Page 112 of Ripped & Shipped
“Well, lucky you,” Ella Mae says, spearing me with a playfully accusing look. “He hasn’t told me anything about you until the moment we parked in front of your house.”
“Typical,” Alex says with a smile.
“Right?!” Ella Mae says. She laughs and gives me a playful shove in the arm.
“I already like her,” Alex says to me.
“Yeah, me too,” I say, peering over at Ella Mae to gauge her reaction.
She doesn’t flinch, so that’s probably a good sign.
Kassie comes out of the house, dragging Courtney by the hand. “See, Mommy! She’s really pretty.”
“She is,” Courtney says to Kassie.
Then she looks at Ella Mae and says, “Welcome. I’m so glad you could come. I’m Courtney. This is our daughter Kassie. I follow you on Instagram, so I feel like I already know you. That’s weird, right?”
“It’s totally normal. I just met one of my online heroes this month. He’s always been larger than life in my eyes. I felt like I’ve known him forever. But he’s different in person. We all are.”
“I’m sure of that,” Courtney says.
Ella Mae’s talking about Drake. Larger than life? A guy who stood her up? His ego is larger than life. That’s what I know.
“We’re making homemade pizzas and salad. I hope that’s okay.”
“Sounds good. May I help?” Ella Mae offers without a second thought.
“You could help us!” Kassie says. “Mommy has a stool I stand on when I put the toppings. You could do that with me.”
“Sounds fun,” Ella Mae says.
And just like that, the three women disappear into the house and leave me with Alex and his cocky grin.
“Oh man,” he says. “This is awesome.”
“Shut it.”
“No, seriously, Cap. Seeing you like this, I could die a happy man tonight. I never thought I’d meet the woman who was your match. This one, though. She’s got your number. I am loving this.”
I just chuckle. “She’s pretty special.”
“She ought to know you feel that way.”
I told Alex about the whole fake dating thing before I asked if I could bring Ella Mae with me tonight. He understands. He told me then, like he’s telling me now,Life’s too short to waste your time when you care about a woman. Tell her how you feel.
He doesn’t realize how complicated things are in Bordeaux for us—especially for her.
“Well, enough sitting around looking at your face,” Alex says. “Let’s go join the women inside.”
“Try not to embarrass me too much,” I say.
Alex spins his chair. “Your days of telling me what to do are long past, Cap. I plan to see how many times I can make you blush before you take your girl home tonight.”
My girl.
I like the sound of that.
“Does she know how I got my new set of wheels?” Alex asks before we make it in the front door.
