“Not if you have opposable thumbs,” she replied just as quickly.

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

  “Oh, my thumbs work just fine,” I said, digging my left one into the arch of her foot. “Perfect for massages.”

  “And we’re back to cocky,” she said with a grin, flopping backward on the couch.

  “I prefer to call it confident in my abilities,” I said, winking at her as I rubbed her feet.

  “Don’t do that again,” she said seriously.

  I immediately let go of her feet.

  “No, keep doing that,” she said, nudging me with a foot. “Don’t wink.”

  “Don’t wink?”

  “No. It’s creepy.”

  I sputtered, “What?”

  “Winking is creepy,” she said, wrinkling her nose a little. “It’s weird.”

  “I’ve never heard that before.”

  “Really?” she asked skeptically.

  “Yes, really,” I replied. “No one has ever called me creepy before.”

  “You’re not creepy. Just the winking. It’s like the universal disturbing gesture of everyone’s weird uncle,” she said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

  “I really like you,” I said with a sigh, smiling back at her. “But I’m not sure if this relationship is good for my ego.”

  “Maybe,” she conceded. “But I bet your personality improves exponentially.”

  Dear God, I’d met my match.

  Chapter 6

  SARAI

  Alex was incredible. I stared at him happily as he spoke, my feet still in his lap.

  “I’m just saying,” he muttered, throwing his hands in the air, “if you’re putting a bunch of salt and pepper on your food, you’re pretty much telling whoever cooked it that it sucks.”

  “That’s not true,” I argued, laughing as I pointed at him. “Some people like things spicier than others.”

  “Fine,” he said. “But salt? Come on.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out.

  “Exactly,” he said in satisfaction.

  “Okay, you might be onto something.”

  “I am.” He shifted a little, then went back to softly rubbing my foot. “It’s rude to add a bunch of seasoning.”

  “What about condiments?” I asked thoughtfully.

  “Don’t even get me started,” he said with a huff.

  I had no idea how our conversation had morphed into a debate about food, but I couldn’t deny how much I was enjoying it. I loved learning more about him, even little things. The smile on my face faded, though, as he shifted again, trying to get comfortable.

  Alex had grown more pale as the night went on, making his tanned skin look sickly. He was trying to ignore it or maybe just hide it from me, but when he shifted for the tenth time in about fifteen minutes, I couldn’t brush aside how much pain he was in any longer.

  “You need to go home,” I said softly, cutting off his opinion about putting ketchup on eggs.

  “What?” he asked with a confused laugh.

  “You need to be in bed with your leg up.” I pulled my feet from his lap and sat up on the couch. “Or go to the hospital.”

  “I’m not going to the hospital in the middle of the night. Hospitals are for emergencies.”

  “Well, you need to do something,” I replied, gesturing at his leg. “You’re in pain.”

  “It’s fine,” he said, brushing off my concern.

  “Well, it needs to be fine in bed.”

  “I could sleep in your bed,” he said with a sly smile.

  “You haven’t even seen me naked,” I said drily. “You’re not sleeping in my bed.”

  “Okay.” He grinned. “Strip.”

  “Dream on, Casanova,” I said with a surprised laugh.

  He smiled wide and gave an exaggerated wink, making me snicker.

  “I had a really good time tonight,” Alex murmured, gingerly lowering his foot to the floor. He didn’t stand up, just sat there looking at me.

  “So did I,” I replied. “Next time we’ll have to watch a movie or something.”

  “I’d rather watch you.”

  “Oh, brother,” I teased. “So smooth.”

  “Tough crowd,” he said to the nonexistent audience in my living room. He pushed himself to his feet and let out a big sigh.

  “Can you make it home okay?” I asked nervously. Now that I was kicking him out, I wasn’t so sure that it was a good idea to make him drive all the way home. He wasn’t putting any weight on his bad knee, and judging by the strain on his face, he was having a hard time standing.

