I sipped the beer, debating sharing this with her. “I’m pretty sure you do. Riling you up forced you to tip your head back… and how else was I going to get you to offer up that gorgeous neck of yours?”
Using a pair of chopsticks, she put a coconut shrimp and a crab rangoon on her plate. “Well, that explains today, but not all the other times you ever did it.”
I loaded my plate with a spring roll and a chicken satay. “If you have finals this week, how long is your break before the next semester?”
She swallowed some food. “A week, but I’m scheduled to work at a pediatric dentist office in town…so I’m not entirely free to come back to Jacksonville. Best case, I’ll have a four-day weekend before I start classes again, because this office doesn’t offer Friday appointments.”
I nodded. “Have you worked at the pediatric dentist office before?”
“Yeah. I’ve been shadowing Dr. Culverson off and on for the last nine months. Working there sealed my decision to specialize in that area.”
The chicken satay had enough spice, it made my sinuses tingle. I swallowed it down and made a mental note to check out where this dentist’s office was located before I left town tomorrow.
“What are you thinking about over there? I can practically see your diabolical wheels turning,” Alexandra said.
“You’re gonna tell me I’m going overboard, but the way your ex behaved at the apartment - I wouldn’t put it past him to approach you coming out of a dentist’s office at the end of the day.”
She lifted her martini. “It’s May, so the sun doesn’t set until almost eight o’clock these days, Raff. He wouldn’t do anything to me in the parking lot.” She sipped her drink, then muttered, “I wouldn’t let him.”
“Don’t get cocky, Lex. It’s not like you’ve got a holster for that rolling pin.”
She chuckled. “Very funny, smart guy.”
“I’m serious. I don’t know who’s the bigger threat to you, him or Brantley.”
“How about, neither,” she suggested.
I stared at her. “Do you really believe that?”
Her lips pushed out in a small pout. She shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. I’d meant to check Ines’s room before you came back. It seems strange that Brantley had a key, went inside, but didn’t leave with anything. You were so concerned with him having a key that I never got a chance to ask. I mean, what’s that about?”
I twisted my head to the side just an inch. “Yeah. I wish I’d have asked him that, too, since Cal asked me the same thing.”
Her expression fell. “You told him about Brantley, too?”
I faced her. “There was no reason not to, Lex. The more he knows, the better.”
The way she pressed her lips together and lowered her brows, I had a hard time not telling her how cute she was, but I also understood her not wanting Cal to know. My sister, Jasmine, hated how much Dad demanded to know about her life, but it was all out of love.
“You’re right, but I still don’t like it.”
Our server delivered our entrées to the table, interrupting us. I only ate sushi around Lex, Simone, or Gabriella which amounted to maybe three times a year tops. Somehow I always forgot how most sushi places gussied up the plates with flowers… whether or not they were edible, I had no clue. But I had a new appreciation for it as I watched Alexandra’s face light up at her plate in front of her. It wasn’t the food that made her face brighten, it was the tiny vase with a small, purple flower inside it.
Words my dad said to me years ago rushed back to me. ‘Life is all about the little things, Raff. Always. Never forget that, because when you find the woman you want by your side, it’ll be all those little things which matter toher,that will prove you matter, too.’
Alexandra’s hazel eyes locked with mine. “Don’t you love their presentation?”
I sipped my beer. “I love that you love it so much.”
“Another round?” our server asked.
“Not for me. If she’s having another, bring her a glass of water as well, please,” I said.
Lex shot me a questioning look, then turned to our server. “I’ll have a Thai iced tea, please.”
After we dug into our food, Lex stared at me for a long moment. “Is there a reason you essentially didn’t want me to have another martini?”
I swallowed a bite of rainbow roll. “We’re going to take this at your pace, but I won’t go there with you if you’re drunk. I’ve never had that kind of martini, so I don’t know how strong or weak it is, but I know I want you relatively sober later… in case things progress.”
