Page 34 of Chaos & Corruption

A groan escapes his lips as he lowers the chopsticks and I close my mouth.

“Christ, you have no idea how badly I want to take you home and peel that little dress off your body.” He leans back and reaches for his bottle of Sapporo. Taking a long swig, his eyes become hooded as he watches me chew.

It would be so easy to give in and tell him to ask for the check. To go back to his apartment and give into temptation. But I’m not sure what happens after tonight. Do we go back to pretending? And what happens after we finally uncover Webber’s involvement and discover who attacked Mila? Do we part ways? If tonight is all we have, I want to make the most of it. I want to know everything there is to know about Alex Reggiano.

Don’t get me wrong, I know the basics. I know he’s from Connecticut, that his father is a stockbroker and his mother is a physical therapist. He has two sisters, both younger. Lisamarie is sixteen and a giant pain in Alex’s ass. Valeria is ten and a tomboy. She loves sports and plays flag football. They have an Alaskan Husky named Gronk after Alex’s favorite football player and a cat Alex can’t stand because he scratched him under his eye three years ago.

But that’s about it. I don’t know if he’s ever had a girlfriend or if he wants more out of life than football. He told me has goals, but he never said what they were and the more time I spend with him, the more I want to know everything.

Clearing my throat, I swallow and pick up my own chopsticks. Picking up a piece of tuna, I lift my gaze back to his.

“You know I’m not the kinda girl who takes her clothes off on the first date but I’m willing to make an exception on one condition,” I say, dipping the tuna in the soy sauce. He lowers his beer and cocks his head to the side.

“Name it.”

“Well, since we’ve met, we’ve been so wrapped up in taking down the society that we don’t know much about each other.”

‘That’s not entirely true,” he argues. “I know more about you than I’ve ever known about another girl and I already met your family.” He shrugs his shoulders. “That alone is huge.”

He has a point there.

~*~

“Kids?”

I think about my answer. We’ve been firing questions at one another since the restaurant and after Alex paid the bill it didn’t stop. We took a walk around Main Street, got gelato a couple of blocks down and now as we make our way back to the car, we’re still going at it.

“Four, maybe five,” I finally reply, taking another lick of my strawberry gelato.

“Six,” he deadpans. “I want my own football team.”

I laugh at that, but I can picture it—Alex throwing the ball around in a yard to his kids.

“Where will you and your six kids live?”

“Depends on where I’m drafted. I don’t want to wait until retirement to settle down. Once I’m stable in my career, I want to focus on having my own family.” He chucks the rest of his waffle cone in the trash and wipes his hands. “What about you? Is the plan to always live in New York?”

“I’m not against moving. Sure, I’d miss my family, but my cousin Eric is in the Army and he’s moved around from state to state with his wife. They make it work, though. Uncle Riggs and Aunt Lauren constantly fly out to see them now that they have a baby.” I pause for a beat. “If my brother moves to Vegas, I think my parents will do the same. They’ll travel back and forth.”

“Is that the plan? He’s going to move to Vegas?”

“I’m not really sure,” I admit. That certainly would make things difficult for his secret relationship with Jaqueline Petra.

We continue to ask each other questions, finally making it back to the car. He holds the door for me as I slide into the passenger seat and then rounds the hood. Once he’s behind the wheel, his hand moves across the console and falls onto my thigh.

“I had a really good time tonight,” he says huskily, his fingers trailing under the hem of my dress.

“So did I.” I cover his hand with mine and flash him a smile. “I’m going to miss my fake boyfriend while he’s away this weekend.”

He brings his free hand to the side of my face and tucks some of my hair behind my ear as his eyes lock with mine.

“Is it really fake?” he questions and his gaze dips to my mouth. “Because I gotta tell you, Victoria, when you’re not playing Sherlock Holmes, you’re my dream girl.” He twirls another strand of my hair around his finger and squeezes my thigh. “Fuck, who am I kidding? Even when you are playing detective, you’re my dream girl. I love how fucking brave you are, that you’re willing to take a stand for your friend. Don’t get me wrong, it drives me crazy too and I am dead serious about you lying low this weekend, but there’s something incredibly sexy about a girl who is willing to do what so many are too afraid to even think.”

Oh.

Wow.

“You keep talking like that and we won’t make it back to your apartment,” I whisper.

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