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God, he was stunning.
Where did you find that pic? I texted back, because I was thinking of getting it and blowing it up to life size to mount above my bed.
Article about him in a fitness mag. You and Alex would make beautiful babies.
I had to laugh at her…blow her off, because it’s silly, really. But it was fun to giggle and whisper last night with my bestie about how hot Alex is while we both drank wine with our phones pressed to our ears, and it was fun to text her back and forth this morning over the picture she sent me.
But that’s all this is…just a little bit of fun.
My phone buzzes on my desk and I lift the receiver to my ear. “The fabulous Sutton Price at your service. ”
“Hey, doll face,” Minnie drawls into the phone. “Your lunch appointment is here. ”
“Lunch appointment?” I ask, confused, even as I pull up my calendar on my computer and see there’s nothing scheduled.
“Yeah—tall, dark and handsome, pretty blue eyes,” she says, and my stomach flip-flops at the image of Alex standing in the lobby. “He’s right on time. ”
“He’s not on my schedule,” I say lamely.
“No, but he called first thing this morning and wanted to know if you were free for lunch and I told him you were. ”
“Minnie!” I exclaim, both annoyed and pleased with her at the same time. Annoyed that she would take such a liberty and pleased for some unholy reason I cannot fathom that I will be seeing Alex soon.
“Get your tush up here,” she says, completely unfazed. Then she whispers into the phone, “Oh, and don’t forget to put on lipstick. ”
Minnie hangs up on me and I just stare blankly at my computer for a moment. Placing the phone back in the cradle, I stand from my desk and smooth my skirt down. My fingers come up to push behind my ears some wispy strays that have fallen out of my ponytail. I step around my desk and start for the door.
I stop.
I turn back around and grab my purse.
I head for the door again, then I stop.
I reach in my purse and grab some lip gloss, dabbing a little on, because Minnie told me to and I don’t want to disappoint her.
Yeah, right.
When I hit the lobby door, my heart feels like it’s about to explode out of my chest at the prospect of seeing Alex. I’m nervous as all get-out, because last night I clearly stepped over a line with him, and I do believe I may have hurt his feelings. But I’m also excited at the prospect of just being in his presence. I remember the feel of him pressed up against me in the booth at Hoolihan’s, and I’m ashamed at how much I liked that feeling.
I wonder if I’ll ever be able to see him without feeling a small punch to my gut. As I step into the lobby, I realize Minnie was right—tall, dark, handsome. His hair looks stylishly windblown, his blue eyes so bright they hold me captivated from across the room. He’s dressed in a pair of faded jeans, running shoes and a long-sleeved Cold Fury black T-shirt that fits his chest and torso just a little too well.
Walking up to him, I say, “I understand we have a lunch appointment. ”
He offers me a smile, the largest and warmest one I’ve seen on his face yet, and I feel my bones liquefy. “Yeah—hope you don’t mind. I enlisted Minnie this morning so I could have some time with you. ”
How could I mind? The way he says he wants to spend some time with me causes my brain to go fuzzy, and for a split second I forget completely that we actually have some business to discuss.
Shaking my head to clear it, I look down at my watch. “Well, I have about an hour and a half until my next appointment. Where do you want to go?”
“I’m not a picky eater. You choose. ”
“I have just the place,” I tell him with a smile and turn toward the door.
***
“It’s a damn good hot dog, right?” I ask Alex after I swallow my last bite.
Alex chews with a smile on his face and nods his head. When he swallows, he swipes his lips with a napkin and I can practically hear the paper scrape against the stubble. “I never thought you’d want to eat lunch from a hot dog street vendor. ”
“Well, it’s too nice a day to pass up eating outside,” I remark, looking around the shaded park that sits in the middle of downtown Raleigh, just across the street from the capitol building.
“It’s one of the things I love about North Carolina,” Alex muses. “Warm weather in late October. ”
“I know. It’s great, right?”
Alex nods and takes a bite of his third hot dog, so I use the opportunity while his mouth is full to alleviate my guilt. “I’m really sorry about last night,” I tell him quietly. “I had no business saying what I did. You’re absolutely right—there’s nothing wrong with having a hangover and I shouldn’t have judged you that way. ”
His blue eyes widen slightly and he swallows his food, wiping at his mouth again. “Funny. I came to take you to lunch so I could apologize to you. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry. You had a right to be concerned. ”
“No, I didn’t,” I assure him. “I think I was more pissed that you were blowing me off. ”
Alex’s eyes go dark, but not in an angry way. No, it’s like pure intensity instead. He leans forward, slinging his arm over the back of the park bench we’re sitting on. He’s so close to me now that I can smell his cologne, which is very light and subtle, but woodsy-smelling. It makes me want to lean my nose into his chest and sniff…hard.
“I wasn’t blowing you off, trust me. ”
“Okay,” I murmur, while his eyes pin me in place. We stare at each other for what is, in my opinion, an inappropriate amount of time. We’re having a moment—a weird moment, but a moment nonetheless. I now have an insane urge to lean in toward him, to stick my face against his neck and rub up against him.
