Always Been Mine (21 page)

This was definitely not the time to fill Isabel in on her wonderful night with Alex. Isabel obviously knew she’d spent the night with him, so, she had to know things had changed. Valerie could give her the details later.

Isabel rushed to take a shower and Valerie went to call her dad. She could hardly wait to tell him the news.

*

Even after the night they’d had, Alex couldn’t wait to get home to be with Valerie again. He talked to her several times during the day. She mentioned her lease again and not being able to move in with him right away, but he’d figure something out. He wasted too much time already being away from her.

She also said she had something she wanted to talk to him about. He wondered how long it would be before he’d be all caught up with her life. He wanted to know everything.

Alex smiled when he saw her car was already in his driveway. He’d given her a key that morning and asked if she could be there when he got home. He could certainly get used to this. They still had a lot to talk about, but mostly he just wanted to be with her, as much as possible.

She was in the kitchen preparing something when he walked in.

“Hey,” she said over her shoulder. “I hope you’re in the mood for tuna salad. You know me, I’m no cook.”

Alex wrapped his arms around her small waist from behind and kissed the side of her face. He murmured in her ear, “That’s not what I’m in the mood for eating.”

Valerie smiled and turned around and kissed him. He kissed her with the hunger he’d felt all the way home. She pulled away.

“Alex,” she was breathless already. “Let’s eat first. We have a lot to talk about.”

She turned around and grabbed the bowls of tuna salad off the counter and he followed right behind her. He had to control himself at least until after they settled this whole thing about her moving in.

He did more watching than listening as she explained the sordid story of Isabel, her family, and the blind date. He drank in every detail about her face, her hair, and the subtle movements she made when she spoke. Her big dark eyes shined when she said something that really moved her. She was amazing. He had to stop thinking about what he’d do to her later and pay attention.

When she was done, Alex lifted an eyebrow and finally ate some of his food. After chewing it he said, “Well, that’s what happens when you lie. Sucks for Romero, but I would’ve walked out too.”

She looked at him funny. “You think maybe you can talk to him?”

“And say what?”

“That she really is sorry. She tried going over to his place but he wasn’t there, and he won’t answer her calls. She was so miserable. I hated to leave her today.”

Alex didn’t like the sound of that. “Baby, he’s probably gonna be mad for a while as well he should be. But if he does get over it, I doubt it’ll be overnight. I seriously doubt anything I say will change that.”

She made the most adorable pouty face, and Alex laughed. “He probably won’t even answer my call, sweetheart. Knowing Romero he’s been at the gym all day and by now has had a few drinks.”

Valerie stood up and walked to the counter to get the rest of the tuna salad. Alex’s eyes followed her very nice behind. “You know,” she said reaching over to the end of the counter for Alex’s phone. “If they get back together, maybe Romero can take over my part of the lease. Other wise I have to stay there ‘til next year.”

“Next year?” Alex frowned as she sat back down next to him.

“Yep, just signed a one year lease earlier this year.” She placed his cell next to his bowl and gave him the most beautiful puppy dog eyes. With eyes like hers, he was toast. She
did
have a point about the lease. No way was he waiting until next year. He’d already taken half the day off tomorrow to get her stuff moved in.

He picked up his cell grudgingly. “So, what? I just tell him she’s sorry? Didn’t she already say that?”

Valerie gave him a look. “Tell him to answer his phone, because she really wants to explain, and she’s really upset.”

Alex went through his contacts. He couldn’t believe he was doing this, only for Valerie. He couldn’t even remember the last time he talked to Romero on the phone. He rarely chatted with any of his friends on the phone, especially not about women. This was going to be awkward.

The phone was on its third ring. Valerie watched him anxiously. Alex began to get his hopes up that Romero wouldn’t answer when he picked up.

Great, now he’d have to explain he was calling to talk to him about his love life. “I heard about what happened today. I just wanted to see how you were doin’.”

Alex leaned against the counter and put his arm across his chest. “Yeah, Ramon. I called ‘cause I wanted us to talk about your feelings. Who do you think made me call?”

Valerie laughed putting her arms around his waist. “We still don’t know if moving in together is something they’ve even talked about.”

He’d never get over the pleasure of having her in his arms, his life. “Well, next year ain’t happening, Z. You won’t have to pay anything here. So, just keep giving her your half of everything until the lease is up.”

Valerie peered at him.

“Why not? It’ll be kind of like before when you would spend several nights a week here, but you were technically still living at your place. Only now you’d be here every night.”

