"It was delicious." Her smile was brilliantly white, and male satisfaction filled him.
"And you're enjoying the evening?" God, why was he acting like a pussy all of the sudden? He had never felt so unsure about his actions until this very moment.
"Of course, Alex." Damn, the way she said his name was like fingers traveling along his body. Now it was his turn to blush. He leaned back in his seat and brought his beer mug to his mouth. He could still picture her opening the door when he picked her up earlier. She had looked stunning, and he didn't think he had ever used that word to describe a female, but he sure as fuck did with her. He was doing a lot of things he normally didn't do. She was wearing a strapless white dress with lacy looking flowers scattered around it, and the slight swells of her breasts gently rose above the top of the neckline. He had sported instant wood when he had first seen her. It wasn't just about how fucking hot she was, or that he felt so nervous around her, it was also about the way her smile seemed to light up the whole damn room, and how every time she turned that smile on him he felt lost.
"Alex?" He blinked a few times and realized he had been staring at her chest as his thoughts wandered. "Are you okay? You didn't answer me."
"I'm sorry, I was just thinking."
"Lost in thought, huh? Or do you mean looking at my boobs?" He chuckled for her calling him out.
Alex grinned. "What can I say? You're gorgeous, and when I'm around you I can't think clearly." He hadn't said it to embarrass her further, but once again her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. "You blush a lot." He took a drink of his beer and looked at her over the rim. She glanced down and started playing with her napkin.
"Yeah, it's a curse. I can't hide what I'm thinking or feeling because I turn redder than a tomato." He didn't say anything because he wanted her to look at him. When she did he leaned forward, took her hand, and brought it to his mouth to give her a light kiss on her knuckles.
"I like that I make you blush." His voice was low, and he made sure to hold her gaze with his own. He was such a sucker for her, but it felt damn good. "Tell me something about yourself that no one else knows." He kept her hand in his and stared into her eyes. They were such a pretty shade of blue, and contrasted with the darkness of her hair.
"There really isn't anything to tell. I'm a pretty boring person." He didn't believe that for one minute, not with the fire she had behind her eyes, or the way she could give as good as she could take.
"I don't believe that." She lowered her eyes, and he wished he could hear what she was thinking. "How about I start first, yeah?" She looked at him.
"All right."
"I have a sister that's your age, so three years younger than me. She started dating this guy that I hated. I thought he was an asshole and used girls." All of a sudden he felt shame, because for all the shit he had given Reese, and the fact he had warned Kiera about him, Alex was no different. Here he was, telling her something he never told anyone else, because he didn't even fucking realize what a damn douche he truly was. "Honestly, I don't know why I am the way I am." Shit it was crazy to say this stuff aloud, especially to someone that he cared about. "I have used girls, no doubt made them feel like shit, but never thought twice about it. My sister and her boyfriend are pretty serious. I hated him for how he hurt her, and let his reputation and rumors on how he fucked a lot of girls make this toxic pool inside of me. But time went on, and they made up, and are now living together. For as much crap as I gave him, he ended up being really a stand-up guy and a hell of a lot better than me." She didn't respond, but there was no judgment in her face. "I was shitty to him, kicked his ass because he hurt my sister, but it all turned out to be this huge misunderstanding."
Shit, why did he tell her that? Why was she telling her any of this? Yeah, she knew his reputation, but actually saying aloud made it seem … real.
When the silence stretched between them he started to grow uncomfortable, thinking he may have really fucked up good by confirming what she most likely gathered from rumors.
"Although I had heard all about your exploits, I think you're a pretty great guy, bad boy reputation and all."
Her saying that meant more to him than she would ever know. Alex hung his head and actually felt his fucking cheeks heat from her compliment. Clearing his throat and forcing himself to look at her again, he was struck for the millionth time by how beautiful she was. The light right above her was muted and cast a warm glow over her, like it was a halo and she was this fallen angel. "Enough about me. Who are you really, Mary? What's your favorite color? Do you have a favorite animal, food, or scent? I just want to know something, anything about you, Mary."
"I hate the color red; my favorite food is lasagna, and I love the scent of Christmas trees. I've even stockpiled the aerosol cans of that scent when they are on sale during the holidays so I can smell it year-round."
He couldn't hold back the chuckle that left him, and was pleased when she smiled. He reached across the table and gave her hand a light squeeze to urge her to continue. He wanted to know every minute thing about her.
"You really want to know the boring stuff?"
"It isn't boring stuff to me, Mary."
She twisted her fingers together, and before he could ask if he was making her nervous and uncomfortable she started talking. "I won't eat seafood unless it's in the form of a tuna fish sandwich. I also eat all of the toppings off my pizza first."
He felt his skin stretch as his smile grew wider. This was what he wanted to know, the little quirks that made her up, the little things that no one else knew unless they were really paying attention to Mary Trellis.
She took a deep breath. "I feel out of my element." That took him off guard.
"Really? Why? Do I make you nervous?" She nodded slowly. "Well that's a relief because I feel like a total wreck over here." She started laughing, and the sound speared right through his chest.
"It's just, I haven't gone out with someone in over two years, not since I left home." He lifted a brow because he was surprised as hell that she had been able to keep the guys from beating her door down. "My ex, Lance, cheated on me actually, and for a long time I didn't see myself as anything special. He was all I knew, and I let him make me feel like I wouldn't be anyone without him." He didn't speak, just let her continue, although he felt like ripping her ex-boyfriend's balls off. "I found him in bed with one of my good friends at a party."
She took her hand away, and he let it go. She needed her space, and that was fine, as long as she didn't hide herself from him. Alex realized he didn't want that, not now or ever.
"She wasn't upset over the fact, and although he apologized for it and acted like he was in the wrong, I knew him well enough to see he didn't think he betrayed me." She lifted her eyes to his. "I haven't told anyone how I felt about that, just blocked it out and pretended it went away after I started going to OSU. But I'll be honest, I deserved what he did to me in a sense."
How in the hell did she think she deserved to be betrayed?
"I let him walk all over me, talk to me any way he felt like, and what he did was kind of like karma slapping me in the face, waking me up, and showing me that letting someone do what he did to me would only ruin me in the end. So, although I was crushed, now I can look back and appreciate that things happened the way they did."
"I'm sorry he hurt you, Mary. It's a shitty thing to do to someone." His rage was a boil inside of him, growing hotter and hotter until he thought he would burn alive from it. God, what he wouldn't give for that asshole to be in front of him right now.
"Everyone knew what he was doing at that party with Brittany, but no one said a damn thing to me. They all knew they were screwing around behind my back, and not one damn person stopped me from going into that room and finding them fucking. It really showed me what kind of people they were, and how I couldn't rely on anyone but myself. They weren't really my friends, and I'm glad I found that out."
He had watched her face when she spoke, saw the pain she felt, but didn't know how to comfort her. Hell, he didn't even know what to say to make her smile again. Alex wanted to hurt those people for her, beat their asses until they were sobbing, crying out their apologies, and groveling at her feet. He could feel himself start to shake from the force of his anger, and his jaw ached from how hard as he was grinding his teeth.