Lex sets up the GPS, and I decide, “Okay, it says three hours and fifteen minutes. In three hours and twenty minutes, whether we’re there or not, your dick’s inside me. So, pray there’s no traffic or we’ll get in trouble for indecent exposure.”
“I’ll end up in jail because of you one of these days, won’t I?”
“Maybe they’ll let us share a cell. If you go down, I’ll go down with you, baby,” I answer with a wink.
I’m surprised when he turns the music on all by himself, but I guess it’s because he wants me to have the best possible experience driving his car. I don’t need music, though. Within the first thirty minutes, I know I can’t go back to my old Ford after this.
How can I use that butt-smelling old pile of rust when I can drive a state-of-the-art car so generously offered to me by Lex?
That man is too clever for his own good—and mine.
Chapter 37
Since our return from Portland, we’ve spent most of our time together, locked in my apartment. We didn’t spend the entire time fucking, though. She wanted to explore my past accomplishments on my hidden computer, and I got to use that time to catch up on the week we spent away. From what I understand, she also had fun poking around Iris’ code.
There also were a few hours she spent in her apartment, getting her duffel bag and spending some time with her roommate. Watching Andrea bring back her stuff to my place and put it in her drawers was a unique and thrilling experience. We’re both excited about the milestone, and while she doesn’t know it yet, I fully intend on having her living with me by her birthday, four months away.
I can’t get enough of her, and probably never will. That’s why I’m here, nervously knocking at her door after ditching Kev and Shelly’s New Year’s party. It was alright, but I found myself missing my freckled dork. Chatter, music, and laughs come through the panel, and I worry that crashing the party will ruin the mood. Andrea insisted I came, though, confident things would be alright even though most of the guests work for me.
The door opens, revealing Oliver. His expression barely flickers before settling into something neutral, almost too neutral. “Oh, hey. Andy told us you might be dropping by.” A pause, just long enough to make me wonder what else she told them. “You’re right on time. We’re starting a new game, and we’re missing a player for a team.”
He waves me in and disappears down the hall before I can get a read on him. Things haven’t gotten back to how they used to be between us, and I’m not sure they ever will. In a way, I stole the best woman in the world from him. I take my time removing my coat, finding a place forit on the overcrowded rack. The voices in the living room are lively, unbothered, but there’s an edge in my chest I can’t quite shake. With the bottle of Dom Perignon in hand, I walk toward the noise, toward whatever is waiting for me in there.
I immediately spot Andrea by the high counter of the kitchen, talking with Brian and Mason. As if she has a radar, she looks up and sees me walk into the packed space. She’s with me before I have time to take in everything, grinning wide. “You’re here so early, baby!”
“Yes, Kev and Shelly’s party was a little dull, so I thought I’d check out yours.”
“I thought you liked dull parties.”
“I do, but dull parties don’t have an Andrea in them.”
She giggles and shakes her head. “We spent nearly two days locked in your apartment, Coleman. You really are that whipped, aren’t you?”
“I never denied it.”
Another delighted giggle that I muffle with a kiss. Taking my hand, she pulls me further into the room. “Just so you’re warned, though, we’re noisy, vulgar, and playing dumb games.”
“I’m always willing to try new things, freckles.”
She offers me a smile and turns back to the room’s occupants. “If I could have everyone’s attention,” she calls out, effectively conjuring everyone’s eyes to us. “For those who don’t know him, this is Alexander. He’s, uh, our boss at Kelex and my… boyfriend.”
A few people greet me, and evenIcan tell this is as awkward for them as it is for me. “I promise he’s a lot of fun at night,” Andrea adds in an attempt to ease the tension. When she realizes the innuendo, her eyes widen. “I meant he’s fun out of work hours!”
No one speaks for a moment, her words lingering in the air. After a sip through his straw, Mason breaks the silence by asking, “Do we get to have individual demonstrations?”
Giggles rise from his fit of humor, lightening the mood.
“Mason, you couldn’t handle me even if you tried,” I respond.
After a moment of slight shock, genuine laughs rise as Mason fans himself with his hand. Just like that, the room relaxes, and the chatter returns. The ones I know come to greet me, Brian gets a cold beer in my hand, and I’m told to sit on the couch for the game that’s about to start.
When Andrea returns with a massive wooden bowl of tortilla chips and guacamole in the middle, there’s no room left. “Does anyone care if my boyfriend and I display some affection in my own home?” she asks her colleagues. Her question gets a few nos and head shakes, so she comes to me and sits on my lap, which I gladly welcome, resting a hand on her hip. “Karen can’t come after us for this, right?” she wonders.
“No, I think we’re good.”
There’s a whiteboard in front of us, and Brian, who’s on our team with Andrea and Mason, starts. We easily guess a turtle, but what follows is a mystery. Andrea and Mason keep shouting what they think it might be, and it’s entirely chaotic.
“A painting!”
