Page 70 of Wanted

Then they kissed.

And it wasn’t platonic. Even from where I was standing, I pickedup on the sexual heat passing between them.Whatthe hell?

“Sara? Did you hear me?”

I was too wrapped up in the scene unfolding in front of me toeven answer. Looking to see what drew my attention, he saw Matt, but their embracehad already ended.

“Matt’s here. Can we say hi really quick before we sit down?” Mycuriosity was getting the better of me.

“Sure.” Alek entwined his fingers with mine as we walked towardhim and his mystery woman.

He saw us approaching and smiled. Big. Whoever she was hadcertainly put my dear friend in a great mood.I think I like her.

“Sara,” he greeted, standing from his seat and giving me a kisson the cheek. He then turned toward Alek and they shook hands. Thankfully, theyhad become friendly with one another, even grabbing the occasional beer now andagain.

Matt glanced to the woman on his right, then back to us, beforesaying, “Sara. Alek. This is Isabelle.” We exchanged greetings. Okay, so I knewher name, but who was she to Matt?

Alek handed me a drink as I decided to find out what was goingon. “So, tell me, Isabelle. How do you know Matt?”

There was no hesitation when she answered. “I’m his fiancée.”

The words hadn’t even registered in my brain as Alek choked onhis drink. Looking to me to see if it was a joke, I told him I knew as much ashe did with a simple shrug.

“I KNEW it!” Alek shouted, pointing a finger in Matt’s direction.“I knew you weren’t gay!”

“What?” Matt exclaimed. Looking back and forth between the two ofus, he was thoroughly confused himself. “You thought I was gay?” Before I couldeven answer him, he blurted out, “I’m not gay. I’ll show you right now I’m notgay.”

“Hey,” Alek grunted. “Watch it.” He was smirking, but there was aserious tone to his words.

How could I have been sooff the mark?“Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked, grabbing his handand pulling him through the crowd before he even had a chance to answer me.

Placing my untouched drink on a nearby table, I dove right in. “What’sgoing on? Who is Isabelle? How long have you known her, Matt? And why didn’t Iknow you had a freaking fiancée?” I fired off question after question, fullyexpecting an answer for each one of them.

“It’s complicated, Sara,” was all he said as he ran his fingers throughhis hair.

“Really? Can you give me a little more thanit’s complicated?”

“Not before you tell me why you thought I was gay!”

Sudden embarrassment crept over me as I fumbled to find the rightwords. “Well, for starters, women hit on you all the time, yet I’ve never knownyou to show any interest. Then there’s the way I would catch you looking atother men.”

“And what way was that, pray tell?”

“I don’t know exactly. It was the way you huddled close whiletalking to them, or the way you watched them.” His inquisitive stare made menervous for some reason.

“Sara,” he started, “I never showed any interest in other womenbecause my heart belonged to someone else. Isabelle. She was the only one forme, and even though we hadn’t been together in years, I still couldn’t bringmyself to be with somebody else. And as fortheway Iwatched other guys,you obviouslyread into something which wasn’t there.” Huffing out a quick breath, hefinished what he had to say. “I miss my friends back home. I was simply lookingfor someone to hang out with, you know, someone to do some male-bonding with. Withour clothes on, of course.” He was making fun of me and I didn’t blame him.

“So…what’s the story with Isabelle then?” I wanted to know moreabout the woman who had my friend all twisted-up.

“That’s a story better told another day. When we have more time.”When he saw how disappointed I was, he threw me a bone. “We dated allthroughout high school, but some stuff happened, we broke up and I moved here,to Seattle, to escape everything.”

I knew no matter how much I pushed, he wasn’t going to reveal hiswhole life story in the middle of a crowded club.

So I left it alone.

After saying our goodbyes, we headed back home. It was definitelygoing to be a long night because there was something else I needed to talk tomy husband about.

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