  “I’ll make it home fine,” he said. It wasn’t bravado. His tone was kind, like he didn’t want me to worry.

  I walked him to the door slowly, and with every step, I questioned whether I should just ask him to stay the night. How would that play out, though? My couch was way too small for either of us to sleep on comfortably—not that he’d let me sleep on it anyway. So…he’d sleep next to me when we’d only kissed a couple of times, and we’d cuddle? I wouldn’t sleep. I’d be worried all night that he’d see me snoring with my mouth wide open or I’d accidentally kick his knee.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said as we got to my front door.

  “Let me know what the doctor says about your knee,” I said.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He rested his hand on the doorknob but didn’t turn it. Instead, he used it to balance himself as he leaned down and kissed me.

  It was a good kiss. One of the best I’d ever had.

  Here’s the thing about kissing—you could say someone does it well, but it’s all subjective. A person could say that their partner kisses well because he barely uses his tongue, while another person could think that kisser is awful because he doesn’t use his tongue enough. It’s all about the chemistry and the dance. Kissing is a team sport, a little give and take, making sure that the other person is getting what they want while also taking a little yourself.

  With all that said, I was pretty sure Alex was a good kisser no matter who you asked. He wasn’t crazy or hurried; he didn’t overwhelm. He just kind of waited to see what I did, and did the same thing. The kiss was leisurely and smooth, and one of his hands cupped the side of my face as he took it deeper. By the time he pulled away, my head was almost spinning, and I stutter-stepped a little as his hand left my face.

  “Well, that just keeps getting better,” he said huskily. He chuckled softly. “Thank you for having me over.”

  “Thanks for bringing me dinner,” I replied quietly. “Be careful driving home.”

  “Of course.” He leaned forward and kissed the top of my head, and then he was gone.

  I stood just inside the door for a long time. Normally I would have watched him through the window, but I was afraid if I had to see him limp toward his truck, I would call him back inside. I wasn’t ready for a sleepover yet. I just wasn’t. I liked Alex a lot, but sleeping with someone was a little more intimate than I was ready for.

  Eventually, I moved away from the door and started cleaning up our dishes. My heart was still racing, and my face felt warm from that kiss. He was right—it was getting better. Our first kiss had been spontaneous and sweet, full of excitement but rushed. This one had been slow and smooth. It was like the difference between a lollipop and a piece of expensive chocolate: both had their place, but the chocolate was so much better.

  I’d just put our dishes away and straightened up the pillows on the couch when my phone beeped with a text message.

  Home. Naked. In bed. ;)

  I grinned.

  Glad you’re safely naked in bed. How’s the knee?

  Swollen.

  You should have stayed off of it tonight—you probably made it worse.

  Worth it.

  I couldn’t keep the giddy smile off my face as I turned off the lights in the apartment, working my way to the bedroom. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun just sitting at home without a good book in my hands.

  I tossed my phone on the bed, stripped out of my clothes, and headed into my bathroom in my underwear. I always washed my face and brushed my teeth before bed. It was a ritual I’d started when I was a little girl. If I didn’t do those two things, I found that I couldn’t fall asleep. Instead, I’d just obsess about them until I crawled back out of bed and got them done.

  I froze as I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

  When Alex texted me about dinner, I’d rushed around to make sure everything was tidy before he got there, completely forgetting that I had spot treatment on a couple of breakouts. I stared in horror at the two little white spots on my jaw, one of them smeared from Alex’s hands when we’d kissed.

  With a groan, I got my toothbrush out and started brushing, glaring at myself in the mirror.

  When I climbed into bed I sent an embarrassed text to Alex.

  Why didn’t you tell me I had stuff on my face?! Haha

  He texted back quickly. You did? :p

  I sent a face-palm emoji in reply.

  Why would I embarrass you? No big deal,babe.

  My stomach fluttered at the endearment.

  Next time, let me know. LOL

  I will, he replied. Then another text came through.

