“Morning.” She brought her cup up to her lips. “Did you have a nice surf?”
“Yeah. I did.”
“How’s your hand?”
“Still hurts. But it’ll be fine. I’m going to take a shower.”
I left the kitchen and went up to my bedroom. I could barely look at her. Sam was right, we needed to talk about last night.
After I finished my shower and threw on some clothes, I went downstairs and saw Alex sitting in one of the loungers outside. Walking over to the Keurig, I popped a k-cup in and grabbed a mug from the cabinet. Once the coffee finished brewing, I took it outside and sat in the chair next to her.
“Quiet morning, eh?”
“Yeah. It is.” She stared out at the water.
“Listen, we need to talk about last night,” I said.
“What about it?” She glanced over at me.
“I think we both just got caught up in the moment. We crossed a line, and we shouldn’t have. I’m sorry if you misconstrued—”
“I didn’t, Stefan. And you’re right, we shouldn’t have. But we did and to be honest, it’s not a big deal. You need to remember that I’ve traveled to a lot of different states since I’ve been eighteen years old, and you’re not the first guy I’ve been with for one night. So, if you’re worried about last night compromising our work relationship, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Her lips formed a small smile. “As I sit here looking at you now, I feel no different about you since the first night we met.”
“Well, if you recall, you said I ruined your life, and you did a lot of yelling.”
“At first, but you redeemed yourself when you invited me to stay the night. You’re a good guy, Stefan, and you’re still that good guy.”
“Phew.” I let out a breath. “I was really worried for a minute.”
“You can stop worrying. I’m going to jump in the shower and get dressed.”
“What are your plans for today?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. I think I’ll go do some exploring.” She smiled as she got up and went inside the house.
My phone rang and when I pulled it from my pocket, I saw my dad was Facetiming me. When I pushed the button, my daughter’s beautiful face appeared on the screen.
“Hi, Daddy.” She grinned.
“Good morning, baby girl. How did you sleep last night?”
“Good. Grandma Celeste and Grandpa are taking me on a helicopter ride today!”
“Wow. How cool is that. Are you scared?”
“No.” She laughed. “Grandpa said you were the first time he took you.”
“I was a little bit, but it was a lot of fun.”
“Where’s Alex? I want to talk to her.”
“She’s taking a shower, baby girl.”
“But I wanted to say hi,” she whined.
“I can tell her for you when she gets out.”
“Okay. I have to go, Daddy. Grandpa wants to go for a walk.”
“Alright. Have fun today. I can’t wait for you to come home. I miss my baby girl.”
“I miss you too, Dad. And I miss Alex. I love you. Bye.”
“I love you too, sweet pea.”
I got up from my chair and went back into the house. As I was rinsing out my cup, Alex walked into the kitchen.
“I just got off Facetime with Lily. She wanted to say hi, but you were in the shower.”
“I’m sorry I missed her. I hope she’s having a good time.”
“She is.”
“Good.” The corners of her mouth curved upward as she looked at me. “You know, I kept meaning to ask you. Do you play the guitar?”
“I do. So do my brothers. Why?”
“I noticed it in the closet, and I was wondering if I could play it sometime?”
“You play?” I asked with surprise.
“Yeah. Well, I haven’t in a long time. My mom used to play, and she taught me. My dad had bought her a new guitar for her birthday and when she passed away, my father gave it to me.”
“What happened to it?”
“I had to sell it for money about a year after I left home. The one job I was working closed their doors suddenly and didn’t pay their employees.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too. I needed it for rent. It was either sell it or live in my car.”
“You can play it anytime you want.”
“Thanks.” The corners of her mouth curved up into a beautiful smile.
“You said you were going to do some exploring today?”
“Yeah.”
“Let me take you to the Santa Monica Pier, and then we can grab some tacos from a taco truck. They’re the best.”
“They are?” She laughed.
“So. Freaking. Good.” I grinned.
“Okay. I’m in.”
“Just one thing first. You’ll have to come with me to the tuxedo shop. I’m meeting my brothers to get fitted for our tuxes for Sam’s wedding. It won’t take long, and then we can head to the pier from there.”
“Alright. When are we leaving?”
“In about twenty minutes.” I glanced at my watch.
Chapter 19
Alex
“Hey, Alex.” Sebastian smiled as Stefan and I walked into the shop.
“Hi, guys.” I gave a small wave to all three of them.
“Let me go first,” Stefan spoke. “We’re heading to the Santa Monica Pier.”
“Honestly, I don’t even know why we’re here,” Simon said. “We’ve been fitted so many times and our measurements never change. Well, maybe mine has cause I’m more muscular than you douchebags.” He grinned.
“Yeah. Yeah.” Stefan rolled his eyes. “Mr. tough detective over here.” He playfully punched Simon’s arm.
“Julia and I were thinking about having a bonfire later tonight. Anyone up for it?”
“Count me in, bro,” Sebastian spoke. “I’m off tonight.”
“Me too,” Simon said.
“I’m in.” Stefan looked over at me. “You’re more than welcome to join us.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Great. I’ll let Julia know when I get home. We’ll just order pizza and subs. Did you get that, Sebastian?”
“What? You want the restaurant to cater your bonfire?”
“Duh.” Sam grinned.
“I’ll call Marco.” He pulled out his phone and stepped over to the side.
After Stefan was measured, we said goodbye to the guys and headed to the Santa Monica Pier.
“I didn’t know they had an amusement park here.”
“Yeah. Lily loves coming here. Want to go play some games?”
“I haven’t played a carnival game since I was a kid.” I grinned.
“What? You are totally missing out on the fun. Come on. My treat.” He gave me a sexy wink. “And just so you know, I don’t ever lose.”
“Ha. We’ll see about that.”
We took the only two seats left at one of the water games. I was winning until Stefan lightly bumped my shoulder and took the win.