“Yeah.” He turned his attention to Avery.
“You good?”
“Who, me? I’m great.”
“You sure?” She didn’t seem all that convinced.
“You worry too much, Aves.” Coulter walked over to where she was standing. “All that stress isn’t good for the baby. Come on.” He put an arm around his sister-in-law’s shoulders. “Let’s go see if they saved us any dessert.”
As he and Avery went back outside, he scanned the small crowd for Alex. He spotted her near the fire pit, standing and talking to Evie and Nicki, who were sitting in two of the chairs encircling the crackling flames.
“You’re sure everything’s okay?” Avery asked him again. “Because it seemed things were pretty intense between you and my sister.”
“We’re fine,” he lied. “You know how Alex can be.”
She chuckled. “I know how you can be, too. Why do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Go at her every chance you get. And before you try to deny it, you and I both know it’s true.”
Yeah, he did. Only he couldn’t tell Avery the real reason why.
“She makes it too easy, Aves.” He shrugged. “I mean, what’s a guy to do?”
They both laughed, but as they walked toward thetable to join the others, Coulter stole another hidden glance Alex’s way. His lungs froze when he found her staring straight back at him.
Their gazed locked, and for the next several seconds, neither of them looked away. But then Evie said something that caught Alex’s attention.
At least she looked.
He held onto that thought with plans to continue their interrupted conversation later. Because he wasn’t done with it . . . or her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Alex released the steam from a freshly popped bag of microwave popcorn, careful not to burn her fingers in the process. When it was safe, she pulled the bag open wide and dumped its contents into a large plastic bowl.
Grabbing it and the glass of wine she’d recently poured, she made her way into the living room. Her apartment was small, so it only took a few short steps to get from her kitchen to her bright red couch.
Like most of the things she owned, she’d gotten the vibrant piece of furniture on sale. Her apartment was filled with awesome deals and incredible thrift finds she’d discovered over the past few years.
They were awesome and incredible to her, anyway. Thanks to her creative mindset, her tastes were admittedly eclectic. Some would say strange, but to Alex, the space was beautiful.
As beautiful as a one-bedroom apartment in a just okay neighborhood can be.
But it was her space. The one place where she couldlet her guard down and fully be herself. A safe haven to hide out in after a long, stressful day.
Take tonight, for example.
After working hours at the gallery and then being forced to see Colt again, she’d been filled with tension the entire drive home. But once Alex got inside and took a long, hot shower, everything that had caused her anxiety seemed to melt away.
Almost everything.
Despite her efforts against it, Colt’s face kept popping into her head. His smile. Those eyes. The way he’d looked in his khaki shorts and black t-shirt.
The way he’d looked at her.
Alex set the wine onto a coaster on the coffee table in front of her before lowering herself onto the couch. Bringing her bare feet up so she could sit crisscrossed in her jammies, she grabbed the nearby remote and powered on her TV.
