Page 36 of Promise Me Ever After
Alex hadn’t talked about his relationship history, or rather his lack of them. And here was me, trying my best not to make history repeat itself, holding back on someone who seemed to be changing his ways. I dropped my cigarette to the floor and put it out with my heel.
“You like him too, right?”
“You know we’ve been snogging, so if I said no, I’d be lying.” I grinned. “Thanks, Sid. Good chat.” I inclined my head towards the restaurant. “We should get back inside.”
The rest of the shift couldn’t go fast enough. I waited tables, took drinks orders, took payments, divided up the cash tips, and watched the clock tick by so slowly with every second. By the time I turned the sign over to closed, all I wanted to do was get the hell out of there.
Eventually, I was able to escape. When I got outside, I looked both ways, wondering where Alex was. He’d said he would be waiting for me, but there was no sign of him.
Disappointed, I started to walk home alone. I hadn’t got very far along the road when a dark figure in a hoodie stepped out in front of me, grabbed my upper arms and pushed me against the wall. I wanted to scream, but before any sound came out, warm lips met mine.
“Alex, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I shoved him hard, pushing him away. “You scared the shit out of me!”
He pushed the hood down, treating me to a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I didn’t want to wait right outside in case Tess or Ellis saw me.”
“So instead, you tried to give me a heart attack.”
“Yeah, I know it can’t have been good for a woman of your age.” He fought back a snigger.
I wanted to kiss that smile right off his lips for giving me such a fright. Scrap that, I just wanted to kiss him. “You’ll pay for that.”
“I hope so.” He started walking backwards in the direction of my house. “Are you coming, or what?”
We walked in silence on the short journey to my house. I unlocked the door and opened it, shivering as cool air hit me.
“I really do need to work out how to schedule the heating.”
Alex’s arms wrapped around my waist, his nose nuzzling into my neck. “Don’t, it gives me the perfect opportunity to warm you up.”
I twisted around to face him; lips upturned for him to kiss me. He didn’t leave me hanging, kicking the door shut behind him before pulling off his coat and dropping it to the floor. He wrestled mine from my shoulders as we moved through the hallway to the living room, lips not leaving each other’s. Given it was only the second time he’d been to the house, he had an uncanny memory of where he needed to go. The backs of my legs touched the sofa and I dropped down onto it, as Alex fell on top of me.
Sid’s words from earlier echoed in my head.
Player.
Love ‘em and leave ‘em.
Reluctantly, I pushed him away and struggled into a sitting position. “I talked to Sid earlier.”
Alex sat up, and raked a hand through his hair, those sapphire pools fixed on me. “Which you do most shifts, so?” He spread his hands wide.
“He told me a few things about you.”
He dropped his head. “Shit.”
I reached over and placed a finger under his chin, tilting his face towards mine again. “All good, trust me.”
“Really?” He frowned.
“You know my last relationship ended in disaster, a broken engagement because Russ cheated.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Which wasn’t the first time. When I was at uni, I was engaged to my boyfriend at the time. We were planning to get married but then he changed his mind. I was devastated. I was twenty-one and I thought my life was over. I spent my twenties falling for one guy after another, falling hard and fast. I always ended up getting hurt. After Russ, I decided that had to change. What is it they say? You can’t keep doing the same things and expecting different results?”
“Why are you telling me this?” Alex covered my hand with his and drew it into his lap, fingers brushing over the knuckles.
Why was I jeopardising anything that might develop between us? But then, I wanted him to know the truth, didn’t want him to think he knew what I wanted to happen between us just because of what I’d done before.
“You need to know my history before we can move forward. Because I know you haven’t had deep and meaningful relationships in the past.”
“Is that a problem?”
