Alex began rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It’s getting crowded in here,” he declared, standing. He reached for her elbow and guided her up. “Let’s go for a walk.” No choice. It was an order.
She obeyed.
“Not a wimp move,” she hissed. They both pitched their cups up and drank greedily, downing more of their morning joe.
“What? Asking you to go for a walk?”
“And the sex in the on-call room.” His hand reached out to the small of her back to guide her out the coffee shop’s door. A tingle of excitement zipped through her as his palm warmed her. God, she’d missed him.
“There wasn’t any sex in the on-call room.”
“Only because someone else’s vagina was ‘Exit Only’ at that moment. My ‘Enter’ sign was forty feet tall with rhinestones and blinking LED lights. And an eight-piece brass band. With tubas and everyth—”
The crush of Alex made her shoulders go flat against the brick wall he pulled her next to, her arms up in the air, one holding a coffee she instinctively preserved, the other snaking through his hair as he kissed her with such ferocity her lips felt bruised. They’d dipped a few feet into a small alley around the corner from the firehouse museum, and as he raked her mouth with his tongue, all fire and need, she saw the bored morning walkers going about their business as if she weren’t being ravaged a few feet away.
He smelled so good, and tasted like coffee and hope.
“Don’t do that again,” he growled, one hand on her waist, the other casually holding his coffee cup.
“Don’t what?”
“Shut me out.”
Swallowing hard, she tried to think of what to say.
“I mean it, Josie,” Alex added, his eyes hard and soft all at once. The pulse at his jawline throbbed, his muscles tight. “I’ve had my eye on you for months, and it felt like fate the night you came in with Laura. It was fate. Everything from that moment made sense with you. All of it.”
“Alex, I—”
He was breathing hard, the heat of his exhales pushing against her neck.
“I was so worried about coming on too strong. Maybe you faded back because I wasn’t direct enough.” One knee pressed between hers, his core pushing hard against her, their abdomens so close she could feel his heartbeat through a very obvious erection.
“I won’t make that mistake twice,” he added, punctuating the thought with a slower, unraveling kiss that made her stand on tiptoe to savor every bit of his mouth. Her hands loosened and she felt the coffee cup slide down, crashing to the ground, a light splash of liquid registering on her ankle, the taste of his soft tongue so exquisite she felt like she shifted into a new dimension. A vague, muted sound told her Alex dropped his coffee as well as his heat pushed into her, his lush skin sliding against her cheek, the sound of his breath like a dare.
Something between them began to buzz.
“Is that a vibrator in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” she murmured against his mouth.
Pure delight poured out of him, the old Alex returning fast with his laughter as he broke contact with her, pulling back. Rummaging through his pocket, he found the offending phone. “Damn it. Work. Gotta go.”
The march of people past them, to the left, was a blur of faceless bodies and feet, as if their heads weren’t there. The alley seemed so detailed, in contrast, and every part of Alex’s appearance, from the button on his collar that wasn’t quite all the way through the button hole to the streak of her lipstick on his lips, seemed rich and coarse and solid. Real.
The hard, aggressive Alex was still here, but reduced by half. The man who stared back at her had a decisiveness that mixed with his openness and invited her in.
Invited himself in.
Open the door, Josie. Say yes. That was Laura’s voice.
Yes. That was hers.
Josie’s own voice replied. “When can I see you again?” she asked.
The worried look came back as he read something on his phone. Shoving it in his pocket, he shook his head slightly, as if banishing the thought. “Whenever you want.” His hand slipped around her waist and he kissed her lightly on the lips.
A brief thought of Ed, of his decline, her conversation with Gian, hit her. Should she bring it up now? No. Not yet.
Bzzz.
“Shit.” He kissed her cheek and began to walk away. “I really do have to go. Just text me. Promise?” Walking with purpose, he marched off.
“Promise,” she whispered to no one.
Promise.
“Something’s wrong with him,” Josie began as she marched into the cabin. Then she did a double-take and made a low whistling sound.
“Holy shit.”
“It’s a little messy,” Laura confessed.
“And my fingernails are a little over the top.” She flashed her hands at Laura. They spelled I-heart-J-I-L-L-I-A-N-heart. The hearts were bright red, the nails pink and white.
The cabin looked like a baby bomb had exploded in it. Burp rags covered the back of every chair or couch. A hamper full of laundry was next to a spot on the couch with an end table littered with large, empty glasses and plates that held what appeared to have once been pizza. A few empty salad containers littered the area. Breast pads were stacked neatly next to the table.
And then there was the giant pile of laundry on the floor.
That moved.
“Jesus Christ!” Josie shouted, jumping back. A leg stuck out from under a pile of towels. The leg was attached to an underwear-covered ass and a na**d chest.
Dylan was sound asleep in a pile of clothes in the middle of the room, snoring lightly. His arm curled under his head like a pillow.
Josie pointed. “What’s that?”
“Dylan.”
“Not who. What?”
“He’s tired,” Laura whined. “We all are. Mike’s probably out there asleep in his Jeep.”
Josie shot Laura a what the f**k look. “His Jeep? Are you guys fighting?”
“No!” Laura wailed, pacing back and forth with the baby in her arms. Cherubic and serene, she was so sweet looking. The rosy-pink skin and a smattering of baby acne on her nose reminded Josie of how tiny and new Jillian really was. A breathy snort came from the baby, whose mouth puckered and suckled in the air.
“Then why is he in his Jeep?”
“He pretends he’s going for a run but every time he does that I look out there and he’s asleep in the front seat.”
“Um…why?”
Laura pointed at Dylan, who was now spooning with a nursing pillow and a beach towel. “Same reason as that. We’re completely wiped.”