What Lola Wants (Leave Your Shoes On 1)

As Alex reached for his cell, a fist pounded on his front door. Followed by a sharp, “Alex! Open up! It’s Lola.”

His pulse jumped. Wide strides took him to the door. He unlocked it and yanked it open. Lola stood on the threshold, her chest rising and falling as though she’d just run the P.F. Chang’s Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon.

“Great, you’re here!” She stormed in, forcing him to take several steps back, blowing in with the breeze in her tornado-like way. “We need to talk. Or rather, I need to talk, and you need to listen.”

He reached around her and closed the door. “All right.” Curiosity ate at him. And everything inside him came back to life now that she was here in his condo. For whatever reason. At least she was here. With him.

With no further ado, she said, “I liked that we were having sex. We are fantastic together. And that last time… well. Let’s face it, we were doing more than just hooking up. Alex…” She gripped his shirt flap, her fingers curling around the material. “I am completely and forever hopelessly devoted to you and ridiculously in love with you.”

Alex’s stomach did a peculiar flip. “What?”

“I know, crazy, right? But then again… no, not really. I mean, we’ve always been best friends, and then we started sleeping together and that was incredible too. So much so that it broke my heart that you ended things between us. Literally obliterated the entire organ,” she said in dramatic fashion. So Lola. Then she pulled in a long breath and told him, “Alex, there was so much more to it than friends with benefits.”

“Lo—”

“Do you love me?” she demanded as she stared up at him, taking him aback. “More than just as a friend? Are you in love with me, Alex?”

His jaw dropped. He was too stunned to say anything.

“Alex. No time for bullshitting or hedging. This is… deathly serious. Like… I can’t breathe without you, I can’t live without you serious.”

Alex’s heart constricted as fat drops crested the rims of Lola’s eyes and slid slowly down her lovely, pink-tinged cheeks.

But he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around all of this. With a shake of his head, he said, “Lo, this is just one big, fat mess. I can’t—”

“That’s not the answer I’m looking for.” She speared him with a misty-eyed look. “If you love me, Alex, just say ‘yes.’”

His jaw clenched.

“Alex,” she insisted, desperation edging her voice. “Please,” she begged. “Now is the time to say it. Every little thing in my universe hinges on this, because I love you. If you feel the same way, now is the time to—”

“Yes.”

She released his shirt and threw her arms around his neck. Enthusiastically. She almost toppled him again. But he remained steady and held her firmly.

“I do love you, Lo.” Emotion gripped him. She wasn’t fucking around. She really was serious. She was in love. With him. “Jesus, Lo.” Every dream he’d ever had had just come true. “I’ve always been in love with you. I always will be. Just you. Only you.”

“I love you, Alex Reed,” she repeated. “Like, in the most insane, amazing, I-need-you-every-single-second-of-the-day kind of way.”

She squirmed out of his embrace and stared up at him again. Her big blue eyes sparkled, despite being watery, and he saw a hint of mischief in them. What was she up to now?

Pressing a hand to her stomach, she said, “I have butterflies. That’s a good sign.”

He supposed he did too, and it was an odd, though captivating, feeling.

“Alex,” she said, as she gripped the front of his shirt. “Marry me.”

“Huh?” he muttered in shock as, conversely, exhilaration rocketed through him.

“I know it’s impulsive and unpredictable and all the things you say about me.” The sparkle in her eyes turned into a mesmerizing glitter that made her sky-blue irises vibrant and dazzling. She said, “You have to admit my impulses serve me well. I know what I’m doing, Alex. I want to be yours. And you know I won’t give up until you say ‘yes.’ So say it. Say you’ll marry me. Say that’s what you want.”

“Lola.” She knocked the wind right out of him.

“Say. Yes.” Another demand. She was that sure of them?

Alex sucked in a breath. And realized that he was also that sure. They were meant for each other. The writing had been there on the wall the entire time.

Right in front of their faces.