Page 30 of Yours, Unexpectedly

“What are you doing here?” It comes out all wrong. “I mean, you’re allowed to be here obviously. Oh! Are you looking for Gabe? He’s not here right now.”

“I know,” she whispers.

“You… know.” I’m silent for a beat. “I’m confused.”

She slowly walks over to me and reaches down for my hand.

“I’ve always wanted to do this, you know.” She says it more as an inner thought rather than something she wants me to respond to. She lifts up my hand, putting our palms flat against each other before interlacing our fingers, and I’m just holding my breath to see what comes next.

She’s so beautiful this close. Something I don’t get a chance to admire very often. She’s got a sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks that fall all the way down to her neck and chest. Her dark lashes fan across her eyelids as she peeks up at me. I notice she has dark circles under her eyes, as if she didn’t sleep very well last night. I reach up with my other hand and tentatively stroke under her eye.

“Bex.” It comes out as a plea this time.

Those big eyes close now as she takes a deep inhale.

“I—”

“Hey, Anders, you have got to stop leaving your door open! One day some random person is just going to let themselves into your apartment!” Cassie pauses, finally looking up. Her hands immediately cover her eyes. “Oh, shoot! Sorry for interrupting!”

Before I can blink, Bex has yanked her hand from mine and has somehow transported herself a good ten feet from me. I miss her warmth already.

Pinching my nose between my finger and thumb, I gesture between Bex and Cassie. “Cassie, Bex. Bex, Cassie.”

Bex has her fingers resting on her lips, a look of mortification on her face. “Oh, God. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be here.”

Confusion is the theme of the evening because I can’t for the life of me figure out why Bex doesn’t think she should be here. Before I have the chance to ask, she’s brushing past Cassie and racing to the elevator.

Holding up one finger to Cassie, I let her know I’ll be right back and start after Bex.

“Bex! Wait! Where are you going?”

“I shouldn’t have come!” she calls over her shoulder.

I’m annoyed that I’m talking to the back of her head so instead of responding, I catch up to her, grab her elbow, and spin her toward me. She is extremely uncoordinated, crashing into me with an umph.

“You should have come. I’m glad you came.” I attempt to push a curl behind her ear. “I feel like there’s a joke in there somewhere, but I’m not sure if we’re there yet,” I mutter.

Her body is pressed up against mine so it’s extremely hard to focus.

She gifts me with the smallest smile, shaking her head before her forehead comes down onto my chest.

“Who is that?” At least, I think that’s what she says but her words are muffled. “Was I crashing a date or something?”

A date?!

“A date?” I voice the thought. “Absolutely not. I wasn’t joking about being all in with you, Bex. That was Cassie. She’s a friend from my program and we’re working on a song together.”

She nuzzles further into my chest. “Oh my God. This is embarrassing.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” I rub my hand up and down her back and then realize that I want to be looking into her eyes for this. Grabbing her upper arm, I peel her away from me, running my hands up to cup her face. “I do need to get back in there, but I want to talk more about this. God, I need to talk more about this. Come over tomorrow morning. Gabe will still be gone at his work conference, or whatever. I’ll make you breakfast and we can… talk.”

She bites her lip, nodding, and it takes everything in me not to lean down and take that lip between my teeth. Instead, I press a chaste kiss to her forehead, lean around her to push the down button for the elevator, and back away.

“Tomorrow?” I ask.

“Tomorrow,” she agrees, stepping backwards into the elevator.

Bardot Brothers (+ Bex)

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