“I won’t live here rent free, Alex. Besides I thought we agreed we were going to take it slow?”

Alex leaned over and ran his hand over her perfectly round behind, “We are. First you move in for a while, then we get married.” He kissed her nose and grinned. “And there are other ways you can pay me that don’t involve money.”

Valerie giggled and kissed him, but then pulled back before he could get too crazed. “I’ll have to talk to her. I have a feeling she won’t want to take money from me, if I’m not actually living there.”

Alex hid his frustration. “So, don’t tell her you’re moving out then. Just call her every night to tell her you’re staying over
again
. You’re staying tonight right?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled and couldn’t resist kissing her. “I rearranged the schedule at the restaurant, so, I’ll get out of there early tomorrow. You think you can take half the day off?”

“Yeah, as long as I go in for a few hours in the morning, I can spare an afternoon off.”

Alex frowned remembering she’d be in the same office with Luke. He’d have to think of a way to change that. He wasn’t going to be able to deal with that for very long. That one would require more thought. In the meantime, he’d settle one thing at a time. “Good, so, I’ll drop you off tomorrow, and when I pick you up, we can go see about getting a restraining order against that guy, then pick up your things in my truck.”

Valerie unwrapped her arms from his waist and went back to the table. She grabbed her empty bowl and walked it back to the sink “Alex, I told you I have to talk to Isabel first, and I’m not going anywhere near a courthouse on a Monday.”

Alex pulled her too him as soon as she was close enough. “We can still pick up some of your stuff like more clothes and all your shoes. You can model them all for me tomorrow night.”

She tried to resist. “Let me wash these dishes.”

“I’ll get that later.” He picked her up, and she screeched. The visual of her prancing around in her high heels for him and nothing else had done it. “I’m done talking.” Instantly, she wrapped her legs around him, her breathing already labored by the time he reached the bedroom door.

*

The next morning Alex dropped her off at her office bright and early. He made sure he got out of the truck and gave her a very public goodbye kiss—a kiss no one would mistake for a friendly goodbye.

He was just loosening his hold on her when the black jaguar drove in the parking lot. Valerie went tense the second she saw it.

Luke glanced at them as he drove by.

Alex couldn’t leave now. He had to check the guy out. The night at the club he’d barely glanced at him before taking off. He watched as Luke opened up the backdoor of his car and pulled out his suit jacket. He was a good size guy, but he had nothing on Alex. The irritation of Valerie having to be in the same office with him all day rubbed Alex like a cheese grater.

Valerie finished gathering the things Alex hadn’t given her a chance to grab earlier. He’d been around to her side as soon as he stopped the truck.

“Alright, Alex. I’ll see you around one?”

Alex looked away from Luke long enough to address her. “Yeah, maybe earlier. I’ll call you.”

He kissed her one last time just as Luke walked by. He got in his truck and watched as Luke waited and held the door open for her then walked in after her. Oh, this would definitely have to change.

Valerie sat at her desk still trying to shake the incredible discomfort she’d felt when she walked into the office with Luke. He immediately asked if Alex was back in her life, and she had no choice but to say yes. She knew Alex would lay it on thick, but she hadn’t anticipated Luke driving up at such an opportune moment. The way Alex stared him down didn’t help either.

She gathered her things and walked to the conference room with everyone else. She tried concentrating on what Luke was talking about during the meeting. It seemed Luke was avoiding looking her way at all, but she didn’t mind. The last thing she wanted was to get locked into one of his stares. He began wrapping it up.

“I made a few changes to the uptime schedules. Check your e-mails.”

That caught Valerie’s attention she was supposed to have uptime that afternoon. It was odd. Luke had always made her uncomfortable from the moment she met him with his excessive eye contact. Then later with his locked stares. Today it seemed he’d gone out of his way to avoid looking her way during the meeting.

She checked her email first thing when she logged onto her computer. She typically had a ton of email to sift through Monday mornings. Especially if she hadn’t looked at it over the weekend, and this weekend she hadn’t touched her laptop. His email was the very first one, which meant he’d sent it that morning.

There were only a couple of changes, but he’d changed her uptime to Wednesday afternoon. Valerie felt her face heat. Was he kidding? It was bad enough he’d changed it already from Monday mornings to Monday afternoon. Wednesday was their slowest day, especially for calls.

Valerie marched straight to his office. He looked up when she walked in without knocking. “I’ve had uptime on Mondays for as long as I can remember.”

Valerie ignored his question. “When are you rotating it again? Wednesday’s pure shit. I’d rather not
have
uptime.”