LAURA “Not that one.”I looked away from the gown I was holding in front of me, to Balery who was sitting on my bed with her legs folded underneath her. She was referring to the gown and after taking another look at it, I nodded, agreeing with her. I dropped that gown back on the bed and picked another one, lifting it up high. I turned it and stared at the back—or rather, the fact that there was none to speak of.I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to wear it long before Balery shook her head. “Definitely not that one,” she said with a small smile. “You can wear it when we go to the club.”I tossed it on the bed, watching it join the scattered pile of clothes that had taken up most of the bed. We’d all decided to go to a bar in town today and over the past hour, I’d been with Balery in my room, the both of us trying to decide on something for me to wear. Well, I’d tried to make a decision myself, and failed—terribly—then I’d gone downstairs and dragged her up here with me. It w
LAURAThe bar was packed full when we arrived. Jack and Jake had wanted to go to one of the posh bars, but Balery, Drew and I had insisted on getting the full Miami experience and we’d wanted to go to a regular bar downtown. Alex had agreed with us and naturally, majority had won the vote. We had to fight our way through the throng of bodies to get in, which was why I thought we were incredibly lucky to find an empty booth. We quickly filled it up before anyone else could take it. Alex, Jake and Jack on one side and me, Balery and Drew on the other side. The booths weren’t that wide, so it was a tight fit—on the opposite side anyway, but they made it work. Jake sat at the end of the booth, Jack in the middle, and Alex at the edge, directly in front of me. I briefly wondered whether he did that on purpose, but then wrote the thought off. I didn’t have to link everything he did back to me. Drew volunteered to go get our drinks and we all gave him our orders. As he sauntered away,
LAURAThe look on the bartender's face was priceless. His eyes were amused as they darted between me and Alex, his amusement growing even more when he took in the tense lines of my shoulder and the tight scowl on Alex's face. He wasn't even bothered that this man was about to kill him. Probably because he already knew that he wasn't the one going to get killed. Alex was. I didn't know what the expression on my face was since I couldn't see myself, but I was very sure that I was wearing a look equally as murderous as the one the man beside me wore. And it wasn't because I wanted to kill the bartender, no, how could it be?It was because I wanted to kill the man who had decided to casually throw his hand over my shoulder as though we were long time friends. Or more. "What the hell are you doing?" I hissed under my breath quietly, but loud enough for him to hear him. Alex turned to me, levelling me with a confused look. The death glare on his face lessened into something far more b
LAURAI was going to go crazy. I was very positive that I was going to go crazy. Alex had made it his life’s mission to push me over the edge and right into the ever welcome hands of insanity by seducing me mercilessly.Because that was what this was. Seduction. There was no other word for it. I wasn’t even sure if I was just making it up in my head or if it was real, but everything he did recently was with an extra level of sensuality. The way he walked, talked and even ate. He didn’t just turn me on and then do nothing about it; he flat out ignored me, doing a damn good job of pretending like he didn’t see me.It. Pissed. Me. The. Fuck. Off. After the little incident at the bar and specifically after our talk, I’d expected him to be all over me. I mean, he’d tried to stake his claim when he’d caught the bartender flirting with me. That had to mean that he had been getting attached, right? Naturally, I’d expected him to be a little pissed off. I’d expected him to make it obvious
LAURA "Pass me the pepper."I picked the can of pepper sitting on the counter and handed it over to Balery. She was cooking and I was just...helping her reach the things she couldn't. Nevertheless, it was honest work—a very important one—and deserved to be treated as such. "Thanks," she poured an amount into the pot on the stove, covered it, then leaned against the counter, bracing her hands on it. "So what did you say happened?"I glared at her. "I already told you what happened."She blinked, pulled her lips into her mouth, then let them out with a pop. "Wait, yes, that's true. What I meant to ask was, what are you going to do now?""Nothing." I shrugged, hopping onto the island before tearing the pack of gummy bears I was holding open, and shoving some into my mouth. We were talking about—you guessed it—Alex. Actually, to be precise, we were talking about the fact that we had both stopped talking to each other completely, apart from the forced 'good mornings' and 'excuse mes' o
LAURAI really didn’t understand how it was possible that I had seen this man countless times and yet every single time I saw him, my heart slammed against my ribcage. At first, it stopped beating, then started all over again with a vengeance, racing so fast in my chest, that I wouldn’t be surprised if it just ran itself into a heart attack. It was like I was seeing him for the first time all over again. Was that even normal? I would ask Balery if it was, but she would only see that as an opportunity to blow things out of proportions and, God forbid, tell me that I had feelings for him. He was lying on his bed with his back to the headboard, a laptop on his thighs, and eyes narrowed in concentration as he typed away. When I closed the door, his head lifted and his eyes landed on me. My breath caught when they lingered for all but three seconds, then I exhaled when he looked away, going back to what he was doing. That little action hurt more than it should have and I hated it. Squ
LAURAOver the past few days, I had launched an operation. OPERATION SEDUCE ALEX Aim: To get him to open his eyes, pull his head out of his ass—or whichever idiom best suited the situation—and face the truth that he still wanted me. I was right there for the taking; all he had to do was take. I’ll tell you how it’s been so far. Day 1: Short sundress with nothing underneath. Alex spent a huge part of his day in the kitchen—it wasn’t news that he ate alot—and a lot of people might find it weird that I had already showered as early as 6am—believe me, I did too—but I have never found it in me to give a quarter of a fuck about what people had to say, which was exactly why I was bold enough to walk into the kitchen in my short sundress, making it very obvious that I’d had my bath, and sat at the island to have my breakfast. I didn’t need to have eyes at the back of my head to know that Alex did a double-take when he saw me, eyes lingering on specific areas of my body. And by specific
LAURA It was a date. And he’d gone all out.I couldn’t explain my reaction when I stepped out of the house and saw a limousine waiting for us. First thing I did was was give Alex a long look. I mean, there was no mistaking it—the limo was there for us. The driver had tipped his hat in a salute when we came out, a smile on his face and, hell, who else would have a limo waiting outside for them other than this magnificent man who apparently went all out when he took his women out? A frown settled on my face at that. His women. I didn’t like the sound of it. Saying that the little clench my heart gave at the image that accompanied those words was uncalled for and so bloody stupid, would be a huge fucking understatement. I’d literally told him that there could be nothing between us, in other words, telling him that it was okay for him to do whatever he wanted with other women, and it was a given that he would take me up on that offer. He was a man. A gorgeous, out-of-this-world, ho