to a selfie. And then—
Cell phone held aloft in one hand, the woman nestled close and placed her other hand on the upper swell of his ass. With a strained smile, Alex tried to slide away, but his fan wasn’t giving up so easily. She laughed and followed his movement while taking more photos, and no.
No.
“I’m so sorry,” Lauren said as politely as possible, “but I’m afraid that will have to be your final photo together.”
The fan didn’t move an inch, and she didn’t acknowledge Lauren’s words. Another photo. Another. Then she began filming a video.
Alex’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, and Lauren could almost see him grasping for his self-control, could almost hear him urging himself to stay calm and out of trouble.
“—and lucky me, here I am with Alex Woodroe,” the woman was saying. “You would not believe how hot he is in real—”
At that point, Lauren marched behind the pair and physically removed the fan’s hand from Alex’s ass. The woman gasped. Apparently at Lauren’s effrontery, which was rich irony indeed.
The redhead swung around, livid color streaking her cheeks.
“Wait your turn, you ugly bitch,” she hissed, and suddenly she wasn’t so pretty anymore. “I wasn’t done yet.”
“Yes,” Lauren said simply. “You were.”
The other woman took a step toward her, still filming, and Lauren honestly wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but she was ready for it. No one was putting unwanted hands on Alex in front of her. No one.
Then he was smoothly stepping between the two women, his own cheekbones ruddy, his breath coming hard and fast.
The smile dawning on his face—
Lauren had never seen anything like it before. It was the fevered, gleeful beam of a berserker leaping into battle, wild and sharp and full of rage, and oh shit, she had to—
But he was already speaking, each word suffused with poisonous good cheer. “How grateful I am that you took time out of your busy schedule to grope my ass without my consent and abuse my companion.” When the redhead gasped again, Alex’s anarchic grin only widened. “She has too much dignity and kindness to say what needs to be said. Namely, that if you have nothing better to do with your free time than insult total strangers, you should occupy said time better. My suggestion?”
The woman was trembling with affront and humiliation, cell phone pointed toward Alex, and Lauren tried to tug his arm and lead him away, but he was a stone statue under her fingers.
Alex leaned in close to the redhead, his tone genial. “Go fuck yourself, lady.”
She jerked as if he’d slapped her, before erupting.
“You asshole!” She was shouting at him so loudly, people a full street over were craning their necks to watch the confrontation. “I’m going to tell everyone on social media about this!”
His laughter dripped with mockery. “Please do.”
At his total lack of either fear or remorse, she stomped away, already stabbing feverishly at her phone’s screen.
His chest still heaved with every breath, and incredible heat radiated from his lean body, even through his tee and jeans. He stared after the woman, and when she turned around to film him again from a distance, he offered a jaunty wave.
Oh, shit. If Ron heard about this—and he would, Lauren was almost certain—he was going to retaliate against Alex somehow.
“Alex.” She rubbed her temples. “You can’t—”
He turned to face her again, his expression abruptly darkening. “I have an appointment to keep, and if I talk about what happened right now, I’ll lose my shit. Let’s just go inside.”