Page 21 of Expiry Dating

Stupid frigging hormones.

“I told you the other day, I want you.” His voice sounded rougher as he took a step forward while she took a step back. “And I think you want me too.”

“Oh really? So because I had one temporary lapse in judgement, you think I’m easy?”

“Sweetness, you are so far from easy, it’s not even funny.”

She scoffed, finally hitting the back of the wall.

We need bigger rooms. Or maybe when Brady is around I need to make sure I’m in a big fucking open space.

This time when he approached, she sidestepped him until she ran out of side space and ended up in a corner next to her therapy bed. She could see the mirth dancing in his eyes. He was finding this all too amusing.

“Brady, this isn’t fucking funny! I don’t know what the hell is going on. I’m confused, damnit. And you ... you hunting me like I’m your next meal is, quite frankly, freaking me the fuck out.”

He took a step back and threw his hands up defensively, the smile plastered across his face not slipping. “Okay, Ali, whatever you want. I told you I’d wait, and I’m a man of my word. But just to clear up any confusion, when I say I want you, I want all of you. I’m not looking to just hook up. I wanna take you out. On a date. Buy you dinner and talk about the state of the Middle East.” She didn’t miss the twinkle in his eyes as he repeated her words back to her. “So, when you’re ready to do this, you know where I am.”

After dropping that bombshell, he turned his tanned, uniform-clad behind around and walked away.

***

Alice was feeling antsy. It was the same feeling she hadn’t been able to shake since Brady had told her he wanted her. All of her.

It was Saturday night, and she was alone in her cabin, the TV blaring in the background. Admittedly, staring at the same four walls wasn’t helping the situation. But she was too close to running over to Brady’s and throwing herself at him, she needed to be locked down. Which is what she was currently doing. Literally locking herself inside a self-imposed prison, under a knit blanket.

Frustrated and bored, she picked up her phone. She needed to talk to someone, someone other than Lily. Someone outside the situation completely.

Scrolling to Lucy’s name, Alice hit the call button. Lucy was the closest thing to a best friend she had.

That’s what you said about Becky.

Alice flung her head back into the cushions as she listened to the rings. Finally, her friend answered.

“Hey there, Lucy-Lou. You free to talk? I miss you.”

“Of course. I just got back from the gym and my legs are officially on strike, so I’m just gonna go ahead and put my feet up.”

Alice let out a snigger. “Might as well get a snack too—I got some man trouble, and it’s a long-arse story.”

Alice laid it all out from the first time they met in Vegas to Brady’s impromptu workplace drop-by. Lucy stayed quiet for the most part, injecting some choice curse words every now and again. When Alice was finally done, she waited patiently for her friend’s verdict.

“Okay ... well, I’m happy to give you my take on it all, but I’m fairly certain you already know how you feel.”

“That’s the point, Luce, I’m not entirely sure how I feel. I mean, yeah, he’s hot, but he drives me fricking crazy. It’s like he knows exactly what to say and how to say it to get under my skin. I’ve never met anyone who’s triggered me so much.”

“And maybe that’s a good thing.” Lucy paused for a moment. “What you had with Rob was safe. It was all very mature and sensible. You weren’t taking any real risks.”

“Um, have you already forgotten about the whole ‘cheating on me with my best friend’ thing, ’cos I sure as hell haven’t. Does that fall into your safe, mature, and sensible categories!?”

“Yes, Rob turned out to be a dick. But if he was the love of your life, don’t you think you would be a bit more upset about it all?”

Alice couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Especially from her closest friend, who had been there and witnessed the fallout of the breakup first-hand.

“I left the country, Luce, and I quit my job—you think that’s what a normal person does when they’re not upset?”

“No. You quit your job a month after the breakup. And you know as well as I do you didn’t leave the country ’cos of that fuckface. You left ’cos you were restless, and you missed your sister. The breakup and what happened with Becky gave you an excuse to leave guilt-free.”

Oh my God, is she right? I mean, I know I wasn’t happy, but that’s just ’cos I missed Lily, right?

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