Page 76 of Eight Steps to Alpha

“Like what?”

He tilted his head to the side. “A nice guy, I guess.”

She laughed, then smoothed over her dress to straighten it. “You don’t picture me with a nice guy?”

He lifted his shoulder. “Hasn’t been your MO in the past.”

She shook her head. “That’s not true.”

He walked toward her. “You’re like me, Fe. You date the ones you know are unavailable. The ones you know can’t hurt you.”

She wanted to deny it, to tell him he had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but for some reason, she couldn’t look at him. His words had hit too close to home. Rung to close to the truth for her to even acknowledge him.

“He obviously loves you. I can’t really ask for more than that.”

Her eyes shot up, her breath seizing in her throat. What? Her mind yelled. But then Elliot appeared in the hall, disrupting their conversation, and pulling her attention away.

He was already dressed in the jeans and the white linen shirt they’d purchased at the mall earlier, and he was doing his best to roll up the cuffs of his sleeves, but failing miserably. He immediately locked eyes with her, then lifted one side of his lip into an amused grin. “Can you help me?”

The sight of him struggling like that, looking so adorable, caused a physical tightening of her throat. She stepped forward, set down her glass, and began folding his sleeves.

She’d always found Elliot attractive, but there was something different about him now. His skin had gained color in this afternoon’s sun, giving him a healthy glow that made his eyes even bluer. His shirt was left open at the neck, showing that indent at his throat that she’d always found attractive. But it was more than that, he stood now with his hands at his side while she worked, completely comfortable in his own skin.

“Done,” she whispered, stepping backward.

His eyes moved down her body, then up again, but he said nothing. He didn’t have to. His eyes said it all for him. What was going on? She thought to herself. Maybe he was playing a part, but he was playing it too well, and confusing the crap out of her.

“Did you find everything okay, Elliot?” David asked from behind her.

Elliot broke his eyes away, as though he was almost in a trance. “We forgot to buy shoes,” he said then.

At first, she looked down to her own feet, where lavender toenails were peeking out of the open toed high heels, but then she looked back to Elliot, and immediately covered her mouth. “Do you?” She glanced over to David again. “Have anything that would fit him.”

Dave smiled, pushed himself from the counter and beckoned Elliot down the hall. “Come on,” he said. “I’m sure I have something that will work.”

Both men disappeared a moment later, and Fe picked up the bottle of whisky and poured more into her glass. Damn if she didn’t need it.

But most of all, damn her brother for stirring up all her thoughts about Elliot. He’d been right about one thing. She’d been closing herself off to relationships for a long time. Possibly her whole adult life.

Even choosing Elliot as a roommate had been her unconscious attempt at avoiding love. She wasn’t even sure why? She had parents who adored each other, who’d been happily married and in love for over thirty years. But maybe that was it? Maybe the bar was set too high? Maybe that sort of effortless love wasn’t something she was capable of? Her mom, who was beautiful, and sweet, and agreeable to a fault was hard to keep up with. She never argued, never so much as had a disagreement with her father…about anything. Fe would have an argument with a rock.

Yes, she was aware sometimes it was silly, but public relations had never been her strong suit. She played with her lip between her teeth, worrying. No, she couldn’t see herself in the roll her mother put herself in. Holding a man’s hand, allowing him to carry her over a threshold, always having the softest most manicured hands a person was capable of.

She poured herself another inch of whiskey and played with David’s words over and over in her head. He’d been wrong about one thing. Elliot didn’t love her. Not like that anyway—and he never would.

Hearing her brother’s voice come closer, she flipped around, finding Elliot coming down the hall with Dave. He wore a pair of brown leather loafers, that somehow made his outfit more polished and sophisticated. “Very nice,” she said, giving him a once-over.

Elliot promptly turned around, like he’d done in the dressing room all those weeks before, showing off the entire ensemble. He then came closer, leaned so close to her ear she could smell his clean skin, and whispered. “You look amazing, too.”

She laughed, startled by the compliment, and ignored the butterflies that were suddenly beating bruises in her stomach. “I never said you looked amazing.”

He grinned, taking one thumb, and trailing it down her cheek. “Your eyes did.”

He pulled away then, and David dug his keys out of his pocket and set them on the counter. “You drive,” he said to Elliot. “I’ll have Craig bring me home after the party.”

She bit her lip, barely able to contain her fluster as she walked toward the door. He was playing a part, the roll she’d cast for him, but her skin still pebbled where his breath touched. She tucked her hair behind her ear feeling extremely unsteady, then glanced over at David. “I’m ready when you are.”

---