She reached to stroke his jaw this time and repeated in a tone he liked better, “Okay.”
“And the hot springs helped,” he shared.
“Okay, honey,” she said again.
Time to move on.
“Now, about these fantasies of yours…”
“Ohmigod,” she muttered, annoyed, and he grinned.
“Any of them involve fucking by a hot springs? I mean, we fucked in them, and we fucked in the tent, in close proximity to them. But now I’m talking right by them. Is that a fantasy?”
“I’m never telling you my fantasies, Rix,” she declared.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because when you fulfill them, I get to have a little secret.”
At that, he swept his arms around her, pulled her up and rolled her on the blanket so he was on top.
“Which ones I fulfill?” he asked.
“Not telling,” she teased.
“Totally doing you in the hot springs was one,” he guessed.
“Maybe,” she hedged.
That meant yes.
Fuck yeah.
He put his mouth to hers and opened her legs with a hand.
His hips fell through.
“What other ones you got?”
“Rix,” she breathed as he slid a finger up the inseam of her jeans.
Her hands were moving on him with a purpose.
But she didn’t spill.
She lifted her head and kissed him.
Well…
To hell with it.
She got to have a secret.
And he got to have Alex.
In the end, it was a win-win.
So, under the stars, by the hot springs outside Ouray, Rix set about winning.
For the both of them.
And fulfilled another of Alex’s fantasies.
Rix lay in the dark.
In the tent.
Listening.
There were bears out there.
Cats.
He had a lightweight portable camp chair that folded so small, it could fit in his pocket. He used it when he was camping to get his legs on.
But it wasn’t easy, and it didn’t go as quick.
So, like he had the last two nights, he lay, Alexandra snuggled up to him in their sleeping bag dead to the world, and he listened.
The reason he wasn’t as agile.
He was exhausted.
Because what had been happening happened that night.
He didn’t fall asleep until he couldn’t stay awake anymore.
And in a couple of hours, he had to get up.
Because it was a new day with Alex, and they didn’t have a future together.
So while he had her he wasn’t missing anything.
Chapter 18
The Bottle
Rix
Three days later…
* * *
“Really, that’s a fantastic choice. I’m not just saying that. It’s one of a kind. Totally unique. We don’t usually stock these in the store, but the owner loves this designer. She just can’t turn her pieces down. You see why. It’s that special. Though, you need to understand, even with your trade-in, that’ll still be another eight thousand dollars.”
It was his birthday.
Rix was on his lunch hour.
And he had a lot of shit to get done.
The surveys were coming in and Krista was compiling then.
The furniture was arriving.
Judge and Kevin had taken a trip to Chicago, which was a big Kids and Trails town, to talk to some students, parents and teachers. Their feedback reports were in his email inbox.
Shit was heating up. They needed to get down to it. Alex and him had taken some time off, and they’d be taking more next week to go to her sister’s wedding.
He didn’t want to pitch up to work late from lunch.
And this was errand one of two, both important, essential.
But it meant he’d probably have to hit a drive through for food, which sucked.
“And that’s with a firefighter’s discount,” the associate said.
Well.
Hell.
He looked at her. “I’m not a firefighter anymore.”
“Yes you are,” she said softly.
He felt his neck get tight.
He ignored it and looked back down at what he was holding, pinched between his thumb and finger.
“I can talk to my manager, maybe get you an extra ten percent,” she said.
With what he was holding, he could see that eight grand, with the discount.
The stone was big.
But it didn’t protrude.
It was embedded in platinum with a constellation of other diamonds around it. So many, they wound nearly all the way around the band.
One big star in the middle, dozens of others twinkling around.
It was thick.
The weight was hefty.
But self-contained.
It wouldn’t catch on anything.
It was also striking. Feminine. Unusual.
Alex.
“I’ll take it,” he decided, shoving the box with Peri’s ring that was sitting on the glass in front of them toward the associate and handing her the one in his fingers.
“I’ll give you the ten percent and deal with my manager later,” she said.
“Obliged,” he grunted.
She nodded, smiled, and told him, “It’s gorgeous. She’ll love it.”
She would.
It was all her, an endless circle of Alex.
Also, even if people in her family’s sphere could afford something ten times more expensive, that ring made a statement.
Peri’s ring hadn’t been chump change.
She’d picked it.
He remembered his mom’s mouth pinching when they were discussing it, and how he’d gone five K over what he thought he could afford in order to get it for her.
“It’s her engagement ring, Mom,” he’d said.
“She isn’t getting an engagement ring, she’s getting a husband. She’s entering into a marriage. That lasts a while. In other words, Rix, she has time. She can upgrade.”
He’d gone for it anyway, because it made Peri happy.
And it had been a whack he’d dumped on that ring.
Alex’s was a fuckuva lot better.
That said, this ring would be returned before the 30-day return period ended.
But in the time Alex had it, it’d make her happy.
He didn’t say anything during the fittings.
He waited until he and Chloe were walking out of the tailor’s shop toward their vehicles, Chloe babbling.
“They took forever to get here, and it’ll be a push, but he promised they’d be ready by the time you leave next Tuesday. I haven’t used him yet, but I have it on good authority he’s exceptionally skilled.”
“Woman, stop.”
She stopped two ways.
Talking, and halting, as he did the same.
“I can read labels, Coco,” he told her.
She didn’t even bother to look guilty. “I know you can, Rix.”
He jabbed a finger at the door to the tailor. “I just got fitted for a sports jacket, five shirts, two suits and a goddamn tuxedo.”
“I do believe I was there, advising the tailor as this happened,” she drawled.
“And you’re charging me two grand for what’s gotta be at least ten grand worth of shit,” he concluded.