Page 9 of Half-Hearted
I shouldn’t have smiled at that. I did, but I shouldn’t have.
What Ishouldhave done was get off the bed and walk out of the room. I didn’t, but I should have.
“Lex. I’ll pay you to go to sleep right now.” Which was a stupid way to bribe her. The last thing Alexis Milani was in need of was money. Not only was her family beyond loaded with the whole real estate empire thing, but rumor had it Miss Milani herself was already in pretty high demand as a new up-and-coming fashion photographer, less than two months after graduating.
I’d seen (read: tracked down and stalked) her portfolio. Her rumored success was unsurprising and well-earned.
She had everything. Looks, brains, money, and more natural talent in almost everything she pursued than was even close to being fair.
So, yeah, money may not have been the best way to bribe her, but what were you supposed to offer someone who already had everything? What could I possibly offer her?
Sure enough, she didn’t take the bait. Instead of accepting the monetary incentive, she reached up and traced her index finger straight down my nose.
“I like your nose, too.”
I should have stopped it right there instead of letting her explore the rest of my features. I didn’t.
“Your eyebrows… eyes… cheeks… lips…”
I was holding my breath, my crossed arms tense against my chest.
“You’re so pretty…” she whispered, her gaze trailing the heat of her touch across my skin. “You’ve always been so pretty…”
My mouth twitched. “I think ‘ruggedly handsome’ might be a more accurate way to describe my tough, masculinely manly looks,” I joked.
She smiled. “You’re handsome, too. You’reeverything.”
It was embarrassing how violently happy those words made me.
“You’re very sweet when you’re drunk.”
She sighed, withdrawing her hand so she could lay her rosy cheek on it instead. “I knooow.”
Another thing Alexis had absolutely no shortage of: pure, unadulterated confidence. I fucking loved that about her. So much.
“A simple ‘thank you’ would have sufficed there, Lex,” I teased.
“I know.”
She smiled at me. I smiled back.
Then she giggled, and it pulled my eyes down to her mouth. But it was fine. She wasn’t going to remember the little details tomorrow anyway.
“Joel?”
“Mmm?”
“Can I make my case now?”
“Your case?”
“S’my case about all the reasons you and I should be together. There’s lots o’em.”
Say no.
“Okay.”
You’re an idiot.
