Playing It Safe(69)

“I went for a run right after work and then came straight here.” He steps into the foyer while I’m still standing in the same exact spot. “Is it okay if I use your shower to wash up before dinner? I promise I’ll be really fast.”

He presses a light kiss to my lips and drops his overnight bag on the floor. “Sure, go ahead. Dinner should be ready in about ten, fifteen minutes tops.”

His dimpled smile is the last thing I need to tack on to the visual ambrosia I’m still feasting on as he starts to walk toward my bathroom.

“Alex,” I call out to him. And yes, I’m still holding the freaking door open and letting a crapload of mosquitoes in the house. I can’t help it; I’m a goner right now. I point at the hat on his head and ask, “Do you normally wear those?”

Shrugging his shoulders while still smiling, he answers, “I usually do when I’m working out. Why?”

“No reason. Just curious is all,” I say, trying to sound dismissive.

He’s about to start heading down the hallway when he stops and looks back at me with a confused look on his face. “Julia, are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because you’re still holding the door wide open and looking at me like I grew two heads, that’s why.”

“Oh shit,” I mumble under my breath and close it finally. I hear his laugh floating down the hallway until it disappears behind the bathroom door.

The smell of the food in the kitchen that I still need to tend to breaks me out of my trance. Just barely though. I get my bearings long enough to traipse back in there and get back to work, all the while envisioning Alex wearing that hat. Lord help me, it may be my undoing, which sucks because I need to focus and be able to have this conversation with him. I promised Lisette I’d do it, and knowing her, she’ll be in my office first thing in the morning to make sure I did.

Okay, I need to cut the shit. I start prepping the plates and silverware on the kitchen table. When I turn back around to open the oven, I hear the shower being turned off, signaling to me that Alex will be back out here momentarily.

“That smells delicious,” I hear him say behind me a minute later. “What did you make?” I pivot my torso while talking. “Baked tilapia in garlic butter sauce with …”

My mouth is probably still moving, but I have no clue as to what is coming out of it since I’m staring at a very scrumptious Alex still a little wet from the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. His arms are crossed over his chest, and he’s leaning against the wall. Were it not for the fact that I know this is Alex, I would have thought Sawyer from Lost was standing right in front of me. As a matter of fact, there is an episode of Lost—season one, episode twelve, called “Whatever the Case May Be,” and yes, I’m an über Lost geek—where Sawyer goes swimming, and when he comes out of the quarry he looks so incredibly delicious. That is exactly what Alex looks like right now.

I’m watching a rivulet of water roll down his chest when I hear Alex say my name, which breaks me out of my fantasy of skinny-dipping in a quarry with Sawyer. Oops, I mean Alex.

“Dude, you have got to be shitting me right now.”

“Did you just call me dude?”

I motion my hand toward him up and down as I say, “I did, because have you seen yourself? First the hat and now this?”

Alex bites his bottom lip to keep from laughing. “I had to come out here to get my bag that I left by the door.”

“Well go and get it before I start calling you Sawyer and make you call me Freckles.”

“Who are those people?” he asks in an amused voice.

“It’s not important right now,” I answer quickly. “Just please, for the love of everything that is holy, please put some clothes on.”

Now he’s stalking toward me with a devilish smirk on his face. When he closes the distance between us, he pulls the oven mitts off of my hands and places them on the counter. Next he hooks his hands loosely around my neck while his thumbs are softly rubbing up and down against my pulse, which is probably beating erratically right now.

“You have a thing for hats, huh?” Alex asks while still grinning.

“You could say that.”

Using his thumbs for leverage, he tilts my face up and brushes his lips against mine, so feather-soft that it barely registers, but it’s enough that I know if it keeps up we’ll be forgetting about dinner.

“Alex?”

“Julia?”

I smile against his mouth and open my eyes to find his blue ones sweetly staring back at me.

His voice full of concern, he asks, “Why are your eyes so red? Did something upset you?”

With a small sigh, I grab hold of his wrists. “No, nothing like that. It’s really stupid, actually, and you’re going to laugh when I tell you about it during dinner.” I inch up on my toes and kiss him lightly again before I add, “Speaking of which, go on and get dressed so I can finish up in here and we can finally eat.”

“That’s right, before you call me … what was the name again?” he playfully asks.

“Sawyer,” I mumble under my breath.

“Right. I guess I have some competition.”

“Um, he’s a character on my favorite TV show, so you’re pretty safe.”