Chapter Seven

Maci

“Mama, someone is at the door!” Alyssa bellowed down the hall.

My heart stopped, skipping a few beats before launching into a frantic tempo. I set down the third plate at the small, round dining table and straightened slowly. “Okay, angel. I’ll be right there.”

Alyssa bounded into the room, her socked feet slipping on the hardwood floors. “Who is it?”

“I invited a friend over to have dinner with us. His name is Alex and he’s a very nice man.” I squatted down in front of her as the doorbell chimed a second time. “Is that all right?” I asked, realizing this conversation probably should have taken place before Alex was physically on the doorsteps.

Alyssa nodded. “Can I open the door?”

I smiled and stood up. Reaching for her hand, I replied, “We can do it together.”

“Okay.”

We went to the front door and after a quick peek through the peep hole, I let Alyssa unlock the door and pull it open. Alex smiled down at her first and I cringed, hoping she wouldn’t realize that she’d met him the day before. Luckily, she didn’t seem to make the connection as she reached out her hand, very ladylike, and said, “I’m Alyssa!”

Alex grinned at me and then took Alyssa’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Alyssa. My name is Alex.”

“Is that for me?” she asked, eying the bouquet he had tucked against his side.

Alex nodded and presented her with one of what turned out to be two bouquets. One was wrapped in hot pink—clearly for Alyssa—and a second, he presented to me, wrapped in ivory and green.

Alyssa, eyes alight, took the flowers and held them up to me. “Look, Mama!”

“That’s very kind. They’re beautiful, Alex. Thank you.” I stepped back and guided Alyssa with a hand on her shoulder to make room for Alex. “Come in, please.”

Alex crossed the threshold and shrugged out of his coat. He wore a dark blue thermal underneath and my cheeks flushed at the thoughts that raced through my mind. I hadn’t had nearly enough time to inspect every inch of his sculpted physique and with the molded shirt displaying his perfect, swimmer’s body, I was more than ready to skip to dessert again.

“Smells good in here, what’s cooking?” Alex asked.

Before I could answer, Alyssa took charge and started telling him everything she had helped with as she led him to the kitchen. I followed behind and got a vase of water. Alyssa reluctantly handed over her flowers and I put them into a separate vase that she could keep in her room.

“You can sit here, next to me,” Alyssa said, pointing Alex at a chair.

He shot me a grin over her head.

I brushed a hand over her shoulder. “Lyss, go wash up and put your pretty flowers in your room. Okay?”

She took her vase and scampered off down the hall.

“Sorry,” I said to Alex once she was out of earshot. “She’ll talk your ear off.”

Alex chuckled. “I don’t mind. She’s delightful.”

“Thank you.”

He glanced into the kitchen. “You need a hand with anything? I was going to bring a bottle of wine, but I wasn’t sure you’d like that around Alyssa.”

“Oh? God, that’s so thoughtful. I don’t mind having wine around her. I have a bottle in there somewhere,” I said, gesturing at the fridge. “Now, if you’d suggested Jagger bombs and Jell-O shots we’d probably need to talk.”

He chuckled. “Noted.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Alex moved closer and brushed his hand over mine. “Me too.”

Alyssa charged back into the room and we set some space between us. I’d never navigated—or even attempted to navigate—the waters of dating when a single mom, but the brief snapshot was proving far less terrifying than I’d imagined. As we all took our places around the table and dug into the mountain of tacos, it was almost too easy to slip into the part of my imagination that wondered what it might be like if a man like Alex were to become a more permanent fixture in our lives.

***

A little after nine I left Alex in the living room to put Alyssa down for the night. She was so sleepy from the night of excitement that she didn’t ask a lot of questions before drifting off to sleep. However, I knew in the morning there were likely going to be a few things she’d want to ask about. None that I was really prepared to answer. She was clearly smitten with Alex and had been on the top of her charm all night long.

Her lashes finally fluttered closed and stayed there, fanned over her freckled cheeks. I leaned down, kissed the bridge of her nose, and then turned off the bedside lamp. I tiptoed from the room and pulled her door closed softly behind me.

Alex was in the kitchen, his sleeves rolled up, standing at the kitchen sink. A dish towel was slung over one shoulder. He craned around to look at me, offered a wide smile, and I nearly lost control of my limbs.

“You’re doing dishes?” I asked him, flabbergasted.

Talk about a lady boner.

“Sure. Why not?” He shrugged and went back to scrubbing. “You prepared the meal, it’s only fair I help tackle the clean-up.”

I joined him at the sink and propped a hip against the counter. “Where on earth did you come from?”

Alex laughed softly. “Pretty sure I picked you up in a mall food court.”

I cringed. “God, that is so not glamorous. We’re going to have to come up with a better story.”

He rinsed a glass, dried it, and replaced it in the cupboard. He hung the towel up on the stove handle and then turned to me, his smile even wider. “Any ideas?”

I poised a finger under my chin and gave him an appraising look. “We could work the Santa angle.”

He dropped his head back and laughed. “No, no. This is not a chapter I want etched in stone.”

“You mean you’re not adding professional Santa Clause to your CV?”

“God no.”

I laughed and leaned into his side. It felt so good to release the pressure and just have a good ole’ belly laugh. I was finding it was true that a man who could make you laugh was irreplaceable. All the stress and weight that followed me around from day to day seemed to melt away whenever I was with Alex.

