Hard to Love (13 page)

“This is Sophia
—
a friend of mine and Lily’s,” I gesture
d
to
the young woman
. It
didn’t
escape my notice
that she and Alexa
were
having a strange staring contest,
sizing
each
other up.
 
“Sophia was just leaving. Thanks for today, Soph.”

A smile
crept
across her lips,
a smug look on her face
.
“Same time tomorrow?”

“No
,
I’ve got it covered.
Besides, I don’t like you missing class to take care of Lily for me.”

She grabbed her purse
and sweatshirt
from the couch and secure
d
her bag
across her body. “
Caden
James, you know I’d do just about anything for you.” She smile
d
at me
wickedly. It wasn
’
t lost on me that she wa
s trying to
imply, for Alexa’s sake, there wa
s
more to our
friendship. There
wasn’t
. Never ha
d
been, never
would
be, despite how much she trie
d
to tempt me.

Once Sophia wa
s gone, Alexa fidget
ed
nervously in the entryway, playing with the strap of
her purse
. I
took
her
by the
shoulders. “Hey, she’s my best friend’s little sister. That’s all. Okay?”

She nod
ded
obediently, her voice barely a whisper, “Okay.”
She stepped out of her strappy heels, leaving her several inches shorter and followed me inside.

Lily came clattering down the hall just then and Alexa dropped to her knees to encase her in a giant hug. Lily chattered on about her day and Alexa nodded and giggled, pausing to ask questions. It was startling to see how much Lily looked up to Alexa already. It was sweet and at the same time concerning. If Alexa didn’t stick around, I knew I’d have one heartbroken little girl on my hands.

I asked Alexa if she was okay if we got Lily settled in for the night, and she nodded and then went to help Lily with her stretches.
Alexa sat
on the floor
with
L
il
y, showing her a couple of new ways to stretch her back and legs.
The build-up
of watching Alexa was like a
slow torture, the lingering glances, the casual brushes against her skin, and finally we were tucking Lily into bed.

Alexa followed me down the hallway toward the living room. I watched her take a tentative step toward where I was seated on the couch. All the
oxygen
was sucked from the room,
the air thick with tension, now that our pint-sized chaperone was soundly asleep
.

Having her h
ere with me
—
with Lily—
was fucking with my head. I couldn’t
even
begin to understand her
motives
.

Alexa fidgeted in the doorway, as if pausing for my inspection. Her
dress
ended
just above her knees, and my gaze
traveled up and down
her bare legs.

“You look nice.” My voice was gruff.

“I had a date.”

She’d been on a date today and the asshole had let her leave? Dressed like that?
Her bare legs were tone
d
and tan, her toe
nail
s painted pale pink. She was stunning.

“Come here,” I instructed.

She obeyed, crossing the room to
stand
in front of me, her wide eyes cast down to meet mine. I trailed a single fingertip over the back of her bare leg, and felt her shudder under my touch.

“So tell me about this date you had.” I continued lazily stroking
the soft flesh
behind her knee.

She swallowed and drew a deep breath. “He took me to his country club for tennis and then lunch on the terrace.”

“And now you’re here slumming it with me?” I felt her knees lock to keep herself steady.
“I don’t do roses and candles and country clubs.
Dates with me wouldn’t
involve
tennis
.”
I wasn’t sure quite why I was pushing her, only that I wanted her honesty, so I supplied
her
with the
same treatment.

“No?” she challenged, finding her voice, however faint.  

“No, cupcake.
I’m more of a beer and hot wings, and sex in the cab of my truck kind of guy
.” She sucked in a quick intake of breath and her knees trembled. I wrapped both hands
around
the backs of her legs to keep her from collapsing. “But for you I could probably make an exception.”
Her gaze held mine and t
he air grew thick
er
around us.

“But what if I like that beer and hot wings idea
?
” she challenged.

I noted that she conveniently left out the
part about
sex
, and I knew I shouldn’t, but damn, I wanted to see her reaction
.
“I meant the exception would be that instead of my truck
, I’d want you spread out in my bed where I could fuck you properly.”

She let out a soft whimper and h
er legs gave out completely
.
I hauled her
on
to my lap
,
rather than
letting
her collapse in a heap
on the floor
.

