- Alex -
was completely enchanted by her in a way I never could’ve predicted.
Sure, I’d lusted after women before on a physical level, and I’d met many I admired for their fierce intelligence, but my attraction to Gemma was unprecedented.
At one point she was telling a story, her blue eyes sparkling as her graceful hands turned in the air, and the thought crossed my mind that I’d like to marry a woman like her.
It was shocking, really. Not only because I was quite outspoken about how uninterested I was in marriage, but because the last thing I expected to feel on our date was something so terrifying.
Yet here she was, batting her real eyelashes at me and making me wonder ridiculous things like whether she enjoyed foot rubs, whether she slept naked or in pajamas, and where, exactly, she made a habit of spraying her perfume. Inappropriate thoughts aside, though, the bottom line was that I hadn’t enjoyed a woman’s company this much since…and then I remembered.
“What’s that face for?” she asked. “Did I say something funny?”
“Not at all.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“I just remembered that day we stole the canoe.”
She swallowed. “What about it?”
“Just the way the sunshine reflected off the water.”
The tension melted from her shoulders.
“And how you almost didn’t let me stick my tongue in your mouth.”
The red of her cheeks deepened as she reached for her wine.
“Not to change the subject.”
Her eyes met mine with tangible reluctance. “If you’re trying to embarrass me, it’s working a charm.”
“Why would you be embarrassed?”
“Is that what this whole night is about?” she asked. “Unfinished business?”
I shook my head.
“Here you go,” Lisa said, returning with the card machine.
I punched in my pin.
“I hope you’ll come back again soon,” she said, handing me my receipt. “And thanks again for being so cool about the picture,” she said to Gemma. “My sister is going to flip.”
“Thanks for getting that,” Gemma said after Lisa left. “I would’ve been happy going Dutch.”
“Absolutely not. I picked the place.”
“Still.”
“You can get the next one,” I lied, pushing my chair back.
“I see what you did there.”
I tucked a folded twenty under the pepper grinder. “Ready?”
“Is that your way of asking for a second date?”
“I thought this wasn’t a date?” I asked, following her towards the front of the restaurant.
She stepped inside the revolving door. “It’s not.”
“Interesting,” I said, taking small steps behind her. “Where I come from, if you formally invite a woman to dinner, pay for it, and then kiss her at the end of the night, we call it a date.”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
“Don’t pretend you’re not still thinking about what happened in that canoe.”
“Nothing happened in that canoe,” she said when we hit the sidewalk.
I stopped in my tracks.
“What?” she asked, turning when she realized I wasn’t beside her anymore.
I clutched my chest. “Are you telling me what happened in that canoe meant nothing to you?”
“Stop teasing me.”
“Seriously?”
She rolled her eyes. “I can tell you’re not being serious by your tone of voice.”
I hurried to catch up with her and changed the subject, though inside I continued to plot how I might pull her to me when I dropped her off.
“Sing Street is probably the best movie I’ve seen this year,” she was saying as I validated my parking card in the machine. “Pure feel-good. Like all my other favorite movies. Except—”
“Alex?”
I couldn’t place the voice behind me, but I could tell by the hair on the back of my neck that I wasn’t overjoyed at the sound. After pulling the stamped card out, I looked over my shoulder. “Libby.” I forced a smile.
She blinked at me like she wasn’t sure if she was pleased to see me or not.
“You never called,” she said, her eyes flicking over to Gemma.
“Neither did you.”
“Actually, I did.” She cocked her hip and folded her arms. Her friend did the same and eyed me with intense disapproval. “Twice.”
“What a shame I missed you,” I lied. “Can’t imagine how that happened.” I extended a palm towards Gemma. “Allow me to introduce my girlfriend, Gemma.”
Gemma’s face lifted in surprise.
“Gemma, this is my friend, Libby.”
Libby scowled at her extended hand and looked back at me. “You don’t have a girlfriend.”
“I beg your pardon,” Gemma said, cocking her head as she stepped between us. “Are you calling my boyfriend a liar?”
My stomach twisted into a tight knot, my nausea at the truth of her comment overshadowing the joy I felt at her heroism.
Libby’s mouth pinched, and her face began to redden from the neck up.
“Is everything okay?” Gemma asked in the least sincere voice I’d ever heard. “It looks like your eye is twitching something fierce. Perhaps you should sit down?” She gestured towards the bench at the bottom of the stairs.
“I’m fine,” Libby snapped, backing away with a look of disgust still twisting her mean face. “Come on,” she mumbled to her friend.
“Nice meeting you,” Gemma called, her voice like a song.
“You too,” Libby said, skulking away. “Congrats on nabbing the most eligible asshole in town.”
Fuck.
“You want to tell me what that was about?” Gemma asked, spinning on her heels to face me.
“I was going to ask you the same question.”
She shook her head. “I think the pressure’s on you to explain how I ended up dating the most eligible asshole in town without realizing it.”
“I figured it would be better if she thought it wasn’t personal that I never called.”
“But it was?”
I shrugged. “What can I say? Maybe she’s right. Maybe I am an asshole.”
“An asshole who owes me big.”
I grabbed Gemma’s wrist when she turned towards the stairs and pulled her to me. “Let me make it up to you.”
Her eyes flicked down to my lips as her breath grew shallow. “What did you have in mind?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“Anything,” I said, my body crazed from seeing her gorgeous mouth so close.
“A ride home would be nice,” she said, stepping away to catch her breath.
“You don’t have to answer now,” I said, pissed I’d blown the first good opportunity I’d had to kiss her since Monday. “Think about it.”
“I will.”
I linked my arm in hers. “And I am sincerely sorry I put you in that situation.”
“It’s fine. You would’ve done the same for me.”
I turned to look at her as we climbed the stairs. “I would’ve.”
“I know.”
“Still, you went above and beyond there, and I appreciate it.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” she said. “I kind of enjoyed it.”
I furrowed my brow. “You did?”
“Of course,” she said. “Did you see the way she looked at me?”
When we reached the second floor, I opened the door to the garage and followed her into the dimly lit space. “How did she look at you?”
“Like I was trash,” she said. “Like she couldn’t believe you were standing so close to me, much less that you knew me.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“That’s because evolution has spared men the ability to pick up on advanced social cues.”
“That’s not true,” I said, the rear lights on my mom’s car flashing as I unlocked it from a few feet away.
“Of course it is.”
I opened the passenger door for her. “I pick up on advanced social cues.”
She laid a hand on top of the door and looked over it at me.
“When have I not picked up on—?”
“Just now,” she said, cocking her head. “When you didn’t kiss me back there.”
My mouth opened and closed again.
She kept her eyes on me as she slipped into the passenger seat. “And to think I was going to let your tongue in and everything.”