55

LAURA
I glanced between Alex and the door, wondering how quickly I could get to it before he caught up to me.
He was way taller than me, legs almost twice as long as mine were. For every one of his steps, I had to take two to match.
Also, he was standing in front of me, which placed him closer to the door than I was. I could attempt to skirt around him and dash for it but with one outstretched arm, I’d be right back where I was standing now.
Besides, if I did manage to run out, what then?
It would still take me a while to book a ride and before my ride arrived, Alex would have tossed me over his shoulder and carried me back inside and from the look on his face, he was not above doing that right now.
His eyes narrowed as he took note of my discreet glances towards the door. He fixed me with a disbelieving look as he caught on to the direction of my thoughts. “Are you planning on making a break for the door?”
Keeping my face neutral, I said, “I’m not.”
I had been planning to, but not anymore.
His eyes narrowed even further. He clearly didn’t believe me.
Whatever.
“I have to go to work, Alex,” I sighed, slumping against the living room wall. “Bailey needs me there.”
“No, you don’t and no, she doesn’t. She’s holding it down there. You said so yourself.”
Damn it. Me and my big mouth. I’d said so, hadn’t I?
“I promised her I’d be coming in today.” I tried again. “You know I don’t like breaking my promises.”
Alex gave me a look that said ‘Really?’ and ‘No, I do not know that at all.’ at the same time. “And she told you to take as much time as you need to rest. She’s doing fine.” I opened my mouth to speak but he pushed on. “The doctor said a week’s rest, Laura. That means two more days.”
Rolling my eyes, I crossed one of my legs in front of the other. “I feel fine.”
He simply shrugged with a nonchalant air about him. “Doesn’t matter. Two more days, then you can go back to work.”
Was he being serious right now?
I pushed off the wall and folded my arms, glaring at him. I put all of my weight onto one foot while the other one started tapping away on the floor in time with my heating blood as my ire rose.
Oh, so suddenly his word was law and I had no choice but to listen to him?
Where was this sudden possessiveness and arrogant behavior coming from? Did he think me being sweet with him gave him the right to talk to me this way?
Maybe I’d grown too soft.
“Laura, baby…”
Before I knew it-before I could even register that he was now standing closer to me than he’d been before-he lifted me into his arms and I had no choice but to wrap my hands around his necck (albeit reluctantly) as he carried me to the sofa. When I thought he was going to drop me on it and sit down beside me, he sat down on it and settled me on his lap so that I was sitting astride him.
I folded my arms across my chest, refusing to look at him, well aware that I was acting no better than a petulant child right now, but I didn’t care.
“Laura…”
When I still refused to look at him, he gripped my chin gently with his thumb and index finger and turned my face to his. I still didn’t meet his eyes.
“I apologize for the way I sounded earlier.” The words were soft. Filled with remorse. “That’s why you’re pissed, isn’t it?”
My grip on my anger slipped and I felt the fight leaving me. I struggled to hold on to it with slippery fingers, but I knew I fought a losing battle.
I didn’t know how he did it but he was so good at tearing down my walls and bulldozing right past to that part of myself I liked to pretend didn’t exist-or liked to think no one had access to.
His thighs were tense underneath mine and I could literally smell the agitation oozing off him. “You have to understand why I acted the way I did. Seeing you on that hospital bed undid me, Laura, and while I’d like to pretend that I don’t think about it anymore, I still do.” He exhaled harshly. “Whenever I look at you and see that band-aid on your head, I’m thrown back to that fucking hospital room and I get scared all over again.”
The remnants of my anger obliterated into dust at the worry in his tone, and my eyes met his.
Sometimes I forgot that there was now someone-other than Balery and my mother-who worried about me, cared about my well-being, and could possibly be thrown into a universe of pain if something were to ever happen to me.
Someone who loved me.
That was going to take some getting used to.
Raking his hand through his hair, he tousled the perfect strands, looking away for a second. “Hell, I know that you’re not in pain anymore. You certainly look like you’re better, but if the doctor says you need to rest for a week, then I feel like you should even though you feel like you’re perfectly okay.” Then, with a sheepish smile that transformed his features into a boyish and adorable one-a look that absolutely broke my heart-he added, “Or are you really that tired of living here?”
I shrugged. “I’ve been inside for the past five days doing absolutely nothing. At least at work I get to distract myself from, you know, everything. Plus, you haven’t gone anywhere either. Not once. You’ve got to be tired of seeing my face everyday.” I said the last part as nonchalantly as I could.
But his eyes clung to my face when he said, “I could never get tired of seeing your face.”
“Slick bastard,” I muttered under my breath.
The smug smile that formed on his lips seemed to say ‘I heard that and you’re absolutely right.’
Shifting on his thigh-and acting like I didn’t notice the way his eyes flashed with heat as though he was just now realizing that I was sitting on him-I brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen across his face, watching as it bounced right back. “Work aside, I’m beginning to feel antsy. I need a change of scenery.”
“Want me to get us on the next flight out of here?”
“Haha.” But I was more confused than amused.
His tone hinted that he was only half-joking. My heart slammed into my rib cage at the possibility.
Would he really do that? Just up and leave with me, without a single care about his friends, commitments and work? Hell, the man works, right?
I mean, he had to. We’d never had that conversation, but I’d heard and walked in on him having important conversations on his phone a few times and came to the conclusion that he was making a huge sacrifice by abandoning his work to take care of me these past few days.
We spent so much time shying away from deep conversations, instead treading safe waters, that we barely knew anything about each other. Of course, most of the blame was squarely on my shoulders because I hadn’t really put in the effort to get to know him. Not even once.
I made a vow then and there to remedy that.
“Is it the house or the company that you’re tired of?” Alex asked after a while, his expression one of contemplation.
Deciding to tease him a bit, I flicked my hair over my shoulder, loving how his eyes tracked the movement; how his eyes seemed to cling to my every movement. “And if I say it’s the company?”
He said nothing and, I swear to God, Alex pouted.
It was a look I’d never seen him wear before and for a moment, I was so torn between laughing and gasping in surprise that I did the best thing-I unlocked my phone and took a picture of him, right before he blinked in surprise and the pout disappeared.
“What was that?”
“You were pouting.” I laughed.
He drew his head back, scoffing. “No, I wasn’t.”
A smile playing at my lips, I pulled up the picture and showed it to him. He stared at the picture for a while, then he whistled low. “Damn, I look good. If I were you, I’d want to take my picture too.”
My eyes widened in surprise as I struggled to process what I’d heard. When I finally did, I threw my head back and burst out laughing.
Apparently, Alex had a sense of humor. And I liked it.
I liked him.
The sound of a camera’s shutter had my head flying back up.
Alex had collected my phone and taken a picture of me. His lips pulled up on one side as he looked at it, then he turned the phone around so that I could see.
He’d captured me with my head tossed back, hair cascading down my back, eyes shut and mouth wide open as I laughed. I looked young and carefree and truly happy, and I found myself smiling at the picture.
Alex turned it back around and, so quietly, I could barely hear, said, “‘Think I just found my new lock screen.”
Well, whaddya know? Maybe I’d found mine too.
He was still staring at the picture when my phone beeped, signaling that I’d received a message.
Alex scowled. I frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
Silently, he flipped the phone around again and my stomach bottomed out as I read the contents of the text.
You think running away from your apartment means you’re somehow safe from me? I’ll find you just as easily as I slashed the brakes of your little boyfriend’s car.
Leave him now and we’ll settle on a spanking as your punishment. You are mine.
My eyes lifted from my phone to the pissed-off man holding it. His eyes were two green pools of liquid fire.
“What. The. Fuck?”