"It made me feel even worse, but then I got my back up. You texted me at the right time. An hour earlier and I would have said no."
"Thank God for good timing," I said. We both grinned and I leaned in closer to her, feeling an urge to kiss her then and there.
So I did.
I kissed her, a smile still on my lips, and she kissed me back, a smile on her lips as well. The kiss lingered for a moment, and then it broke on its own time and we pulled back. She glanced away, a smile still on her face.
Yeah, she felt it, too. That connection we had that went beyond pure lust. It was more than that, although it was that as well. It was affection, despite the fact I knew her for only a few weeks. It was attraction to her as a person. Someone I could talk to about things that were beyond popular media or music or films – the usual things I talked about with the other women I fucked on a regular basis.
With Alexa, I felt I could talk to her about the most familiar and most unfamiliar things – my family and the business world. My ex-fiancée and my trip around the world. My business deal and my family dynamics.
I realized I had barely asked her about her family, since mine had been so dominant over the past week.
"Tell me about your father and mother. I know they have a great marriage, but what do they do now that he's retired?"
She went on to tell me about her parents and her brother, and how she missed them, but was unable to go back. She opened up and told me more about Blaine. We talked about his obsession with her after they broke up, and how she was afraid to go home. News got around too quickly for her to feel safe in her home town. She had to meet her family at vacation spots and the location would be kept quiet until the actual date they left.
"It must have been scary having a stalker."
She sighed, and glanced away. "The police arrested him after he pretty much abducted me. He was in jail for a while, but got out. After that, I never feel safe in town, like he was always watching. Like he was waiting for the chance to abduct me and kill me."
I frowned, shocked that she was really that afraid. "Do you really think he would?"
"Who can say?" She met my eyes. "He crossed the line into deviancy. He's dangerous. The police told me to be extremely careful and to never be alone in case he tried to abduct me and I thought, to hell with that. I decided to move away and not tell anyone where I was going. You can imagine I don’t really want to go back home as long as he's there."
"I'm sorry you had that happen to you," I said and reached out, pushing a strand of hair from her cheek. "He's obviously a nut case. I was upset after Jenna and I broke off the engagement, but I wasn't going to stalk her. I didn't want anything to do with her ever again. It was my family and her family that kept trying to get us to kiss and make up."
"You don’t think you could?"
I shook my head firmly. "Never. How could I?"
"I couldn't," she said and shook her head. "Cheating is beyond anything I could accept. If – when — I get married, I want my husband to know that he can come to me anytime and tell me if things are a problem. If he needs more than I'm giving him. When I get married," she said and glanced away. "I'll do everything I can to make sure my husband is happy."
"That sounds easy in theory, but I think it's harder in practice. Sometimes, people don't know what they want or need."
"Then, people have to grow together and learn to tell each other what they need."
"You make it sound so easy. Marriage is hard."
"Everything worthwhile is hard."
I nodded, but I wasn't as sure of it as she was.
Marriage seemed like a hard mountain to climb and a happy marriage like the pinnacle. Only a few ever reached it. Everyone else fell short and many people died along the way…
We finally got a table and ordered, then spent the next half hour talking about everything and anything, laughing and enjoying each other's company.
It felt so comfortable and exciting at the same time. I didn't want it to end, wishing we could take it back to my place for the night, but I had my meeting with John and Chris and that could not be put off. We were meeting on Monday to finalize things and needed to discuss our strategy.
"Well, I hate to say goodnight," I said and glanced at my watch, "but I have to meet John and Chris in about ten minutes. I gotta go."
I paid the bill and then we walked out of the restaurant past the throng of people waiting at the front for a slice and those waiting in line to get a table.
We stood on the brightly-lit street outside the restaurant and I regretted that John had called and the deal was now uncertain. It felt like Alexa would come home with me if I asked. I would have liked to invite her to my place after my meeting with John and Chris, but that seemed so calculated, like I was hoping to fuck her but had other more important matters to attend first. I wanted things to feel unforced and natural.
I couldn't ask, not this way.
"I better go," I said and leaned in, kissing her gently on the lips. She kissed me back and then I pulled her against me, her body pressing into mine, her curves so delicious that I could get a hard-on just standing there with her.