  I’m going to try to get some rest. Sleep well, beautiful.

  As I pulled the blankets up to my chin, I wondered where all of this would go. I was a romantic; I believed in happily-ever-afters and finding the person who you’d be with for the rest of your life. I’d seen it happen. Was this it?

  I wasn’t ready yet. I’d mapped out the next few years, and the plan was to graduate and be settled in my career before I found the person I wanted to spend my life with. Anxiety made my stomach churn. Maybe I could tweak the plan a little. It wasn’t as if it was set in stone, and I knew I wasn’t willing to say good-bye to Alex because the timing was off.

  I hadn’t even had sex with Alex yet, and this thing we had already felt different than anything I’d ever encountered before. There was an easiness between us, a weird feeling like I’d known him forever. I fell asleep thinking about the way his eyes crinkled at the sides when he smiled at me.

  * * *

  “You’re seeing Alex!” Hailey sang happily as she slid into the seat next to me in our business-communications class. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because there isn’t anything to tell yet,” I replied, laughing at the wounded look on her face. “We’ve hung out a couple times.”

  “Sean said that Alex told him that you two were together,” she said quietly, as if she were letting me in on a huge secret.

  “Interesting,” I replied, raising one eyebrow. I was surprised that they’d spoken at all. From what I’d noticed, Alex didn’t like Sean.

  For the next three hours, we listened to our professor make connections between the subject material and a movie he’d seen that weekend. None of his stories ever made sense, but we humored him. He was the one grading our papers, and we couldn’t afford to point out that he was rambling completely off topic. Plus, I liked Professor Morrow. He reminded me of one of my neighbors from New York. The old man had spent most of his time alone, and whenever he had company, he’d talk for the entire visit, barely letting his guest get a word in edgewise.

  “Well?” Hailey asked when we took a fifteen-minute break.

  “Well what?” I asked, pulling an apple and some crackers out of my bag.

  “Well, are you two together?”

  “I guess.”

  “You guess?” she asked, looking at me like I’d grown an extra head. “Where’s the excitement? Where’s the joy? Where’s the drama?”

  “You’ve got enough drama for both of us,” I replied, taking a bite of my apple. Hailey was all drama, all the time. That was probably why we got along so well—she was my complete opposite.

  “Oh, whatever.” She swept away my words with a wave of her hand. “I can’t believe you guys hit it off. And all because of that double date.”

  “It wasn’t the double date,” I said around my food, shaking my head. “I turned him down that night.”

  “What?” Her eyes grew so wide it looked like they were going to pop out of her head. “Why the hell would you do that?”

  “Because I’m busy.”

  “No one is that busy,” she argued, stealing one of my crackers. “Alex is like a frigging unicorn. You don’t tell a unicorn you’re too busy—you just bask in its magnificence for as long as it allows.”

  “I think you’re giving him too much credit,” I said, laughing a little. “He’s just a guy.”

  “Unicorn,” she replied stubbornly.

  “Handsome, yes.”

  “Hotter than the sun, you mean?”

  “And charming.”

  “He could talk a nun into stripping out of her habit. To music. On a pole.”

  I burst out laughing, choking on the apple. “Stop it,” I said, wheezing.

  “You know it’s true,” she said, pointing a cracker at me.

  “Well, he hasn’t convinced me to strip out of anything,” I said with a shrug.

  “No,” she whispered, her mouth hanging open. “You haven’t hit that yet?”

  “Ew, don’t say hit that.” I wrinkled my nose.

  “He’s telling people that you’re together, and you haven’t even had sex yet?” she asked in a whisper, completely ignoring the way I’d tried to change the direction of our conversation. “Whoa.”

  “We’re getting to know each other,” I replied with a shrug.

