Chapter 20
Gabriel
Well, would I call tonight a success? Hell no. Would I call it entertaining? Hmm, I’m on the fence. I’d have to say tonight was illuminating and frustrating, both of those were caused by the little blonde in the 1950s style dress. Lexie.
By the time dinner was over, I was confident that Bill Snodgrass did not want to work with me. To be honest, I didn’t care to work with him either. His wife was rude to Lexie throughout the meal. If Tanya thought I wasn’t paying attention, she was mistaken. The fact that she had her hand on my thigh all night was also a deciding factor.
As for Lexie? She wasn’t rude; she was just a tad uncouth. I was shocked at her lack of table manners. There are just some things we don’t discuss at dinner. How our food is killed is one of those things. Getting drunk on a $150 glass of Macallan wasn’t her brightest moment either. At least she has good taste.
I look over at my date who is now snoring in the seat next to me. My first instinct is to take her to my place, but that’s a no-no. I don’t take women home. It’s best if I just get her to her place and put her to bed. Picturing Lexie in her bed wearing only those stockings and garters is doing things to my dick again. “Stop thinking about it,” I mutter to myself. I look up. Eric can’t hear me thanks to the partition being up, and my date definitely can’t hear me since she’s passed out.
When Eric pulls up to her apartment, I place my hand on her shoulder and shake her gently. “Lexie?”
She lets out a little snort, and I see a small amount of drool has collected on the corner of her mouth. Why is that so adorable? On anyone else, I’d be appalled. “Lexie? Wake up, baby. You’re home.”
“Huh?” She says startled. “What?” Pulling herself up to a seated position she looks around like she’s trying to get her bearings. “Where am I?”
“Eric has just pulled up in front of your apartment building. Take my hand, and I’ll help you to your place.”
“Oh, okay.”
I take hold of her hand with my left and grasp her coat with my right. I don’t want to forget it tonight. Gingerly, she steps out onto the sidewalk. Straightening too quickly, she teeters. “Wow, I think I drank too much.”
“You think?” I mutter.
She giggles, “Oops, sorry. Not sorry. Since the food was so icky, I had a liquid supper.”
“The food wasn’t ‘icky’. Far from it.”
She rolls her eyes as she stomps away from me and toward her door. Grabbing her coat from me, she says, “You don’t need to walk me up. I’ve… I’m fine.” Just then, she trips up the first step. If I hadn’t been following close behind her, she would have hit face first into the jagged concrete step. I wrap my arm around her waist to keep her upright. Without another word, she attempts to twist away from me to go it alone. “I’m fine. Go home, Gabriel.”
“I’m going to walk you up. Get over it.” Now I’m irritated. A gentleman always sees his date to the door. Well, okay. So, I don’t usually see my dates to their doors. No, my normal modus operandi is to let Eric walk them to their door.
“Fine.”
With my arm around her, we walk up the four floors to her door. I take the key from her hand and unlock the door. Pushing it open, I hear that stupid bird start to squawk like crazy. “Oh, hey Cy, baby,” she coos. “Mama’s home.”
Mama’s home? She turns abruptly as soon as she crosses her threshold. Holding her hand out I place her keys in her palm. “Thank you. Good night.”
“Wait. I––“ The door slams shut in my face before I can finish. Wow. That was rude and uncharacteristic of the Lexie I’ve come to know. Granted, I’ve only really come to know her for less than a week. It’s got to be a result of too much alcohol. Yeah, it’s the alcohol.
