Ben’s rejection was too fresh. She couldn’t handle it if Alex rejected her too, which drove home why she should go back to plan A.
A just-friends pity date with Alex, and then tomorrow she’d focus on getting her shit together.
“Hold on a second, Charley,” he said. “There’s something I need to do.”
“Wha—”
Alex gripped her face in his hands and kissed her.
And not some quick buss, but a real kiss, complete with open mouths, closed eyes, touching tongues, and hot breath. His big hands cupped her cheeks, turning her head slightly so he could deepen the kiss.
Was there anything hotter than a guy holding a woman’s face like some sexy movie star in a romantic comedy?
His callused fingers were gentle as he caressed her face, as if she was made of glass. No man had ever made her feel delicate, fragile, but that was how she felt now with Alex.
The word cherished drifted through her mind, even though she wasn’t usually prone to fanciful bullshit like that.
Alex pulled away first, and she had to blink a few times before the white-hot static in her brain cleared.
She’d never been kissed like that.
Never.
Fuck plan A.
Plan Fuck Alex was back in full swing.
She was two seconds away from suggesting they ditch the wedding and go back to her room, but Alex was faster.
He gave her a shit-eating grin as he wiped remnants of her lipstick from his mouth. Then, he ran his thumb over her kiss-swollen lower lip. “You look like you’ve just been properly kissed. There’s no way Ben’s not going to notice that.”
Before she could reply, he wrapped his arm around her waist and led her into the ballroom.
The kiss had been part of this so-called game plan of his. He’d only done it to make Ben jealous.
If her brain cells weren’t on system overload, short-circuiting from the kiss of the century, she might have appreciated that.
Instead, she felt the uncontrollable urge to either cry or to push Alex into a chair, straddle his lap, and dry hump herself against him until she came.
Wow.
Alex gave her a funny look and she realized she’d said “wow” aloud.
He leaned closer, his lips almost touching her ear when he said, “That was only the first of many. I plan on kissing you a lot tonight.”
“Okay,” she said stupidly.
She tried to mentally focus, but she was still a bit light-headed.
Tequila wasn’t going to be necessary tonight. She was already drunk from one kiss.
Wasted.
Trashed.
She liked it.
Bella waved, catching their attention, as she pointed to her table. It looked like everyone else had already arrived. The only two empty seats were next to Bella and her date, Josh.
Lindsey must have done some quick last-minute fixes to the place cards.
God bless her.
Charley was almost to the table when she caught sight of Ben and Beverly. They were two tables away and Ben was definitely watching her entrance with interest.
Alex must have spotted him as well because he used the arm curled around her waist to turn her toward him, giving her another quick kiss. This one was almost chaste compared to the one in the lobby, but it still packed a punch.
He winked at her when they parted, then they joined the others at their table. She sat next to Bella, Alex claiming her other side.
Bella leaned over to them, grinning conspiratorially. “Well played, brother dear,” she said, referring to his kiss.
Then she looked more closely at Charley and her eyes narrowed for a second.
Bella knew her way too well, and while Charley tried to act nonchalant, she was pretty sure her best friend saw straight through her.
Alex had scooted his chair close to Charley’s. So close, their legs were touching from hip to knee. He wrapped his arm around the back of her seat, his fingers toying with her hair.
Alex was a big guy, burly and muscular. At five foot eleven, she was used to feeling like the Amazon in the room, but at this table, with him, she’d never felt so enveloped by a man. She almost felt tiny, and that never happened.
Bella had tried to get her to wear heels tonight with her dress, but she’d rejected the suggestion.
For one thing, she didn’t own any. Ben liked to say he was five eleven too, but if he was a smidge over five nine, she’d eat the tablecloth. For the past three years, she’d invested solely in flats because his fragile ego couldn’t quite handle a taller girlfriend.
And secondly, and probably more important, she didn’t own heels because she couldn’t walk in them. Not without risking serious injury anyway.
Put her on ice skates and she could fly.
Heels? Disaster in the making.
“How tall are you?” she asked Alex.
Alex gave her a funny look for a second, and then acted as if her off-the-wall question was normal. “Six four. Why?”
She shrugged. “I’m not used to feeling small next to a guy.”
He grinned, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to pull her toward him. He placed a friendly kiss on top of her head. “We fit together perfectly.”
Charley tried not to make too much of that comment, tried not to imagine how those pieces might fit together even better if they were naked and in bed.
“Laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you?” Bella murmured, speaking only loud enough that the two of them could hear her.
“This was your idea, sis,” Alex reminded her.
Charley shot her friend an innocent look, but even she knew it fell short.
Bella narrowed her eyes in warning, though it was Alex she was looking at, not her.
The meal arrived as they made small talk with the others at their table. In addition to Bella and Josh, they dined with two married couples from their hometown. She knew Kayla and Rich from school, while Andrew and Beth were older, little more than acquaintances.
She wasn’t holding anything back like she’d done in the past year with Ben. She laughed—okay, snorted—when Josh told a joke. Alex cracked up at the sound and told her it was adorable.
She reverted back to her native language—cursing like a sailor—rather than measuring every word. Alex didn’t even seem to notice her liberal use of fuck and shit. Probably because he spoke the same language.
And rather than letting Ben get into her head with his constant reminders that she should watch what she ate so she didn’t gain weight, she stole the last roll in the basket before Alex could grab it, covering it with soft butter.
“A nice person would share that,” he said.
She gave him a funny look. “We’ve known each other since elementary school. Have you ever once used the word nice to describe me?”
He sighed. “Enjoy your roll.”
She laughed, then split it in two, offering him the smaller half.
“Tough break about the game, Alex,” Josh said when the salads arrived.
That didn’t take long.
She reached under the table and squeezed his knee, meaning the touch to be comforting. Alex caught her hand and held it there for a second before guiding it higher on his leg.
She tried to pull her hand back, blushing furiously, but Alex had a firm grip and he wasn’t letting go.
Another inch or two, and she was going to hit pay dirt, whether she wanted to or not.
Oh, who was she kidding?
She wanted to.