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“You really don’t. Now, I’m going to go back inside to my friends, and you’re going to go pour me a big freaking glass of whiskey and have it waiting for me on the bar. Thanks.”
The liquor I had in my veins evaporated the second Alex kissed me.
Stepping away from the wall, I suck in a few shaky breaths to calm my nerves.
Chapter 8
Walking back in the front door of The Rusty Anchor, I shiver at the drastic temperature change. I guess I didn’t realize how cold it was outside being so close to Alex. And despite how I just walked away from him, I can’t help but touch my fingertips to my lips, still feeling the buzz of his on mine.
As soon as I make it past the pool tables, I look over the shoulders of a few women in front of me and see Alex back behind the bar. The slight messiness to his hair makes my skin flush, knowing that I’m the one who made it that way. It has my fingers itching to run them through it again.
The beautiful red-haired bartender I never gave a second thought too is pouring beers from the tap, and I’m guessing she’s Shelby based on the way she keeps shooting daggers over to Alex every chance she gets.
I hope she didn’t see that it was me out there with him. I really don’t need her bitchiness directed at me. I hate girl drama.
Alex huffs out a breath of air and runs his hand through his hair, his bicep flexing in the process, and my core clenches, remembering those strong arms around me, holding me to him, and lifting me up against the wall.
God, he felt good.
With one last step, I reach the bar, and find a glass of whiskey already waiting for me.
Looking up, Alex’s eyes meet mine and I immediately feel the impact to my chest.
The way he’s looking at me… It’s like he’s trying to tell me a thousand things with his eyes, but I can’t decipher any of it. All I feel is my heart stuttering, and the pounding of it all the way down to my fingers and toes.
Reaching out with a shaky hand, I take the glass, but Alex wraps his hand around mine, not letting me pull away.
“Mel, don’t act like that didn’t happen.”
“I’m not,” I say, but my wavering voice says otherwise.
I expect a knowing smirk from him, but he remains stoic, serious. “Good. Because I fully intend on it happening again.” His eyes go a shade darker, resembling the pine trees outside.
“Okay,” I whisper, the word spilling from my mouth without thinking. I tend to be doing that a lot around him – not thinking before I do, or say, things.
Satisfied with my answer, he lets go of the glass and I lift it to my lips and take a long pull, the burn of the whiskey giving me the calm I need before heading back to my table.
“Where the fuck have you been, bitch?” Ashley asks.
“The bathroom,” I say, but everyone just stares at me.
“Yeah, no. I just went to the bathroom because you were gone for a while, and you weren’t there. And you know what, guys?” Courtney asks, looking around the table.
“What?” Ally smiles, stirring her drink with her straw.
“Alex was just gone for a little while too. Isn’t that funny? The two of you were both missing for a period of time, and now you’re suspiciously flushed and your eyes are shiny.”
“Did you go somewhere, Mel?” Ally asks.
Staying quiet, I look down at the table and take a sip of my whiskey, the slow burn traveling through my veins. Instead of making me drunk and jumbled, it’s giving me clarity into what I’m really thinking and feeling. When I’m sober, my mind battles with what my body wants, but as I’m drinking my second whiskey, my mind and body are in perfect sync.
They both want Alex.
Even with the interruption, the words exchanged, and the realizations made, I still want him.
“What did you do, Mely?” Ally probes, bumping my shoulder with hers.
Looking around at all of them, I sigh, knowing I’ll have to confess one way or another. “I met him out back while he was on a smoke break, and we, uh, kissed?”