The thought is so shocking to me, I scoot a few inches away, right out of the zone of his magnetic pull. He blinks his eyes at me, as if clearing the haze away, and then he pushes back a few inches as well.
A tiny giggle escapes my lips and I put my fingertips to my mouth to quash it. My eyes rise to meet his, and they are sparkling at me in amusement. “Um…so, now that apologies are out of the way…” I say, trailing off because I have no clue why else Alex is here.
“I actually wanted to get that binder from you. The one with the California outreach program. ”
“Really?” I ask, pleased and skeptical all at once.
“Really,” he says with a grin. “I’m leaving tonight, as our next three games are on the road. I figured I could read it on the plane. ”
“Wow, Alex Crossman is actually going to do his homework,” I tease. “And without being a jackass about it?”
Alex takes his index finger and swipes an imaginary X over his chest. “Cross my heart. ”
“Okay,” I tell him, flashing my best megawatt smile—and is that my imagination, or does his breath hitch just a little while he stares at my lips?
Not going to lie—if that’s the case, it makes me feel good as a woman and I’m starting to understand that I’m just not going to be able to banish these feelings that seem to surface around Alex. As a counselor, I know the best thing to do is explore them, and then address them…at some point.
“When do you want to get together again? I’ll have the binder read by the time I get back on Sunday. ”
“I’m pretty good next week. A few appointments, but I’m flexible. ”
“Want to come watch our Sunday afternoon practice? Then we can go grab something to eat and start plotting how we’re going to save at-risk kids around the world?”
I throw my head back and laugh, because I’m liking this side of Alex. The one that can joke around even while discussing something serious. “Maybe we should start with Wake County, then we can build outward from there. ”
With my eyes still crinkled in amusement, I see he’s staring at me, his h
ead angled to the side a bit. “You know you’re extremely beautiful, but when you laugh you’re just stunning. ”
My smile slides from my mouth and my eyes go round, even as my heart starts slamming inside my chest. His words are sweet yet his tone is slightly erotic, and it causes my skin to prickle with awareness.
“Alex—” I begin but he cuts me off.
“I told you I’m painfully honest,” he murmurs, his eyes coloring with dark intensity again.
“We can’t…this is professional. We can’t cross that line,” I say, with absolutely no conviction in my voice. I want him to tell me I’m wrong, and he sort of does.
“Maybe. Maybe not. ”
“Maybe, maybe not?” I ask, confused over this philosophical approach he’s taking. “How about ‘not’?”
“Maybe,” he says with a mischievous grin.
“Huh?”
Standing up from the bench abruptly, Alex takes from me the trash I had balled up in my hand and walks over to a nearby garbage can, depositing it all inside. Turning back to me, he says, “Come on. I’ll walk you back so I can get that binder from you and then I have to head home and pack. Are we good for Sunday?”
I just nod at him, not trusting myself to speak. Because I’m afraid if I open my mouth, I’ll spout some sort of nonsense like “We should only meet during office hours. ”
Alex flashes me another huge smile, and again, it seeps inside and possesses me completely. I shouldn’t want that feeling, but God help me…there’s a part of me screaming to just roll over and submit to it.
***
And…my second date with Brandon goes a little something like this.
I arrive ten minutes late at the small Italian restaurant we had agreed on because my last counseling appointment of the day ran over. I had sent Brandon a text to let him know I was running behind, to which he responded, I got here ten minutes early so I’m waiting.
Up until that moment, I had forgotten that Brandon was a stickler for punctuality. Not that that was a bad thing, but don’t add your early arrival time to my lateness to measure your discontent over having to wait.
Needless to say, that one text soured my mood, and by the time I follow the hostess back to our table, where Brandon is waiting for me, I’m ready for a fight. Brandon, ever the gentleman, stands when I approach and helps me out of the lightweight jacket I threw on because the air had turned cool.
“You look nice,” he says as he does a quick rake of his eyes over me. Sort of pales in comparison to Alex saying words like beautiful and stunning today.
“Thanks. So do you. ”
And he does…with his khaki pants, blue button-down shirt. I think it’s the standard uniform for engineers or something, but he’s just so…tidy and put together. His hair is perfectly combed, he’s freshly shaven, and oh, God—he’s the exact opposite of everything that attracts me about Alex.
I peer hard at Brandon and try to remember what it was that attracted me to him. He was always so kind and considerate, a true gentleman to the core. That was sexy to me, right?
No answer pops out at me, and before the waiter can even arrive to take our drink order, I do something that I wonder if I will regret until the day I die.
I reach across the table and take Brandon’s hand in mine. “Brandon…I’m not really sure what it is we’re doing, but I don’t know that we can have a relationship again. ”
Brandon’s eyebrows furrow in and his lips draw downward. “I can’t believe I’m ready to move forward with a relationship and you’re not. ”
“I’m sorry. I’m just not feeling it. It doesn’t seem right to me,” I tell him honestly.
“Doesn’t seem right? Sutton, we spent almost four years together. We were good together. ”