"Is it a magnet?"
"Yes."
He switched hands, holding me securely in place with a hand on my waist as he reached out with his left hand to open and lower the other side. Alex guided the canvas down expertly, and then he held onto me again, his arms encircling me. I leaned against his warm chest, feeling the skin of his neck and chin on my forehead.
He was the one with the vision for all this, and I respected him so much for that. I was drawn to him, attracted to him on so many levels. He even smelled nice. Even after a long day of work, he smelled nice. We were alone in the wagon now with the doordrawn closed. He could kiss me, and no one would see us. My heart wanted that.
I felt the urge to turn around and take matters into my own hands, and I resisted when I remembered something. "Alex?"
"Yes?"
"I know you've probably been with other women lately, but I'm just making sure… I never did clarify that you weren't actively with someone—you know, back home in California. Is there someone waiting for you right now?"
He was quiet for a long second. "You don't think I would do that to you… and someone else. You know I wouldn't. If you thought I would do that, you wouldn’t be here."
"You're right. I've just never explicitly asked you."
"Oh, you haven't?" he asked, inching his hands a little tighter around my waist.
"No, and I want to make sure."
"I'm not seeing anyone, Josie," he said. He moved his hand, running his fingertips over my arm, onto my wrist and the back of my hand. His touch gave me this aching desire that made me feel heavy. "Come sit right here so this light doesn't make us shadow puppets," he said.
Alex sat on a nearby ledge and pulled me onto his lap. There was a box between us and the light now, and I grinned at him.
"Do you want to know the name of the last woman I kissed?" he asked quietly.
"Well, with you asking the question like that… I hope I know the answer."
"Who do you think it is?"
"I wasn't even going to ask, but now that you're offering to tell me, I hope it's Josie Wells."
"Yep. It was a waitress. She was cleaning menus, and then she came up to me and ate my burger."
"I think that was me," I said. "Back in the day."
I was sitting on his leg, and I regarded his perfect face, marveling at the way he looked and hoping he would kiss me.
"That was you back in the day?" he said, staring back at me with those amber eyes. They were absolutely haunting in the shadows.
"Was I really the last one you ever kissed?" I glanced downward, hoping and praying he would agree.
"Yes."
"How?"
I felt him shrug. "I've been pretty busy."
I squirmed a little. "That's wonderful. I'm happy you were busy."
Alex reached up and touched my chin to get me to look at him. Our faces were in close proximity because of the way I was sitting on his lap. I focused on him.
"And it's not just that I'm busy, Josie. I didn't want to be with anyone else. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't run into you. I guess maybe I would have had time to think about it after the series was done. Who knows. I don't even want to think about it."
He wrapped his arms around me in a comfortable, protective way, holding me on his lap.
"Come here, I'll tell you something," he said. I turned and let him speak near my ear. "I don't want anyone else," he said quietly. "And it would be great if you didn't either."