“Thank you for coming to dinner,” I said.

“You don’t have to thank me for everything, Maci,” he said gently.

“I know. It’s just been a long time since I’ve done this and I think I built it up to be this monstrous mountain in my mind. You’re making it easy on me. I mean, Alyssa couldn’t have been more impressed and she’s clearly a tough crowd.”

Alex chuckled. “She’s a real hard ass, huh? I guess I can see that.”

I laughed and reached over to pull the stopper on the sink. I wiped my hand off on my jeans and sighed deeply. “I actually do have a bottle of wine, if you want to hang out for a little while.”

“Hang out?” Alex grinned. “That what the kids are calling it now?”

A quip raced to the tip of my tongue but Alex’s mouth was descending to mine before I could fire it off. He captured my lips with his and kissed me slowly. His hands went to the counter on either side of me, boxing me in against it. I loved the way his body fit against mine. He wasn’t a muscle-bound meathead, but his shoulders and back were broad and well-defined like a swimmer and he had a few inches on me, even when I stood on my tiptoes.

Wearing high heels would never be a problem with Alex as my date.

The kiss deepened and left me breathless. I wanted more, more, more. Each taste was only enough to tease me and get me yearning for his touch. I took him by the hand and led him down the hall. Luckily the floor plan of the apartment was designed with roommates in mind, with both bedrooms on opposite sides of the hall and a bathroom in between them. Alyssa was a sound sleeper but I was even more reassured knowing there was some extra space between us.

Once inside, the door closed softly behind us, Alex peeled my shirt off and dropped it to the floor. I reached around and unclasped my bra and let the silky straps fall off my arms. Alex immediately swooped in and captured a tight nipple with his greedy lips.

I moaned and dropped my head back as he teased the tender bud with his lips and then raked his teeth along my skin on his way to the other. My nails dug into the thick fabric of his long-sleeved shirt and I clawed it off him, desperate for the feel of his hot skin against mine. We crashed together, a tangle of limbs and lips. Moans and growls.

He stripped my jeans from me and grinned appreciatively when he slid his thumb over my pussy and found my panties were soaked. I arched against his hand and gripped his shoulders. “Alex, take me.”

“Oh, I’m planning on it, baby.”

Shivers of anticipation rolled over my flushed skin. Everywhere Alex’s lips, fingertips, and tongue moved were immediately ignited on fire.

Alex backed me up to the wall and ducked his mouth to explore the side of my neck. He sucked the sensitive lobe of my ear and a lick of fire scorched through me and exploded between my thighs. I clenched them together even harder, desperate for an ounce of relief. I reached for his hand, trying to drag it to the place I needed him most.

He took my wrist and pinned it above my head. I whimpered, straining against his hold. He moved down my body, using his lips and tongue to tease every available inch of me. He released the grip on my wrists and sank down to his knees. While his eyes remained locked on mine, he slowly stripped the panties from me and tossed them aside. Still watching, he lifted one leg and hitched my thigh on his shoulder.

So that’s why women instinctively like broad shoulders…

He delicately parted my lips and ran the flat of his tongue over my clit. I cried out and slapped a hand over my mouth to muffle my own moans. Alyssa was a room away, not in a sound proof bunker, I reminded myself.

Alex was good at everything. Especially tongue-fucking.

My fingers burrowed in his thick hair and held tight as he sucked my clit and pumped two of his deliciously thick fingers inside me.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I panted. “Allllleeex.”

I ground my teeth as the tight springs of my core ratcheted down another notch. I was about to let loose, dancing on the edge, and then he slipped his pinky finger up to tease my ass. The cords of pleasure twisted together, tighter than before, and then unraveled like a spool of thread. My entire body convulsed and then released with the force of a hurricane.

Alex pumped my pussy slower as I came down from the heights. When I could see straight again I realized I was gripping his hair too tight. I relaxed and laughed softly. “I’m pretty sure what you just did is illegal in six states,” I teased, still quivering from the shocks of pleasure.

“Well then buckle up, baby, cause what I’ve got in mind next is going to be a federal offense,” he teased, before scooping me up by the ass and carrying me to the edge of the bed.

***

We lay together in silence, our ragged breathing the only sounds. Alex clutched me against him and it was all I could do to keep from grinding up against him. My body was spent but I desperately wanted more of him. It had been so long since a man had left me both completely wrung out and on fire at the same time. As I tried to recall, I realized no one had ever made me feel the way Alex did.

The words stumbled to my lips but I couldn’t find the last drops of bravado to say them out loud. No parameters or rules had been placed on the situation. I didn’t want to risk spooking him by turning into a clingy stereotype.

After a few minutes, our breathing stilled, Alex spoke, “I should probably go.”

I hated the sound of it, but knew he was right.

As if reading my mind, he rolled me to my back and dipped down to kiss me slowly. He let his tongue take a detailed tour of my mouth as if attempting to memorize every sensation. When we broke apart, hearts racing once again, he smiled down at me. “One for the road.”

I smiled. “A very good policy.”

When I pushed up, ready to see him out, he placed his fingertips on my bare shoulder. “I can see myself out,” he said softly. “Stay here where it’s warm. I’ll lock up.”

My eyes felt heavy as I nodded, as though the mere suggestion of sleep gave me the little push I needed over the edge into dreamland. The last thing I remembered was watching his perfect ass disappear as he pulled on his jeans.