Page 6 of Forever Flirting

“Or maybe a brain surgeon… my beautiful, beautiful Everly,” he whispered softly, not looking away, as she felt his finger trace her earlobe down along her jawline, making her quiver at the sensation. “Because I cannot think when you look at me with those gorgeous eyes of yours.”

“Alex…”

“I love the way you say my name,” he breathed, leaning close to her again, weaving a spell over her, their breath mixing as his lips paused above hers. “I bet you taste as delicious as you look…”

His words were wreaking chaos on her and suddenly having fun with the girls in town was the last thing she should be doing. He was dangerous to her plans, her future, and she should be at home trying to organize the mess her life was turning into.

As his lips touched hers, she felt his tongue tentatively brush against hers for a brief moment just as he deepened the kiss, coaxing her mouth open against his. She could taste the tequila, a faint taste of tobacco, and something else that was just him.

His arm slid around her waist as her hand was suddenly clinging to his arm, touching the jacket of his uniform, as if to help steady herself because her knees were buckling at the rush of feelings within her.

The man could certainly kiss!

“Everly… I need you. Let’s go back to my room,” he breathed against her lips, nuzzling her cheek, before he kissed her again, pressing her against his body with a startling awareness and understanding of what his intentions were!

He was looking to have ‘fun’with someone and prowling the bars for an easy target… and that certainly wasn’t her!

She yanked her lips from his and saw his confused gaze, turning to escape, only to have him catch her wrist.

“Everly, wait… Let’s talk.”

Pulling her hand free, she didn’t dare glance back at Alex as everything in her screamed to run away in that moment. Her self-preservation instincts were flaring in awareness that this man was dangerous to her heart and her senses…

Having some fling, a one-night stand, or indulging in something that could be so much more emotionally traumatizing than her parents selling off her childhood home, abandoning her, or her brother leaving – it was all too much to bear!

“EVERLY?!”

She could hear Alex shouting her name from behind her – and darted out the front door of the club into the night, bolting down the street towards where her car was parked.

No, this had to have been the stupidest, most self-destructive thing she could have ever done… and she needed to focus on figuring out her own screwed-up life.

“Everly – WAIT! Please?!” Alex yelled, running after her. “What’s your last name? Can I get your number? I want to call you… Please?”

She yanked open the door to her car, shoved the key in the ignition and pulled out, swerving to make a U-turn in the middle of the street… only to see Alex there, standing in the road behind her, looking distinctly lost and alone.

CHAPTER2

MAESTRO

Dallas, Texas

A few years ago…

“Everly – WAIT! Please?!”Alex yelled, running after the woman who sparked something within him for the first time ever – and felt a slight stitch in his right side underneath his ribcage, catching him by surprise. “What’s your last name? Can I get your number? I want to call you…Please?”

Even as he was yelling the words out, not caring who heard him, he knew better than to believe them… didn’t he?

Alex was about as commitment-phobic as a guy could get – and who could blame him? Every time there was supposed to be something normal in his life, his world, there was always some terrible rift that tore everything apart.

He made captain of his high school football team – only to come home early from school to announce his achievements, finding that his father was in bed with another woman. His dad had been cheating on his mother, abruptly leaving them for a woman that was barely four years older than Alex.

Two weeks later, his mother died in a car accident.

He was suddenly living with his grandmother for the next four years before flying out to Colorado to attend training. He wanted nothing to do with his father, who had shown up drunk to the funeral.

Those years had been very bitter and painful for a confused young man.

When Alex was at the Academy and they were getting ready to pick their assignments - he had a gall bladder attack. He was hospitalized overnight with emergency laparoscopic surgery… only to return to his post, to find a brand new wingman waiting for him – Cajun.

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