Mainly small, brief touches. Nothing too forceful or overbearing. Eden got the feeling he was testing the waters, helping her get used to the feeling of his hands on her.
The former Marine came off as this big, bad, Alpha male when really he was a soft, gentle man with a heart of gold.
“Where’d you go just now?”
Guilt washed over her. He’d finally asked her out, and here she was spending their time lost in her own head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Not asking you to be sorry, sweetheart. Just want you to talk to me.”
Though she felt it in his touch, she didn’t need to read him to know he was telling the truth. It was there, staring back from those caring seas of blue.
“I was just thinking about Chloe Howard.”
“What about her?”
Eden shook her head. “She doesn’t fit.”
Alex’s handsome face creased as he sat back in his chair, his hand slipping away from hers. “What doesn’t fit?”
“Everything.” Eden leaned her elbows on the table. “You said she was active in groups and her sorority. She put herself out there, and from all accounts had a set of loving and caring parents. Yet, the reading I got when I held her scarf was the same grey, despondent lonesomeness as the other women. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Maybe it was all a show.”
“A show?”
“Sure.” Alex shrugged casually. “A privileged childhood doesn’t always equal happiness. Sometimes those kids grow up with even more pressure on their shoulders than others.”
“True,” Eden agreed. “So, you think she joined the sorority and those other organizations to please her parents?”
“It’s possible.” He took a sip of his iced tea then set the glass down. “She was a legacy in her sorority.” When he noticed the blank look on her face, he explained, “Her mom was a member of the same sorority when she was in college.”
“Oh. Right.”
“I take it you didn’t do the whole sorority thing?”
Eden scoffed. “I didn’t do the whole college thing.”
Alex grinned. “Me, neither. But, hey. We still turned out okay, don’t you think?”
She stared back at him. “I think you turned out a lot better than just okay.”
Covering her hand with his once more, the sweet man brushed his thumb across her skin in slow, deliberate strokes. Sparks of red filled the air around him. Red was the color she’d always associated with attraction and arousal.
He wanted her. She could see it in his thoughts, both past and present.
I want to feel more than just his thoughts.
Alex glanced down at his watch and frowned. “It’s getting late. As much as I hate to cut the night short, you have an hour’s drive ahead of you. I don’t like the idea of you being on the roads late at night by yourself.”
Always trying to protect me.“I’m not going home tonight.”
This surprised him. “You’re not?”
“I figured if this case was anything like the others we’ve worked, it would be best to stay at a hotel. That way, if I’m needed last-minute, I’ll already be in the city.”
Alex stared back at her for a moment before nodding. “You could stay in a hotel. Or…” His voice trailed off.
