Love, Lies, and Deception(11)

“I would be happy to,” he said, offering to take my empty bowl. Protesting, I pushed his hand away and grabbed it before following him into the kitchen and placing it in the sink. Alec smiled at me before uncovering the pan he had on the stove, and what did you know, it was lasagna.

“Is it so bad to let me wait on you?” he inquired, scooping a generous helping of lasagna onto a plate.

Taking the plate he offered, I answered. “No, it’s just I’ve always done things for myself. I’m an independent woman, you know. I don’t need a man taking care of me.”

“I see that.” He grinned wolfishly. “However, you might want to make an exception on that,” he informed me while never taking his eyes off of me.

My cheeks blushed crimson at his heated stare, and I could feel the fire behind it burning me to the core. My arm brushed against his as I moved past him to the table. Setting down my plate of lasagna, I took a seat. The food smelled delicious, but I didn’t want to look like a ravenous beast in front of him by scarfing down my food like I usually would. Instead, I watched him intently as he sat down gracefully across from me with his plate piled high with his masterpiece.

He speared me with his steely blue gaze and asked, “Do you want to know what I thought about you when I first saw you?” He paused to take a bite of his lasagna and I couldn’t help but watch his mouth while he chewed.

Did I want to know what he thought about me? Hesitantly, I nodded and shrugged my shoulders. “Sure, I guess … why not?”

He casually laid down his fork and leaned back in his chair. “Now don’t get upset, but my first thought was ‘f*ck she’s hot’. However, from my usual experience with hot girls, they were normally just after my money and complete bitches.”

Before I could interrupt he held up his hands and continued, “No, let me finish. I promise I wasn’t saying that about you.” Once I relaxed, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Where I come from there’s nothing but fake and phony people; people that just want to use you. It was all I knew, and what I expected from everyone. Luckily, you are different. You seemed so lost when I first laid eyes on you. It was like I could feel your pain, but that’s changed now. I guess you sort of reminded me of myself.”

“People can change,” I admitted earnestly. “And I was lost when you first saw me. My parents had died not too long before you moved in, and I had a hard time dealing with it. It’s still hard to this day, but I get by.”

The tears prickled behind my eyes, but I reined them in. I did not want to cry in front of Alec, so I decided to focus on my food. He leaned forward in his chair and spoke softly, “I’m so sorry, Marissa. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I haven’t experienced anything like that so I can’t really tell you I understand.”

I waved him off and lifted my gaze to his. “It’s okay … really. They died in a car accident, and I guess the shock of losing them both at the same time was just too much. Thankfully, I had my sister and my friends to help me through it.”

“Well, I’m glad you had them to help you. I miss my friends back home, the waves, and the beaches … all of it. My parents still live in Newport along with my older brother.”

In that moment, he actually looked lonely. To be honest, I never saw him hanging out with anyone around the apartment complex or anywhere for that matter. I guess I could see why he was lonely. He was secluded in his own little world.

“I know you said it was a long story, but you have to give me something to go on here. For all I know, you could be a psycho killer. Let’s start with the basics, how old are you?”

“Twenty-five,” he answered.

“Do you go to ASU?”

“No, I tried the whole college thing back home, but I never quite finished.”

“Where did you go? What were you majoring in?” I asked.

He pushed his food around on his plate and sighed. “I went to Berkeley and I was studying economics. It was mainly my parents doing, but my mind at the time was just on surfing … among other things,” he muttered regretfully.

I could tell it was a sore subject so I decided not to push him to answer any more questions about it. “Do you have a girlfriend?” I asked nervously.

I didn’t miss the amused smirk that graced his lips at the question, and I was glad his mood started to shift. With a slow, seductive tilt to his lips, he remarked huskily, “No, I don’t have a girlfriend. Why? Are you interested?”

Biting my lip, I tried to rein in my nervous smile by acting coy. “I’m not going to answer that just yet. Okay, next question. If you don’t go to school, what do you do? Do you work?”

Lifting an eyebrow, he paused and cleared his throat. “Yes, I work, and it happens to be for my great aunt, Judith. She lives in Blowing Rock and since she’s gotten too old to manage her house I was told to come out here and help her fix it up. To be honest, though, I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. This place has grown on me.”

His eyes had lit up when he spoke about his aunt so I could definitely tell he loved her; it was endearing to hear the gratitude in his voice.

“What about you?” he asked inquisitively. “I can tell you’re probably a couple of years younger than me, so I’m guessing twenty-three?”