Frenemies With Benefits (Geek To Chic Book 2) (5 page)

It wasn’t until Izzy
looked up to see the pained look on his face that she realized what she had
confessed.
 
For the past six month, she
had been hiding the pain he had caused her under name calling and aggressive
behavior.
 

Alex walked around the
island, placing a hand on her cheek.
 
He
spoke softly to her.
 
“Oh, honey, you
didn’t do anything wrong.
 
Everything
that happened after we slept together is on me, not you.
 
I never imagined I hurt you so badly.
 
Please, Izzy, forgive me.
 
Let me prove to you I have changed.
 
I’m a better man now. Let me take you on a
date.” He rubbed his nose against hers, and kissed her sweetly. “One date,
Izzy.”

Lost in the moment of
his kindness, she was on the verge of saying yes.
 
Just as the word was about to leave her lips,
he smiled at her, the same way he had the night they met.
 
That beautiful self-assured smile snapped her
out of the moment and back into the pain he had caused her.
 
“No.
 
I
won’t let you hurt me again.”
 
She tried
to slip away from him, but he blocked her with his hard body.
 
“Your playboy reputation tells me that you
haven’t changed at all.”
 

Determined to have the
final word, Izzy pushed him out of her way.
 
She went to the living room to regain control of her emotions and her
hormones.
 
Luckily the doorbell rang a
few moments later.
 

~*~*~*~

Stupidly, Alex had
believed that if he came clean to Izzy on how he felt she would forgive
him.
 
He had tried that approach twice
now.
 
So far it wasn’t working for him.
 
If anything she was pushing him away
harder.
 
A small smile tugged at his lips
at the thought of her leaning into his kiss.
 
In her mind she might hate him, but her body responded to his touch the
same as it had when they met.
 

As long as he only had
small snippets of time with her, she would always see him as a man whore. He
needed a better plan to get her to see that he was more than his playboy
reputation.
 
Sure, he had earned that
reputation fair and square.
 
That didn’t
mean that was all he was.
 

Hearing the chatter of
his friends in the living room, Alex opted to stay in the kitchen for a bit
longer.
 
Grabbing his abandoned beer, he
chugged the remains and grabbed another.
 
He needed to get himself in check, or someone was going to figure out
his true feelings for Izzy.
 
He had a
feeling that buried under all of her constant insults was a hint of some other
feeling for him.
 
After all she hung
around five year olds all day, maybe she had picked up on their habits of
picking on the boy or girl they liked.
 
Or, more likely, he was grasping at straws.
 

Hearing the arrival of
what sounded like the remainder of their friends, he let out a deep breath and
heading for the living room.
 
Bringing
with him beers for the new arrivals.
 

“Is Alex playing
waitress again?”
 
Phin chuckled.

“Just for that, no beer
for you!”
 
Alex smiled back.
 
Handing out the remaining beers in his hand
to everyone else.
 

Phin was quick though,
and snagged the beer Alex had just placed in Jemma’s hand.
 
“Hey!” Jemma protested.
 

Alex simply shook his
head at Phin and handed Jemma another beer.
 
Standing with Jemma and Phin, listening as she went on to tell Phin that
he was like having an annoying brother around always taking her things.
 
Phin and Jemma had become fast friends when he
started with CPST.
 
Since she did well
with numbers and Derek was clueless, Jemma was often the go between for the
finance guys, Phin and Alex, and Derek.
 
Translating
the numbers into something Derek’s coding corrupted brain could understand.

As his two friends
bickered back and forth, Alex kept an eye on Izzy.
 
Dressed simply in a pair of jeans and a
t-shirt with a stick
figure
runner on the front, she looked
more beautiful than the models he had taken to different events
clothed
in dresses that cost thousands of dollars.
 
She stood with Caroline and Collin, laughing at something the man had
said.
 

Having her back in his
life was a blessing and a curse.
 
A curse
only because she refused to acknowledge the spark between them.
 
She refused to let him in.
 
Alex wished she would relax around him the
way she did Collin.
 
Collin and Alex
shared the same type of humorous charm and personality.
 
Yet, it was Collin who got the nice and funny
Izzy while he got the dragon lady version.
 

“Anyone heard from the
happy couple today?”
 
Gavin asked the
room, as he sorted through Izzy’s Xbox games.
 
It had become a tradition to have a game night any time they all came over
to the girl’s house.
 

“Roni said they would
be here around six or so, when I spoke with her before their flight
departed.
 
She sounded very happy.
 
I even heard Derek laughing in the
background.”
 
Izzy shared happily with
the group.
 
A smile warm on her face as
she spoke of her friend.
 
Izzy had
obviously missed Roni while she was away.
 

Most of the guys had
expected Derek to go through withdrawals from work during his vacation.
 
He had left all of his gadgets, including his
laptop and phone, behind.
 
Although, Derek’s
spontaneous vacation had not come at the most ideal time for the company given
the merger, Alex was thrilled to see his friend take a break.
 
If he was being honest, he was even a little
envious of his friend.
 
Derek had run
away to a secluded island with the woman of his dreams.
 
