After a few more minutes of play fighting, my hat is off my head and on Alex’s, and she’s punching me over and over again in the chest. It’s fully ridiculous that this is what we’re doing right now, but it feels great to mess around with her.
As much as we apparently love talking, the flirting is quickly becoming my new favorite thing. I don’t think I’ve teased or played with a girl like this since high school. All my teasing with women now is done naked and in a more compromising fashion. And while it’s encouraging how much Alex touches me, I can’t deny that it feels platonic, and I have to keep reminding myself it’s never going to happen in the other way.
You’re her friend. Regular friends, too. She’s married to a piece of shit. You need to turn off these feelings you’re coming down with like a bad case of crabs.
“I should probably go home,” Alex sighs, kicking me in the butt once more for good measure with her bare foot. “It’s getting late.”
She’s lying down next to me in the backseat of the SUV, having already lost her Uggs she was rocking. And I’m lying sort of next to her, but still trying to keep my distance. Because I really want to lie on top of her, but I’m guessing that would be considered forward.
I can’t help wondering how she’s able to stay out late like this with a husband like hers… It seems like something she could get in trouble for, and I’m dying to ask, but she told me to leave it alone, and I need to respect her wishes. Even though the questions are burning on my tongue like a mozzarella stick fresh out the deep fryer.
“Are you sure?” I ask, flicking her dangly little belly button ring that has two tiny dice hanging off the end. “You could stay at my place.” She shoots me a warning look. “Just as friends, I mean, obviously. I have a really nice guest room.”
“I’m sure you do,” she grins as I sit up, draping her legs over my lap. “But no, it’s fine. I’m alone this week, anyway. Thanks, though. For the offer.”
She’s alone this week…? What does that mean?
God, this friendship is like waterboarding. I need more answers, and she gives them to me with the gusto of someone picking lint off their clothes.
“So maybe we could hang out again, then…” I murmur, tracing the shooting stars on her foot. “Like tomorrow?”
She laughs and wiggles her toes. “I’m not sure…”
“Come on, Alex. Tonight was super fun. You have to give me that.”
She huffs out a breath as if I’m annoying her, but I can tell she’s having a gay old time, Flintstone’s style.
“Yes, tonight was fun,” she says quietly. “You’re very fun to hang out with, Noah. Despite your whoring ways.”
“I’m offended. I’m not as much of a womanizer as you seem to think I am.”
*Cough* Lies *Cough*
“So you’re saying the media portrays you in a negative light?” She gasps. “Why would they ever do that?” Her sarcasm is cute as hell.
“I do sleep around a little, but obviously everything they show in the tabloids will look a million times worse than it really is.”
“Well, I don’t really pay attention to that stuff,” she tells me, slinking her foot underneath the fabric of my shirt, her toes tickling my abs. I’m not a foot guy, but hers are really nice. I’d let her touch me anywhere with these sexy little feet. “I know you’re a good guy, even if you have a whole slew of skanky girls ready to drop their panties the second you walk into a room.”
She’s saying this as if she’s watched it happen herself, and now I’m wondering if she was possibly paying more attention to what was going on around us at Maxwell’s and Sensay than I was. I wouldn’t be surprised. I was really focused on her that night.
“I appreciate that, Alex McMuffin,” I take the foot in my hand and lift it up, pretending to bite her toes. She shrieks and kicks it around, laughing like a lunatic.
“That’s a good way to get kicked in the face!” She barks through her fit.
“Jimmy, let’s take Ms. Mackenzie here home, please,” I instruct, and Jimmy drives away without another word.
He heads uptown, since we’re already on the East Side. I can’t believe I actually ventured East tonight… I’m a West Side playa, since it’s where I reside, so I do most of my slumming around my hood. But tonight for some reason I breached the divide. Maybe I was subconsciously hoping I would run into my new friend…
It’s a likely possibility.
We arrive at Alex’s block and she has Jimmy stop before we get to her building, though I’m not sure why. If her husband is really away this week, then it shouldn’t matter if she gets dropped off directly in front of her building, right?
Who knows. This girl’s entire persona is shrouded in mystery. Her name might not even be Alex.
“Talk to you later, boss,” she rasps and we high-five.
“Have a wonderful night, Alexandra, and by all means, don’t be afraid to think about me.” I wink.
She laughs as she opens the door to the vehicle, peering over her shoulder to admonish me with her eyes. Then she pauses and removes my hat from where it’s sitting atop her wild black mane. She goes to hand it back to me, but I shake my head.
“You keep it. It looks better on you, anyway.”
Her smile is shy and just the sweetest damn thing. “Doubtful. Night, Noah.”
She hops out of the car and wanders toward her building, with my Supreme hat on her head. I physically can’t stop grinning.
Without me even asking, Jimmy waits until Alex is securely inside her building before he drives me back home to the West Side.
I’m silent for the entire ride, which isn’t unusual. But this time the silence feels different. It’s a heavy silence, overburdened with my unspoken thoughts and missing something. Or rather, someone.
“I think she likes you,” Jimmy says, his gruff voice pulling me out of my head from the front of the car.
“As a friend? Sure,” I mutter, gazing out the window at all the lights of the city.
“No. More than that,” he interjects. My eyes flit to the mirror where his meet mine for a moment so he can give me the I’m serious look.
Jimmy is more than just a driver. He’s a friend and head of my security team. I was set up with him last year, and I instantly realized that he’s fucking awesome. I trust him with my safety, which isn’t something I take lightly. Also, he knows me pretty well, being that he carts me everywhere, and has definitely dragged my drunk ass into my apartment more times than I’d care to admit.
So if he says he thinks Alex likes me, I have to listen, even though I’m not exactly sure what it would mean if he’s right.
We pull up in front of my building and I pause before hopping out.
“Jim, you think you could maybe… watch out for Alex for me?” I ask with slight hesitation. “I mean, just if you have time, like keep an eye on her. I’m worried -”
“Say no more,” he cuts me off with a curt smile aimed over his shoulder. “We’ll make sure she’s alright.”
I smile and pat him on the back. “Thanks, homes. See you tomorrow.”