“I’ve got you,” I breathed against her hair. Her heart was fucking pounding,
and
I could see her pulse thrumming against her neck. It was a major turn on.
I tilted her chin, pulling her in until her lips met mine and
I softly
kissed her. “Tell me what you want, Alexa.”

“I can’t.”

I frowned. “Can’t or won’t?” She swallowed and looked down. We were going to have to work on that. 
Bur first things first.
“
Let’s eat something.
”
I moved her from my lap so she was seated next to me on the couch.
“
Shall we stay in or I could try and find a babysitter to come over…”

“Let’s stay in.
”

“I usually order out after I put Lily to bed. What would you like?”

“Whatever you usually have is fine.”

“Well
there’s
always beers and chicken wings…” I
grinned and
raised an
eyebrow
. This was
so
not a beer and wings kind of girl.

But without missing a beat, she smiled and nodded.
“Sounds good to me.
”

“
Are you okay with some heat
?
”

She nodded
, ignoring the innuendo
.
“
Just a
s long as it’s not too spicy.”

“I think
you can
handle it.” I met her eyes and held them. Her big blue eyes
widened and
met
mine.
The sweet way she didn’t back down and her sincere curiosity about this thing between us stirred something inside me.

I pulled out my phone to order.
“Hey
,
Billy.
Yeah, actually make it two orders of my usual.” I stood up and crossed the room. “You okay to wait here while I go pick up the food
?
It’ll only take a few minutes.”

“Sure.”

When I returned with
a
six-pack of
beer
and
the
cartons of food,
Alexa
had gathered napkins and plates from the kitchen. W
e settled on the couch again
to eat
.

I opened the containers of wings and
celery sticks
, placing them on the coffee table
. “Have as much as you want.”

“Thanks.”
She eyed the food suspiciously before daintily
placing a napkin across her lap
. “I’ve never actually eaten
a
chicken wing before
,
” she admitted.

“Ever?”

She shook her head.

Damn.
This girl really was in a totally different league.
She probably never ate anything that didn’t require utensils. I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to w
o
rry about getting messy in front of me, but she surprised me by digging right in, lifting a chicken wing from the container and
curiously
looking it over
as if wondering how to begin.

I watched as she carefully as she nibbled at the meat, getting
sauce
on her
bottom
lip and fingertips in the process.
“Mm.
It’s good.” She sounded surprised. Watching
her lick the sauce from her fin
gers
was
doing
wicked
things to my groin.

“Good.” I shoved the napkins towards her. “Now eat.”

She kept stealing glances at me from the corner of her eye, but we ate in relative silence. I removed a beer from the six
pack
and offered it to her. “Would you like one?”

She nodded. I twisted off the top and handed her the open bottle. She immediately brought it to her lips
, likely to wash away the heat from the food
.
The wings were spicier than usual, but she didn’t complain.

“You mind if I turn on the game?” I asked, reaching for the remote.

She was digging into another wing and gave a half nod.

I flipped on the game, more for the background noise than anything else.

Alexa leaned forward in her seat. “What’s the score?”

“You like football?”
I couldn’t help the surprise straining my voice.

She nodded. “I love the Bears. Watching football was the one normal thing I did with my dad.” She smiled.

Oh.
A girl that likes
hot
wings and beer, and now she tells me she
a
Bears
fan too
.
Lord
have
mercy
.
M
y resolv
e to stay away from her
just got more interesting
.

We
finished
eating and I cleared away the food, but Alexa instructed me to leave the beer. We were each on our second, and
the fact that she was a lightweight was evident
by the way she
leaned
back
against the couch,
tucking herself against my side
.

She was more entertaining than the game, freely
yelling
at the TV when
ever
the ref made a bad call.
I watched the way she tilted the bottle to her lips and took a long pull, her graceful neck moving as she swallowed. She
slipped
her feet up
on the couch
bedside us, and I pulled them over to m
y
lap. The contact caught her attention and she shifted so she was facing me. 

“Cade?” she whispered in the dimly
lit
living room.

“
You’ve eaten. Now it’s time we had our talk, cupcake.
” I
started gently
rubbing her feet. “
Tell me what you want.
”

She leaned
over
and set her beer bottle on the coffee table before returning to face me. She bit her lip as if unsure of herself,
and looked
everywhere but at me
.

“This.
You.
I want you to…teach me.” She swallowed, her tongue darting out to taste her bottom lip.

Did she know what she was asking
of
me? Could she possibly understand? “Teach you what?”