AllFreeNovel
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“It’s a little weird for me too. Even though I knew I was coming. It still feels crazy to be here. To be looking at you, in person, after all this time.”
“Yeah,” I agree, blowing out a slow breath. “Okay, I’ll be right back.” I tug open the door, pausing just outside the hallway. “If Sophie shows up, just tell her you’re waiting for me. She’s...”
“A petite Hawaiian girl with dark hair. Yep. I’ve got it.”
“Right.” I smile, hesitating for a moment longer before pulling the door closed behind me.
I suck in a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning and heading toward the shower room.
——
“Twelve minutes,” Alectells me when I walk into the room, freshly showered with a white bath towel wrapped around my wet hair.
I managed to put on a little eyeliner and mascara in the bathroom, but I had no time to do anything with my hair. I’ll have to let it air dry as I’m sure he doesn’t want to wait another twenty minutes for me to blow dry and straighten it.
“Sorry.” I’m not sure why I’m apologizing considering he’s the one who showed up here out of the blue.
“Don’t be. I don’t mind waiting. Besides, you were completely within the fifteen-minute time perimeter that we discussed.” He gives me that sheepish grin of his and my heart does a full summersault in my chest.
God, why does he have to be so freaking good looking? Why did he have to show up like this? And why am I so happy that he did?
“So, what’s your serial about?” I ask, trying to find something to fill the silence while I pull the towel from my hair and start to run a brush through the wet strands.
“I can’t tell you.” His eyes stay glued to me as I work to make myself somewhat presentable.
“Why not?”
“Because it would ruin the surprise,” he tells me, sliding down onto the edge of my bed as his eyes follow my every movement.
“The surprise? Why do I need to be surprised?”
“I just don’t want to spoil it. One day, hopefully you’ll get to read it. And when you do, I want you to go in completely blind.”
“Now I’m even more curious.” I turn, hitting him with an apprehensive look. “Why is this the first time I’m hearing about it? You never mentioned this in all the times we’ve talked.”
“It’s something I’ve been working on in secret for the past few months. I guess I didn’t want anyone to know until I knew if I could actually write it or not.”
“And now you know you can?”
“I wasn’t sure how the transition would be, going from writing articles and news stories to writing something...”
“Fictional?” I take a guess at what he’s trying to say when he pauses.
“Not exactly. But I guess that’s a good comparison.”
“You’re kind of not making any sense,” I inform him, dropping my brush on top of my dresser. “There,” I announce, holding my arms out. “How do I look?”
“Even more beautiful than I remember.” His eyes start at my face, doing a full sweep to my feet before coming back up.
“Alec.” I roll my eyes in an effort to distract myself from the heat creeping up the sides of my neck. “So, what’s the game plan?” I ask, grabbing my knitted purse off the back of my desk chair.
“I don’t know.” He pushes to a stand and follows me toward the door. “I want to see everything.”
“Everything?” I question, grabbing my keys and phone off the dresser before dropping them into my purse and tugging the door open.
“Yeah. I want to see it all. Where your classes are. Where you work. Where you like to hang out. Give me a day in the life of Hope Russell.”
“Okay, but I have to warn you, it’s not going to make for a very eventful day.” I shake my head, stepping into the hallway. I wait until he follows me out of the room before pulling the door shut and securing the lock. “Are you sure you don’t want to drive back into the city?”
