Page 75 of When Alec Met Evie
“Just think about it, yeah?” Gracie says. “We’d love to have you. And the rest of my quartet is so great. We have a lot of fun.”
“I definitely will,” I say. “Thanks for the invitation.”
The conversation shifts onto other topics, and I eat the rest of my dinner mostly just listening. Eventually, Alec stretches his arm across the back of my chair and leans a little closer, his voice soft enough that no one else at the table can hear him. “So, I didn’t know you were such a badass at Juilliard.”
I chuckle. “I was nothing of the sort.”
“With a fancy title like concertmaster? Doesn’t that mean you were the best one?”
“Look at you with your orchestra lingo.”
“I’ve done my research,” he says. “You got a head start on hockey. I need to catch up.”
Juno lets out a tiny cry through the baby monitor sitting on the edge of the table, and we both turn to glance at it, watching the tiny red sound waves dance across the front. As late as it is,I hoped she’d stay down for hours, but in her portable crib, in a strange house, it won’t surprise me if she wakes up. But after another moment, she settles back down, and Alec and I breathe out a relieved sigh.
“She’s being nice to you tonight,” Alec says, and I nod.
“Yeah, she’s doing great.”
Around us, couples are getting up from the table, carrying plates to the sink and moving into the living room. Alec motions his head toward the couch. “This will go on for a while. Just talking, hanging out. But whenever you’re ready to go, we can go. Just say the word.”
“As long as Juno keeps sleeping, I think we’re good to stay.”
He moves his hand forward from my chair to my shoulders. “You should say yes to the quartet,” he says. “Take a leap. There are a lot of people here willing to catch you.”
I lean into him like a reflex, and my head falls against his chest. He smells so good—clean and woodsy and a little bit spicy. “But they’reyourfriends, Alec. I wouldn’t want to take advantage.”
“They’re your friends now too,” he says easily. “And they wouldn’t have offered if they weren’t truly willing to help.”
I tilt my head up to look at him. It’s nice to feel close to him like this, especially after the discomfort of our conversation in the car. It wasn’t quite the wet blanket I feared it would be, but it was close. I credit the fact that we recovered at all to Alec. I’m not sure a guy my age would have responded with so much maturity.
“You’re making it all sound very easy,” I say. “But I know Juno. Babies are unreliable and unpredictable and total attention hogs. You don’t know what you’re signing up for.”
He smiles, drawing my eyes to his lips, and suddenly, I can’t focus on the actual words he’s saying. I’m too preoccupied with the curve of his mouth, the dusting of stubble along his jawline…
“You didn’t hear anything I just said, did you?”
Alec’s words finally penetrate my kiss-hazy mind, and I snap to attention. “What?”
He grins and lifts his hand to my temple, tapping his finger against it. “What’s going on up there?”
I bite my lip, thinking about the answer he gave me this morning. I can’t know for certain his mind went to the same place mine did, but I’m willing to bet, so I tear a page from his playbook and give him the same answer he gave me.
“I’ll never tell,” I say.
His eyes turn molten as he lifts a hand to my cheek, his thumb brushing across my jawline, and for a moment, I think he’s going to do it. He’s going to kiss me right here in a room full of his friends. But then he lifts his gaze and glances around and seems to think better of it.
“Not here,” he says, his voice low and sultry. His hand slides back to my hair, that torturous thumb tracing a slow line down the side of my neck. “But soon.”
I take in a stuttering breath, relishing the promise in his words. A month ago, I would have argued I wasn’t capable of feeling something like this. Of feelinganyof what Alec has triggered over the past couple of weeks. Pregnancy and childbirth were obviously part of it, but the divorce was too. I stopped thinking about attraction or love or desire. About feeling any kind of connection.
But I’m thinking about it now, and it feels like finding a piece of myself that was lost. Like I’m waking up from a really long nap.
Alec stands and offers me his hand, and I let him pull me to my feet and lead me over to the only remaining empty seat in the living room. I sit down while he retrieves a chair from the dining room table and walks it back, setting it down beside me.
Juno sleeps for another hour while everyone talks. When she finally wakes up, her cry sounding through the monitor, it’s Amelia who speaks up first.
“Don’t leave,” she says, not even lifting her head from Van’s shoulder. “Is she hungry? Can you just feed her here? If you leave, then we all leave, and I don’t want to get up yet.”
