“Dana, I’m not an idiot.”
For the first time since learning who Alex was, Dana began to feel a sense of futility. The man partied with starlets and socialites. And she thought she could seduce him just by slapping on a tight dress and some makeup?
Of course, he hadn’t brought any starlets into the nook with him.
The music from outside took on a primal beat, almost echoing the throb in her chest, beat for beat.
Would any of those seemingly perfect people look at her and realize she wasn’t quite right?
Would any of them glimpse the hole in her heart?
Just like that night at the tiki bar, Dana wanted to forget. So far, she’d only found one thing that helped her forget.
Alex.
So many negative thoughts had insinuated themselves into her inner dialogue and she was trying as hard as possible to combat them. Some days, it worked and she functioned like a normal human being.
Other days, not so much, and this was one of those days.
She needed to up the ante.
“Can I ask you another question?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“Why did you decide to come to my party?”
“Curiosity. Plus I figured the drinks here would be better than at the joint down the street.”
He unleashed that Zeus smile again. “I like you, Dana.”
It was time to channel her own inner deity. “I like you too.” She licked her lips. “But you know what would make me like you a lot better, Alex?”
“I’m all ears.”
“If you shut those curtains, you’d be so much more likable.”
“Well,” he said, his voice scratchy, “I’d hate not to be likable.”
Alex stood and walked over to the curtains. He released one curtain panel and then the other. When they met, there was only a sliver of space between them. People moved in front of them, outside the nook, but they might have been shadows. Sitting there was like being in her own world with him, one with the other partiers, but somehow apart.
Dana leaned back on the couch. She uncrossed her legs and then crossed them to the other side.
Alex’s gaze followed.
“There,” she said. “Isn’t that better?”
He nodded, lips tight.
“You know, Alex. I often think of that night at the tiki bar. Do you?”
“It’s all I fucking think about.”
“Is that so?”
“I think you already knew that.”
“Are you going to stand there all night long?”
