Page 19 of Cherish

“Get your ass over there, JD. It’s about fucking time, too. Time to move on from Natalie.” Jake lowers his voice when he says her name. He’s the only one besides Mellie who knows the entire story between me and Natalie.

“She’s been texting. I blocked her number, but she found a way around that.”

“She sounds desperate,” Jake says. A desperate Natalie is a dangerous thing. “She knows it’s over now and is trying her best to hold on to you. That’s all that is. Don’t sweat it.”

He taps me on the shoulder just as his future mother-in-law walks in with Sandy’s sister Tash and her husband Chris. Sandy’s younger cousin Vivienne is also with them. Vivienne is a gorgeous twenty-year-old. She walks with her family but not before she gives me what I think is supposed to be a flirtatious smile.

Her presence is enough to get Luke out of his seat and off his phone. He stands up and walks across the yard right in her direction. When she sees him walking in front of her, she sticks her foot out to trip him, but he sidesteps and intentionally bumps her with his body.

Luke is over a foot taller than her, and the hit, though not hard, causes her to stumble and almost fall on her ass. Luke gives her a look of triumph and walks away.

“Hey, Dr. Dupree.” I turn to find Dr. Doyle standing behind me. I turn to face him, inwardly smug at having to look down on him. I take a step forward, trying to intimidate him with my height. Jake must catch on because I hear him chuckle.

I introduce them and smirk at Jake’s unnecessarily rough handshake.

“I hope you don’t mind I’m here. Schwartz and King told me about it. They got called in so can’t make it.”

I look at Alex again. She’s looking right at us, but instead of focusing on Dr. Doyle, she’s looking at me.

“It’s cool,” I tell him. Unable to stand his presence for a second longer, I say, “Go grab yourself a drink and some food, man.”

“Yeah, I’m going to go back to my fiancée,” Jake announces, looking over at Sandy, who is still talking to Maxine, but who are now joined by Dr. Grace Beauvais, an obstetrician with a short, blond bob.

“You’re engaged to Dr. Beauvais?” Dr. Doyle asks, surprised. “I didn’t know she was engaged. Hell, I thought she was gay.”

“That’s because sheisgay, Doyle,” I say, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. “Jake’s engaged to the woman in pink.”

Dr. Doyle is stunned speechless as he looks from Jake to Sandy.

“Is there a problem, Dr. Doyle?” Jake asks.

Dr. Doyle doesn’t answer right away. He continues to look back and forth. “Um, of course not. So,” he says, dropping his voice. He moves closer to Jake, now standing between us. He turns his back to me, cutting me out of the conversation, but I can still hear him. “Your, ah, family—”

“My family what?” Jake asks, confused. I step closer to the two, getting my first clue in the mystery of Doyle and Alex.

“Are they happy about the engagement?” Doyle continues to look from Jake to Sandy, a perplexed look on his face.

“Ecstatic. They love her.” At that exact moment, Jake’s dad walks over and throws an arm around Sandy’s shoulders before leaning down to kiss her cheeks. She smiles at him and lays her head on his shoulder as she introduces him to Maxine.

Doyle looks at the scene, entranced. He then looks around the yard and spots Alex. She’s not facing us, but we can see her profile as she laughs at something Ananda just whispered in her ear. He’s pensive as he looks at her, his usually cold blue eyes showing a hint of vulnerability as his gaze softens. A small smile forms on his thin lips, and I will myself not to punch the asshole in the throat. I was pretty sure before, but now I’m positive I know why he ended things between them.

“I see someone I know. I think I’ll go say hi.” The asshole knows practically everyone here, but with those words, his eyes never leave her. He’s now looking at her bare legs, and I’ve had enough.

“Let me introduce you to my dad and fiancée.” Jake doesn’t wait for him to answer. He grabs his elbow and pulls him to the opposite side of the yard.

As he heads toward Sandy, Alex walks directly into my path, up the stairs and back inside. There are two sets of stairs that lead to the deck, and she had already been standing close to the other set, but she chose to walk across the yard and into my path to get to the other.

I follow her inside. As quietly as possible, I slide my big body through the sliding door. She’s inside my fridge, bent over, showing even more legs in those incredibly short shorts. Her T-shirt is riding up, showing off an incredibly smooth back.

My hands ache as I envision walking up to her and sliding them up her shirt, caressing what I know is soft skin. Unable to talk myself out of it, I take a step closer, but I don’t touch.

She finally pulls her head out of the fridge, holding what I know is my last specialty beer. She gasps when she sees me, almost dropping the drink.

“You know,” I say, taking the beer from her hand. I find my bottle opener, open it, take a long sip, and hand it back to her. “These aren’t for the guests. As you can see, I hid them all the way in the back of the fridge.”

She holds the bottle of beer, not sipping it. She looks at my face, then down to the top of the bottle, where my lips were.

“You expect me to drink this?” she asks.

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