Devon plays with the keys that he’s just pulled from his pocket. After thinking for a second, he tosses them over to me. “Why don’t you guys take the Escalade and go to the store to get everything Alex needs? I can stay and hang out and wait for the rest of the guys. I wanted to look at the security system here in the main house, anyway. And maybe later when you’re back I can look at the system in the pool house too? I’ve been thinking about adding a few upgrades while we’re in town.”
I shoot him a look of thanks. I know he’s trying to get me a little time alone with Alex before the guys get here. And hopefully he fills them all in so they don’t say anything stupid once they arrive. This is the only thing I’ve been able to talk about all week, so the chances are good that one of them will say something on their way in that I might not want Alex to hear. At least not before I have a chance to talk to her, anyway.
“That sounds good to me.” I say. “Let me just get changed and then we can go, if you’re ok with that, Alex?”
She looks at Devon, and then at me, and just nods wordlessly. I hope that’s a good kind of speechless and not a bad kind. I guess we’ll find out in a few minutes.
“Ok, then I’ll be right back.” I turn and hurry down the hall to change. I’m not going to give her a chance to change her mind and decide to go alone. I’ve been searching for this woman for a week and now she shows up in my house? Yeah, this really is fate or something.
Chapter 30
Alex - New Job, Old Love
“This is the most amazing thing that has ever happened!” Devon seems very excited for someone who just witnessed this gigantic explosion in my life. “I can’t believe you are the new chef. When you said you were moving, I thought you meant leaving town. Not moving into Connor’s pool house.” He’s laughing and shaking his head a little. I’m not sure why. I’m the one over here losing my mind.
I really want to text Becca, but I can’t. Stupid NDA. As soon as her background check is complete, we will discuss this at length. My heart is pounding so hard it feels like it wants to climb up and jump out of my throat.
“I am so confused,” I finally say. “Was Denise at the show last week? I didn’t recognize her when I interviewed for this job.”
“She was, but I don’t recall if she was in the room when you were. Even if she was, she would have been preoccupied with making sure the guys behaved appropriately for the kind of meet and greet it was. She might have seen you but not recognized you after the fact.” Devon is being very nice. I knew I liked him for a reason. “You know Connor has been trying to get in touch with you all week? He didn’t get your number before you left the after party, and he’s been driving us all crazy since then. That they have hired you to be his chef is some next level cosmic shit.”
“Really?” It seems strange that Connor would look for me, but before I can ask Devon more about it, Connor is back. He’s wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a ball cap now. He looks like any regular guy who just came from a gym. A smoking hot guy with a sexy body, but a regular guy nonetheless.
“Really what?” Connor asks, walking over to us.
“Really, are you going to wait until I’m back to check the security system in the pool house?” I quickly cover. Smooth, Alex. Not suspicious at all. “You can go ahead inside while I’m gone if you like, Devon. I have nothing to hide.”
“Oh, ok,” Devon answers. “I just didn’t want to invade your privacy. I’ll try to stay out of your underwear drawer. Unless you want me to double check security in there too? Set up some booby traps for your booby traps?” He winks obviously, laughing at his dumb joke.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s secure enough for my needs. Thanks, though.” I feel my face burning a little as I blush at Devon’s joke. I turn and look at Connor. “Shall we then?”
Connor is still laughing, probably at my red face. “Sure, babe. Let’s grocery shop.” He leans over and whispers in my ear, his voice sending tingles through my body. “I might need you to hold my hand, though. I haven’t done my own grocery shopping in years. I might get scared.”
I didn’t think it was possible for my face to get redder, but the way Connor looks at me says differently. I grab my wallet and keys, shoving them into my pockets, and gesture for Connor to lead the way. “You lead, I don’t know where you’re parked.” I say. “See you later,” I shout behind me to Devon. “If any of my underwear goes missing, I’ll be checking with you first.”
Devon and Connor both start laughing as Connor grabs my hand, sending a rush of butterflies to my stomach, and starts walking me to the front door. “Don’t encourage him,” he says to me. “He’ll hide them all over your place just to get a reaction out of you. It’ll be like an Easter egg hunt, but for panties.”
“That fucker,” I say with a laugh. “He better not. I don’t know what I’ll do for revenge, but it’ll be bad.” That actually sounds kind of funny, though. I almost hope he does it, just so I can think of something horrible to do back to him. There’s nothing wrong with a good prank now and again, right?
The grocery store we go to is only about ten minutes away, and Connor drives the Escalade. We don’t talk for the entire drive, except for me telling Connor where to go, with both of us looking straight ahead at the road. It feels strangely natural that he holds my hand for the entire drive. When we pull into the lot, Connor parks far away from the store.
We both get out and he comes around the vehicle and immediately grabs my hand, lacing his fingers with mine. Fucking butterflies again.
“So, did Devon tell you I’ve been looking for you since I saw you last week?” He asks me, while looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
“Um, yeah,” I say. “He sort of mentioned it.”
“I didn’t get your number that night, and I was sort of worrying that I wouldn’t see you again. That it would be like when we were kids, and we didn’t see each other for 20 years.” He is looking down at the ground when he says this last part. Which is weird, since he was the one who changed his number at the time.
I stop and look at him, shaking my hand free of his. “I tried to call. Why’d you change your number, Connor? If you’d wanted to break up, you could have just done it before I left instead of telling me to call you when I knew my new phone number. Not only was I grieving the loss of my parents, I also had to grieve the loss of you.” Oh, shit. I’m going to cry right here in the grocery store parking lot. I’m not quite as over this as I thought.
Chapter 31
Connor - Mother’s Betrayal and the Hits Keep Coming
“What do you mean? My mom said she had our calls forwarded when she had to change the number? You should have still been able to get through.” I had found it weird that the number needed to be changed at exactly that time, but I didn’t doubt my mom’s reasons. She said she was avoiding an ex boyfriend. But now that I think of it, having calls forwarded would have done the same for his phone calls. How could I have been so stupid? “SHIT!” I yell a little too loudly for a grocery store parking lot. “She fucking lied to me. That bitch!”
“What?” Alex asks. “What do you mean, she lied?”