  Alex and I hadn’t had a chance to meet up over the weekend. I’d been completely bogged down with schoolwork and forced myself to stay home and get it done. It was getting harder to focus on my classes and work when my mind seemed to be stuck on Alex all the time. It turned out that he’d sprained his ACL during practice. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but I knew it was serious enough that he had to do physical therapy to get it back to normal. I wanted to take care of him while it healed and spend more time relaxing on the couch while we learned more about each other. And frankly, I wanted sex. I could admit it. I wanted to see him naked and do all sorts of dirty things to him.

  It just wasn’t the right time yet. Soon, though, I hoped.

  “You guys should come over for dinner this week,” Hailey said, as if it were the best idea she’d ever had. “Shit, I have to pee. Be right back.”

  She took off in a hurry, and I knew she’d never get back before class started again. Thankfully, Professor Morrow treated Hailey like a featherbrained granddaughter and never chastised her when she was late.

  I put away my snack as students started filtering back into the room. Damn, I really didn’t want to have dinner with Hailey and Sean, but I had no idea how to get out of it. I knew Hailey wouldn’t let it go, though. If I didn’t tell her no, she’d remind me over and over until we made set plans.

  The thought of eating a meal with Sean made me want to cry. Okay, maybe not cry, but it was pretty low on my list of things I’d enjoy. He was a jackass, and I wished he’d never even met my friend. Hailey had stopped talking about him as much lately, and I was pretty sure it was because there was nothing good to say. She knew that I wasn’t his biggest fan, and I think she might have been afraid to say anything against him and make my opinion of him even worse.

  Thankfully, Hailey didn’t make it back before Professor Morrow started speaking, and by the time she slid back into her seat, the entire class was silent. She didn’t have any opportunity to bring the dinner up again.

  * * *

  “He’s such an asshole,” I muttered two days later as Alex and I drove toward Sean and Hailey’s little house.

  I’d been correct when I’d assumed that Hailey wouldn’t let the invitation to dinner go unanswered. I hadn’t expected her to have Sean ask Alex about it, though.

  “He’ll probably be on his best behavior since he’s not drinking tonight.” Alex reached over and laced his fingers through mine so he could hold my hand.

  “How do you know he’s not drinking?” I asked, watching Alex’s thumb smooth over the back of my hand.

  “We’ve got a fitness test tomorrow,” he said. “And I’m sure he doesn’t want to fail it.”

  “How’s that going to go for you?” I asked, glancing at his knee. It was wrapped in a brace, and it still looked painful even though Alex was barely limping anymore.

  “No test for me,” Alex replied. “Just physical therapy for a while.”

  “I can’t believe you hurt it during a practice,” I teased.

  “Yeah, yeah.” He grinned. “At least I got out of that softball commitment, though. Now we have Tuesdays and Fridays.”

  “And we’re spending it at Hailey and Sean’s,” I replied with a sigh.

  “It won’t be that bad,” he said, laughing a little. “We’ll have dinner and then leave.”

  “I don’t understand how you’re still friends with him.” I leaned my head against the headrest. “He’s a terrible person.”

  “I’m not,” he said, glancing at me. “But Hailey is your friend, so I thought you’d want to go.”

  “Oh,” I murmured in surprise.

  “I had no idea what an asshole Sean was before their party,” Alex said. “But I don’t usually make a habit of hanging out with douchebags. It’s not really my thing.”

  “Right,” I murmured, thinking back to the way he’d handled the man who’d groped me at Hailey’s party.

  We pulled up to the house a few minutes later, and as soon as Alex turned off the truck, I reached for my door handle, but I didn’t get very far, because Alex was pulling my hand in the opposite direction.

  “Hey,” he said quietly, smiling at me. “Come here.”

  I leaned toward him and let out a small sigh as his free hand brushed my hair away from my face.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said against my lips.

  The kiss was short, but it held the same impact as the last one we’d shared at my house. I wouldn’t have been surprised if little cartoon hearts had floated out of my ears and fluttered around my head as soon as he pulled his lips from mine.