Rascal (Rascals Book 1)(20)

I reached for the door, about to open it and pull him inside with me so I could have my naughty way with him, but before I could, he pulled away. He looked as dazed as I felt, which is why I didn’t understand why he was letting go of me.

“I should go,” he said, his voice husky.

“No.” I wrapped my hand around his tie. “You should stay.”

He shook his head. “Raincheck,” he told me. “When we haven’t had this much to drink.”

He wasn’t drunk at all, I could tell, but there was something sweet about his insistence in being a gentleman. Sweet, but annoying too.

“OK,” I told him, trying not to feel rejected.

“Next time,” he promised, kissing me on the cheek. “I promise.”

I sincerely hoped it was a promise he intended to keep.





8





Alex





At least I felt that way until I woke up the next morning and remembered all the reasons I couldn’t get involved with Emerson. The main one being that I didn’t have time to date. I barely had time for sex—with or without another person present. And I really couldn’t afford to be distracted, which is how I felt all morning.

Luckily, I had the perfect solution for my distraction—yoga and brunch with my two besties. There was nothing in the world that couldn’t be solved by some downward facing dogs followed by bottomless mimosas.

Decked out in yoga pants and a ratty T-shirt, I headed downstairs, hoping that I wouldn’t run into Emerson on my way to meet Kelsey and Jenna.

Instead, I ran into someone else familiar.

“Are you Alex?” The petite brunette from the other night practically ran out of the bar.

“Hi,” I greeted her, trying to remember her name. “Hayley, right?”

She beamed at me. “Emerson told me all about you,” she said. She was very pretty, in her early twenties, with her brother’s dark brown hair and dark eyes. But she was much shorter than he was, curvy as well as petite, and had a smattering of freckles across her cheeks that made her look younger than she probably was.

“I hope he’s told you good things,” I teased.

Her eyes widened. “Oh yes, definitely. He thinks you’re great.”

I couldn’t help blushing.

“You live upstairs?” Hayley asked. “Is it horribly noisy?”

“It’s not quiet,” I confirmed. “But it hasn’t been so bad.”

“You should get a broom or something and bang on the floor when they get too loud.”

I laughed. “I don’t know if it would be effective, unfortunately.”

She twisted her face into a frown. “No, I guess you’re right.” She brightened. “Emerson’s apartment is really quiet. Really nice too.”

If I had been drinking something, I would have spit it out. Hayley was bold. Clearly she hoped something was going on between her brother and me.

“We’re just friends,” I told her.

“Uh huh,” she said, giving me a knowing wink.

I shook my head, amused.

“I should go,” I told her. “But I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

“You will,” she confirmed, and she disappeared back into the restaurant.

I felt a little like I had been run over by a truck. Hayley was clearly someone who did what she wanted, and didn’t seem to have any self-consciousness about it. I could learn a thing or two.

I headed to yoga, where Jenna and Kelsey were waiting for me outside.

Yoga was Jenna’s favorite way to spend a morning. I was more interested in the mimosas that were coming afterwards, but I wanted to spend time with my friends, and I could probably use some quiet time to focus on myself.

“Kelsey told me you went on a date last night!” Jenna gave me a hug, smelling—as she always did—of incense.

She was a bit of a health nut and very much into the world of alternative medical practices—everything from crystals to cupping to reiki. I could only imagine what the people I worked with would think of someone like her with her wild hair and multi-colored nails and an excess of scarves.

“It wasn’t a date,” I objected, even though it’d had all the trappings of a date, including a very hot good-night kiss. Just thinking about it made me blush.

“Oh my God!” Kelsey let out a little shriek. “Something happened!”

I couldn’t keep much from them, so as we headed inside, I confessed to the kiss. Not just last night’s kiss, but the first kiss, the one in the ATM vestibule. They stared at me, slack-jawed, as I told them everything. Both of their reactions were entirely predictable.

Kelsey clutched her hands to her chest, her expression dreamy.

“That is so romantic,” she sighed. “Like it was meant to be.”

I rolled my eyes at my aggressively romantic friend.

“Maybe I should try to get myself locked in an ATM vestibule with Justin,” she mused, her attention always going back to her clueless CEO.

“You should pursue this!” Jenna told me. “Sex is good for relaxation. And you, my friend, need to relax.”

“I thought that’s what yoga was for,” I reminded them, as the rest of our class assembled inside.