“If I kiss you, it’s not going to be good-bye,” I reply, and shove him down the hall.
“What’s going on?” I hear Alex’s voice from the top of the stairs.
“Is that Avery?” Liz’s hopeful voice filters out from the kitchen and I hear a chair push back on the tile floor. Oh, man, I do not want to meet this girl. I want to retreat upstairs before she finds Avery and never ever meet her.
I start up the stairs toward Alex. “Nothing. Go back to bed.”
“Who was at the door?” Alex starts down the stairs.
I give him a glare, shooing him back up the stairs. “Shut up and go to sleep.”
But it’s too late. Liz is standing there, with Ty and Maddie behind her, staring at me. I falter as our eyes connect. She looks from me to Avery and back again. “You’re the girl from the beach. The one he was in the water with.”
I nod. “I’m his neighbor, Stephanie. Hi.”
She glares but shifts the venomous stare to Avery. “You left me alone to come here and see her?”
Liz looks up to glare at me again, but then her watery eyes land on something behind me and she looks startled. I turn my head and see Alex standing behind me in nothing but his shorts. His naked, tanned, and much more toned than expected chest is on display. He lands on the step above me and drops a possessive hand over my shoulders, grinning jovially at Liz. “Hey, Lizzie. Nice seeing you again.”
“Uh…hey, Alex.” She’s clearly confused, but I can almost see her brain putting together the ridiculous puzzle pieces Alex is trying to create, by making it look like he’s with me. Like I was upstairs in bed with him. Gross.
“Liz, you can’t just wake up my neighbors,” Avery grumbles. “Let’s go.”
“I’m sorry. You said you’d be right back and Tara passed out and I…”
“Later, kids.” Alex waves as Avery opens the front door and ushers Liz out. He glances up at me one last time as I peel out of Alex’s mock embrace.
“Just go,” I urge, and, with a look of frustration on his pretty face, he steps out onto the porch, closing the door behind him.
I look up at Alex. “She thinks you and I…”
He smiles. “Would you rather she know you just kicked her ex out of your bedroom?”
I snap my mouth closed. He chuckles, then bends and kisses the top of my head before sauntering back upstairs. Ty and Maddie disappear into the kitchen, so I walk down the stairs, lock the door and rest my back against it. Wow. What a fucking mess of a night.
Chapter 11
Avery
“I just gotta get dressed,” I call to Larue, who showed up first thing this morning, as soon as I managed to get Lizzie and her friend out, and is now downstairs eating his weight in cereal.
I step out of my bathroom, a towel wrapped around my waist, and walk across my room to my dresser. We’ve got ten minutes to get in the car and head to practice, and I can’t be late. I drop my towel and grab a pair of jeans out of my drawer, and that’s when I hear the gasp. I spin around and find Steph in the doorway of my bedroom, a hand to her mouth and her bright blue eyes bugging out of her head.
“Shit!” I blurt, and use the pants in my hand to cover my junk.
She turns the darkest shade of red I have ever seen anyone turn and spins around to face the other way so quickly she almost falls down. “I’m so sorry! Alex told me to just come up.”
“Of course he did.” I pull on my jeans.
“I didn’t know you were naked. Your bedroom door was open. Who walks around naked with the door open?” she asks, her face still turned toward the wall.
“Someone who lives alone and thinks the only other person in the house is his teammate who has seen him naked before and doesn’t care. You can turn around now,” I tell her. She hesitantly peeks over her shoulder, her eyes going straight to my crotch. I smile and stop buttoning my jeans. “Want another look?”
I pretend to undo my pants.
“No!” she nearly screams and then giggles, embarrassed again.
“You have seen one before, right?” I tease. “In daylight? ’Cause you’re acting like you haven’t.”
