And my heart, it took off long jumping that time.
Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe this was just two people who both liked affection. Two people who hadn’t allowed ourselves to grow attached to others. Two horny virgins.
Or maybe it was something else.
I didn’t know, but I would take what I could get.
I’d enjoy it for as long as I could.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
I was watching him.
Well, more like I was watching that tight ass move around the kitchen.
It was an obsession really. I tried to look away, I really did, but I couldn’t stop. I was weak.
My inner horny stalker had been unlocked.
Did his sweatpants have to be that tight?
Alex glanced over his shoulder as he brought a blue mug up to his mouth. He took a long, long sip of the coffee I’d watched him make with fascination—it was basically creamer with a splash of coffee. I’d never asked, but I bet if he could manage to only sleep a little bit and be fine, he didn’t need caffeine to stay awake. Must be nice.
“What are you staring at?” he had the nerve to ask.
Was there a point in lying? “Your butt. Where’d you get those pants anyway? GapKids?”
Alex bent his head, and the only reason I knew he was laughing was because he held the cup farther away from him.
He was still laughing as he glanced up at me, those bright eyes glassy. “I dried them on high heat too many times.”
I put my chin on my palm, feeling pretty much shameless around him. “I’m more impressed you do your own laundry than the size of your butt.”
“You realize that you used to barely talk to me. That you went out of your way to not tell me your name, and now you’re talking about my ass,” he noted with a snicker.
“I thought I told you, but once I get going, I don’t stop, and after everything we’ve been through together…” I shrugged and told him the truth. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt more comfortable around anyone than I do you, Alex. Even my grandparents. Even though you disappeared on me, to me, you’re still my number 7 best friend. All I wanted for years was that. For someone like you. For you. You Alex, not you The Defender.”
Alex’s eyebrows went up slowly. That couldn’t be surprising to him. Could it?
“You changed my life. Regardless of what happens, I hope you know that.” I smiled again, realizing I’d been smiling a lot more in the last two months than I had in a really, really, really long time. “And it’s a nice bonus that your butt is hypnotizing and you’re a good kisser.”
My chest instantly went a little funny at the fresh memory of the night before. Of how we’d laid in my bed, facing each other, kissing and kissing and kissing a little more. Softly but not that gently. It had built up and up, until I’d clutched the bottom of his T-shirt in my hands like he was going to fall off a cliff if I didn’t.
I hadn’t wanted to stop. I hadn’t wanted the best kiss of my life to end. Sure, there were only a few to compare, but even if there had been a thousand, it would have still been at the top of the list without a doubt. Best of the best. I was a fast learner, and so was he.
Shit, it was the first thing I’d thought of when my eyes had opened that morning. I wanted to do it again. And that was a dangerous thought, but only if I let it. If I took it too seriously.
Last night, when we’d finally broken apart, we’d laid there quietly before I’d made myself ask him a few more random questions.
Alex narrowed his eyes right then though and took another long sip, settling that gaze on me as he leaned against the cabinets and crossed one ankle over the other. I picked up my own cup and took a big drink of it.
“What made you decide to keep being The Defender after all?” I went ahead and asked.
The moment he pulled the cup away from his mouth, he said, “I remembered why we do what we do. Why it’s so important. For the future.” He licked his lip. “I’m going to be on call from here on out.”
“Okay?”
“I’ll have to run out from time to time,” he warned me.
I nodded, not sure where he was going with this.
His gaze moved around my face. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone but it won’t be a month.”
“Okay.” Why was he watching me so carefully? Did he think I was going to tell him it wasn’t okay?
He took another long sip of his sugar coffee before saying, “I’m not used to telling anyone when I’m leaving.”
I took another sip too. “I figured. I mean, if I don’t see you, I know what you’re doing. I didn’t expect you to sit around all day, writing Electro-Man storylines.” I bit my lip, pushing aside the fact that I still couldn’t comprehend he was a writer for a living. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad yesterday, Alex. I was mostly joking. But it did hurt my feelings you were gone for a whole month and you couldn’t send me a text.” I paused. “Even though you don’t need to tell me where you are. It was just because it was a long time that you were gone, and I thought we’d been getting closer. And I’m being fucking awkward now. The point is, I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. You don’t owe me anything. You can be gone as long as you want. I already told you what I wanted to tell you. Thank you, I mean.”
He nodded slowly, and I could tell by his face he was thinking.
About me sticking my foot in my mouth? Maybe. But I hoped I made a little bit of sense at least. “All I’m trying to say now is good luck with all your Defender stuff. You don’t need to warn me when you have to leave.”
He was back to thinking, I could tell, as he took yet another drink from his mug. “I’ll make sure to leave the car keys by the front door.”
“Honestly, I was surprised you left them for me last time.”
“I don’t expect you to get around in your invisible car.”
I snorted, which reminded me. “I should be getting my check soon, from my insurance.” It wasn’t enough to pay for a new car, but I didn’t want to share that concern with him. “Hopefully I’ll be getting my life back on track so I can get out of your hair.”
His eyebrows knit together. “About that. You can have the car in the garage. The silver one. Or we can share the Durango. I don’t drive much—” His cell started ringing. Alex cursed as he pulled it out and peered at the screen for a second before answering it, his gaze dead on mine. But all he said was one word, “Yes,” before he hung up.
I smiled at him, and in the time it took me to blink, he was out of there, and a heartbeat later, the front door slammed shut.
I ran to the big window in the kitchen, but there wasn’t even a dot in the sky.
He was gone.
Wow.
Wow, wow, wow.
Smiling, and purposely ignoring what in the world he might have wanted to talk about, I finished my breakfast and showered. Once I was done, I grabbed my laptop and headed downstairs to the living room, where I turned on the television.
My hand froze in midair holding the remote.
I’d forgotten that I had turned on the news to see if I could find anything about Alex.
“…sentenced to five back-to-back life sentences without the possibility of parole,” the television anchor said as an image of Camilo Beltran filled the screen.