Page 74 of Better Late Than Never

I touched his waist but didn’t move in for a kiss. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m… I’m good.”

“Alex.” I ran my fingers along the edge of his jaw. “Talk to me.”

He opened his mouth as if to insist that, no, everything was fine. But he held my gaze, and slowly, he deflated. My heart sped up, both with relief that he was dropping the façade and uneasiness over what he was about to tell me.

Breaking eye contact, he raked a hand through his short hair and exhaled hard. “It’s… I ran into my ex at the Exchange.”

I stiffened. “Your ex? That creepy asshole you warned me about?”

Chafing his arms, he nodded. “Tobias, yeah.” He blew out another breath and suddenly radiated bone-deep exhaustion. “God, I am so damntiredof him.”

My hackles went up. “What happened? What did he?—”

“It’s fine. Nothing happened.” Alex patted the air, then rested his hands on my chest. “I mean, he was kind of a dick, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”

I relaxed minutely. “So… what happened?”

As he ran me through the conversation, anger roiled in the pit of my stomach. I’d been wary of Tobias from the beginning because of Alex’s warning, but now I knew Alex. I cared about Alex. And the fact that this asshole was harassing Alex made me see red.

And that was before Alex said, “He’s been coming by my apartment.”

“What? Wait, he’sstillcoming around?”

“Yeah. When I’m not there.” Alex shuddered. “Thinking—I don’t know, I guess he thought if he dropped by, he’d eventually catch me when I was home and horny.” With a humorless laugh, he added, “Then I’d let him in and sleep with him.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh at how pathetic this guy was, or risk my career with a confrontation at the hospital. I wasn’t a possessive or jealous man, but anyone who made someone I cared about this nervous—anyone who harassed him this much—deserved a one-way conversation and an attitude adjustment.

Alex continued, “He made some noise about how he thinks I must be seeing someone I shouldn’t be. Like asking if you’re married and…” He waved a hand. “I don’t think he actually knows we’re hooking up—that it’s you and me, specifically, I mean. I think he’s just fishing around for a reason to harass me.”

“That fucker,” I growled.

Alex’s eyebrows jumped.

“Is there anything you can do about him coming to your place?” I asked.

“Not really. He’s not trespassing or anything. I doubt the cops would care much, and the MAs can’t do anything because he’s off-base.”

I sighed. He was probably right.

“I’m sorry.” Alex’s shoulders fell. “I… We were supposed to be having fun this evening, and I?—”

“Why are you apologizing?” I caressed his cheek. “You didn’t do anything.”

“No, but I kinda killed the mood.”

I shook my head. “No, you didn’t. Your asshole ex fucked up your day.”

“Yeah, he did.” Alex sighed. “I was really looking forward to tonight, too.”

“Me too, but we can take it easy if you want to. We can have dinner by the pool and just relax. There’s no pressure from me even when your exisn’tbeing a dick.”

“I know. I… You’ve never pressured me. I just feel bad that we were going to have a fun night together, and then…” He waved his hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I wrapped my arms around him and let him lean against me. Stroking his short hair, I whispered, “We’ll get back to the fun another night. Right now, let’s just take the pressure off. I can order delivery from that Italian place around the corner, and we can eat outside. Then maybe put on a movie or something if you want.”

He let out a long breath, and his whole body seemed to relax into my embrace. “That sounds really good.”

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