It was hard not to look at her.
I didn’t like faking this, pretending I didn’t know her. But more than that, it was hard not to look at her because she was beautiful and I liked doing it.
While the women got wine and plates of the caprese bites and goat cheese I’d put out, I highlighted a map for them for the walk to Jane’s for dinner. I circled the bike rental place for tomorrow, since they said they wanted to do the trail. Not much else was open.
If Alexis had let us be introduced—the way we should have been introduced—I would have shown them around town, made sure they had a good time. Taken them wine tasting at Doug’s farm, even though he was closed for the season, maybe get Brian to open the drive-in again. But Alexis didn’t want that. So I stayed quiet.
After I handed over the map, I retreated to the kitchen to give them some privacy, but I could still hear them talking in the foyer.
It was a little too early to judge, but I wasn’t sure I liked Alexis’s friends. The younger blond one, Gabby, seemed kind of shallow. I’d come into the dining room to bring more crackers, and she was bragging about firing a nanny and how the woman had cried. She rolled her eyes when she said it.
Jessica looked like she hated even being here. She kept scowling around the house.
I mean, I guess Doug wouldn’t really pass the first blush test either. You had to get to know him to like him, that’s for damn sure. But these women didn’t really fit what I knew of Alexis. They did, but they didn’t. They looked like her. Like they came from the same place. But they didn’t act like her.
I came back into the foyer when I heard them start talking about walking into town for dinner, just to get one more second with Alexis before they left. I pretended like I needed to get something from behind the check-in counter.
The two friends had purses under their arms, but Alexis was sitting in a chair rubbing her temple.
Jessica checked her phone. “Want us to bring you something?” she asked Alexis, her tone bored.
I poked my head out from behind the counter.
Alexis shook her head. “No, I’m good. I’m just going to go to bed early.”
She was staying with me. I did my best to hide my smile.
“I’m sorry,” Alexis said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Jessica pressed her lips into a line. “Probably hormonal. Women are three times more likely to have headaches than men.” Then she turned to me. “Must be nice to be a man. Our reproductive organs are like painful rusty gears that eventually stop working—if they even work at all. Enjoy your penis.”
She walked out with Gabby right behind her.
When the door clicked closed, Alexis looked at me and shrugged. “She’s really fun at parties?”
I started to laugh. Then I grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the chair and into my chest. “The question is, do you enjoy my penis?”
She bit her lip. “Oh, yes.”
She smiled and leaned to kiss me, but I pulled my face back. “You don’t really have a headache, do you? Do you need something?”
She laughed. “No, I made it up so I could stay with you.”
My grin was enormous. “How much time do you think we have?” She wrinkled her nose. “An hour?”
I slid my hands down her back and cradled her ass. “Well, we’d better get started…”
