Once Alena and I were outside and finally alone, I had no idea what I should say. One look at her and I was at a loss. I wanted to kiss her, yet I knew at this point that would only get me slapped.
“So should I start the five minute countdown now, or…?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. She was sassy and damn cute. “You really gonna hold me to that five minutes?” I asked.
Alena shrugged. “Don’t know. Depends on where this conversation is heading. I mean, if you’ve shown up here tonight to tell me all about the rekindled love you found with Stacey, I may have to cut the five minutes a little shorter.”
If she’d chosen to punch me, I’m sure it would have hurt less than what she’d just said. I just shook my head in disbelief. “Why the hell do people keep saying shit like that?” I said as I took a step closer to her. “There is not now, nor will there ever be a rekindled anything between Stacey and me.”
She arched an eyebrow at me, and I hooked my arm around her waist and pulled her closer. When she looked up at me, it was almost impossible not to lean forward and kiss her. “I know I sorta flaked out on you. But never once have I considered letting go of what we started to build. I just got shit to figure out when it comes to Austin. Stacey could just pick up and head back to L.A., or anywhere else for that matter, and I would lose him again.” My throat felt like it was on fire as I said the words.
“I got a lawyer working on everything, but I have to be careful not to give her a reason to make this harder. Right now, she’s letting me see him anytime I want. And, Alena, I ain’t a dumb man. I know part of the reason is because in her warped mind, she thinks her and I have a future.”
She instantly averted her eyes from mine and focused on my chest instead.
“That ain’t gonna happen. I’m telling you that in true honesty. I just can’t lose him after I just got him.” I felt raw, and tears filled my eyes at just the idea of Austin not being here with me.
I closed my eyes the moment Alena’s fingers touched my jaw, silently praying she would understand the shit-storm my life had been the last couple weeks. “I never intended to make you think I didn’t want anything with you. I just don’t know how to balance it all out yet.” I opened my eyes and found her looking up at me with a different expression than the hurt one she wore less than five minutes ago. “I’m sorry, Alena. This was not what I envisioned happening after I decided I could no longer stay away from you. I had all kinds of other things rolling through my mind, but never did one of those thoughts entail me apologizing for spending too little time with you.”
“It’s okay. I can’t imagine feeling the kind of fear you are,” Alena’s whispered, looking down as she toyed with the hem of my shirt. I don’t even know if she realized she was doing it, but it actually had a calming effect on me. “But just know that I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”
When I didn’t answer, she tilted her head upward and our line of vision collided. Without a second thought, I lowered my head and placed my lips against hers, and she instantly melted against me.
I had missed kissing her, and I could feel myself getting carried away as I turned her toward the building and pressed her against the wall. Molding my body against hers, I swiped my tongue across her lower lip, and she gasped. I took it as my chance to go further and licked along the tip of her tongue, then sucked on her lower lip as I pulled back.
“I want more than just a friend I can talk to. I want it all. I just need a little more time to assure Stacey can’t take him from me.” I grazed her lower lip with my thumb. “I promise to be better about the communication side of things, though. There really is no excuse for that.”
Alena nodded as she placed a soft kiss against my thumb. “Okay,” she whispered, and just like that, the tension I’d held in my body since I saw Hayden kiss her forehead slowly faded away.
“I know you have a lot to do here to get things ready, but do you care if I hang out too?” I added a slight pout to my words, and it appeared to be quite effective.
“Sure.” She shrugged as she took my hand in hers and dragged me off toward the front entrance.
Three not-so-sneaky people scrambled away from the opened front door as we walked inside. They had obviously been eavesdropping on my apology.
“You get to provide dinner, though.” Alena looked over her shoulder at me and winked, a big smile covering her sweet lips. “Pizza sounds good to me.” Looking back toward the spies that were trying to appear innocent and miserably failing, she asked, “What do you all think? Noah should get us pizza, right?”