Meanwhile, the woman of Alex’s dreams was
standing on the other side of the room ignoring him.
 

At the announcement
that the happy couple would be arriving home soon, the room seemed to explode
in different conversations.
 
Phin and
Gavin joked how easily Derek had fallen, declaring that would never be
them.
 
Jemma laughed, shaking her head in
agreement.
 

“I have seen the two of
you go through more girls than I thought even lived in Colorado and I have only
known you a few months!
 
I can’t believe
your crappy lines work.”
 
Gracey
quipped.
 
“And the quiet one in the corner
must secretly date because I never see him with a woman on his arm.”
 

“I am just more
discreet than those assholes.” Rocco shrugge
d, taking
a swig of his beer.

“So are you in the same
super slut category as these guys,” Gracey waived her hand around in the
direction of Phin, Gavin and Alex, “or are you a little more particular of who
sees you naked?”
   

Rocco had walked to
stand directly in front of Gracey, who now had to look up, way up, to look him
in the eye.
 
He was by far the largest of the men.
Rocco brushed a finger down her
cheek.
 
“Honey, I don’t give a damn if
the whole world sees me naked.
 
Now, who
I share my naked body with is a different story.”
 

With a gleam in her
eye, and a very quiet audience, Gracey took a step away from him.
 
“Good to know you are ok with nudity.
 
However, since you didn’t bother to answer
the question
directly,
I
assume we just haven’t seen your flock of one night stands.”

Phin turned to Gavin,
“Should we be insulted she just called us super sluts?”
 

“Better than being
called Super Asshole like that one calls me.”
 
Alex chuckled, tilting his beer in Izzy’s direction.
 
Phin and Gavin laughed.
 

“Calling you Super
Asshole was more of an observation than a nickname, but if the shoe fits.”
 
Izzy shrugged.
 

Alex smiled; at least
she was done ignoring him.
 
Annoying her seemed to be the only way he was able to garner her
attention.
 
Before he could respond with
a statement guaranteed to annoy her, Caroline interrupted him.
 

“You two are well beyond Super Sluts, the first night I
met the three of you;” Caroline gestured to Gavin, Phin and Collin, “you two
swept my friends out of the restaurant five minutes after getting their
names.
 
Ending my first night out since
the birth of my child! Oh, and of course neither of you called either of my
friends again.”
 

“Oh right Carrie.
 
She was fun, for a night anyway.”
 
Phin smirked.

“Kelley her name was Kelley.
 
Phin, you just proved our point hands
down.
 
Luckily for me, Collin saved my
evening by staying to talk to me.”
 
C
said rolling her eyes.
 

The sound of tires in the driveway alerted everyone that
the guests of honor had arrived.
 
“They’re
here!”
 
Gracey giggled excitedly,
interrupting the great slut debate. She was a conundrum to him and the rest of
the guys.
 
She was so tough one moment
and a giggling little girl the next.
 

They all huddled in a small group near the front
door.
 
Alex purposely stood behind Izzy,
very closely behind her.
 
She pushed her
butt back at him in an attempt to get him to take a step back.
 
Leaning down to her ear so only she could
hear him, “Izzy, pushing that perfect ass against my crotch is only going to
make me move closer to you.”
 
He
laughed.
 

Whispering curses under her breath, one he thought
threatened his manhood, she stepped forward away from him.
 
She glared at him over her shoulder, yet he
couldn’t miss the sweet blush that covered her cheeks.
 
He would take that as a win.
 

Derek opened the door, dragging two large suitcases with
him.
 

“Welcome home!”
 
They all yelled.
 

“Shit what are you all doing here?”
 
He asked as he set the suitcase down.
 

Roni came bounding in behind him, clearly not seeing the
suitcases on the floor as she went running to hug the girls.
 
Roni tripped and everyone lunged for her, all
of them are used to her clumsiness, Derek grabbed her.
 
He steadied her on her feet and kissed her
forehead.
 
“Thanks.”
 
She kissed him and continued on to greeting
her friends.
 

Derek simply shook his head.
 
“I am going to put these suitcases in the
bedroom, so no one, as in Roni, trips over them. Again.”
 
He quickly picked up the suitcases and was
off to make the house Roni proof.
 

“I am so happy you are all here!
 
I missed you guys so much, well maybe not
Alex but everyone else.”
 
Roni laughed,
winking at Alex.
 

Bringing his hands to his chest in mock pain, “You wound
me Roni, truly wound my heart.”
 
Alex
declared to the room.
 
Everyone laughed.

The girls pulled Roni to the couch.
 
“Spill.
 
Tell us
everything
.”
 
Gracey insisted, with a wiggle of her
eyebrows.

“Ah, not everything.
 
Remember he’s my brother. Hearing
everything
would be gross.”
 
Caroline spoke up.

“And my boss.”
 
Jemma chimed in.
 

The girls went about gossiping about the house the two
stayed at and the private beach, blah blah blah.
 
The guys, stood next to the couch mimicking
them with exaggerated hand jesters and facial expressions.
 
Each of them either received a slap on the
arm or the middle finger directed their way.