Page 43 of Wanting Alex

He laughed, pulling me into his arms and kissing me. I could get used to this.

We cooked a simple spaghetti dinner since I wasn’t able to go to the store when I got home the night before, and I didn’t want to offer him one of the frozen meals I usually ate. I was usually too tired to cook when I got home.

We were curled up on the couch, the TV on a random channel neither one of us was paying attention to. “You said you wanted to ask me something back at the office.”

He reached for my hand. “Thomas and I wanted to ask if you would do us the honor of being our date to the charity gala in two weeks.” He raised my palm to his lips to place a gentle kiss on it.

“Are you sure?” My stomach flipped. I was excited and nervous at the same time. I knew the rumors. Neither Thomas nor Declan dated the same person out in public before. If we all showed up together, it would expose the relationship the three of us shared. Were they ready for that? Was I?

His fingers tightened around mine. “It won’t be exactly as it seems. Technically, you’ll be Thomas’ date, and Tori will be mine. She’s our friend from back home. She already knows she isn’t our real date. It’s just to appease our mothers.”

I had an inkling of who Tori might be, and I decided it was better to get this all out in the open. “She’s the girl they picked out for you, isn’t she?”

Regret flashed across his face before he could hide it. “I won’t lie to you. She is, but it’ll never happen. She’s basically our little sister. I could never see her romantically, no matter how hard they push.”

“So, you plan to tell your mother it’s not going to happen?” Anxiety rolled through me. I didn’t want to be a secret to his parents, and I wasn’t sure how they’d feel about their sons dating an American. Maybe they had some kind of rule they had to marry someone from Cosland.

“Yes. We want to do it in person and with Tori there. We don’t want any confusion on either side.”

“And Tori doesn’t want to be with the two of you?” It seemed preposterous to me. Who wouldn’t want Dec and Thomas?

“God, no.” He chuckled and kissed my fingers. “She doesn’t feel that way about us at all.”

I swallowed hard. This was getting even more serious than I’d imagined.

“Are you sure about this? I don’t want to cause problems with your family.”

“You won’t,” he reassured me.

I tugged my chin from his grasp and looked away, afraid to voice what I was really thinking.

“Hey, tell me what’s on your mind, Alex.” His hands rubbed up and down my arms.

I worried my lip between my teeth. “I’m not exactly like the models you typically have hanging on your arms.”

“Alex…” His hands cupped my cheeks. “You are gorgeous beyond compare. Those other women meant nothing to us. We want you, and we want to go to the gala with you. Okay?”

I nodded.

“We also don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable being in the limelight. There will be press there, and I don’t want it to be overwhelming for you. So, if I pretend to take Tori, the press won’t focus on the three of us.”

My heart skipped. He was right. How could I be seen with both of them? What would people think?As much as I cared about the two men, I wasn’t ready to have our fledgling relationship splashed across the local papers just yet.

“If it makes you feel better, Jessie and the guys will be attending, too,” he added.

I thought back to how the others on the ranch handled their relationships. They didn’t outright flaunt it in public, but they didn’t hide it either. I’d heard rumors before I stayed there, but nothing concrete. If they could do it, then I could, too.

“But the gala is in two weeks. I have nothing to wear.” The nearest shopping center that would have the type of dress I needed was hours away.

“We’ll take care of it. Do you have any free time on Saturday?”

I nodded. “I think so.”

“Then Martin will pick you up and take you shopping. And before you say anything, no arguing, and I’ll send help with you.”

I smiled. “Will it be you?”

He groaned. “No, because we’d never get to finding you a dress. You’d be too distracting to me. But I’ll make sure you have excellent help.”

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