Playing It Safe(77)

“Julia, don’t worry about her. She’s been trying to get her claws into Alex for a while, but he wants nothing to do with her. Trust me when I tell you that I have not seen my brother this happy in a very long time, and that’s all because of you.”


“Really?”

“Scout’s honor.”

And speak of the devil, Alex appears in the doorway of his bathroom looking concerned and worried.

“What the hell happened?”

He bends down and kneels in front of me while Vanessa tells him I got nailed in the face by a f*cking prop.

He kisses my forehead and tries to gently tug my hand away. “Let me see.”

“Nope, it looks ugly as all hell, and I don’t care if that makes me a vain person, but you definitely don’t need to see this.”

Vanessa chuckles and starts to walk out of the bathroom. “You two lovebirds can figure this out while I go find Julia some aspirin.” She gives me a wink over her shoulder and closes the door behind her.

Alex tries again to pry my hand away, but I don’t budge. “Baby, no matter what it looks like, you’ll still be gorgeous to me.”

I breathe in through my mouth and blow it out through my nose. Closing my eyes and on the count of three, I drop the towel from my face.

He doesn’t say a word, so I open my eyes. “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

Alex leans forward and ever so gently places a kiss over the welt on my face. He pulls back an inch until he is all I can see with the one eye because the left one is squinty at this point.

“Gorgeous. Perfect,” he whispers.

I smile. “You’re just saying that because you’re my boyfriend and you know I’d kick your ass if you didn’t.”

He chuckles and brushes the ponytail off my shoulder. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

“Not right now, but definitely in the foreseeable future.” I bring my hand up to lightly touch my face and add, “I’m going to have to wear a goddamn eye patch or something and look like a freaking pirate, aren’t I?”

“You’d be the sexiest pirate I know.”

“I’d be the only pirate you know.”

He brings the towel back up to my face and gets me to stand up. When he opens the bathroom door, he makes sure that his bedroom door is closed before leading me to his bed.

“Alex, what are you doing? We can’t be fooling around while the party is going on. Plus, I have to go and keep an eye on everything.”

“Shhh, stop talking,” he says and sits me down on the bed.

He arranges the pillows behind me on the headboard and pulls my feet off the floor and onto the mattress.

“Okay, before the stop talking thing was really cute, but now … not so much.”

He ignores my commentary but grins anyway as he arranges me until I’m propped up with the pillows on his bed. He sits down beside me on my right side and throws his arm around my shoulders.

“Stop worrying about the party. I’m sure Lisette can handle it for a bit by herself while you rest.”

“You have a house full of people. You really don’t need to stay with me. I’ll just rest for a while, and I’ll meet up with you later,” I say.

“Vanessa will take care of the guests.”

“But—”

“But nothing,” he insists. “Lean into me and relax for a little while.”

Well this certainly isn’t how I thought the day would go, I think, resting my head on his shoulder. On top of that, I feel terrible that I’m taking him away from his family on such a big day.

“Alex, this sucks, and I’m sorry that you’re stuck in here with me when you have a house full of people over for your niece’s birthday party.”

He tilts my face up carefully. “I’d rather be here with you right now than with anyone else at this party.”

“Don’t let Josie hear you say that,” I say through a chuckle.

“You know what I mean,” he says, his voice growing sincere.

I do know what he means, and it makes me feel incredibly happy. I’m sure I’m grinning like a one-eyed pirate at him right now because of it.

He ducks his head to press a feather-soft kiss on the top of my head before letting me adjust myself on his shoulder again. “Get some rest, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

My heart may have just skipped a beat or two. It definitely does a few seconds later when his hand starts to rub small circles on my back. Melting farther into his warmth, I let him lull me into a state of complete relaxation. My eyes grow heavy, and I have no choice but to give in to sleep, where I dream about Marisa getting pelted with Quaffle ball after Quaffle ball until she’s covered in huge, ugly welts. Best dream ever.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

It’s been a week since Josie’s party.

The welt is still visible but not swollen anymore. The purplish hue has grown to a lovely shade of yellow and purple. I think because it’s so close to Halloween most people think I’m wearing zombie makeup or something, so it’s all good in the end.

Anyway, I’m on my way to meet my brother Darren for a couple of drinks in Coconut Grove. I was supposed to have dinner with Alex, but he had to cancel because of a last-minute meeting he scheduled with an artist at a studio that he’s trying to book for the gallery. He did say he’d be coming over afterward, so that gave me enough time to play catch-up with my little brother.