It’s just a matter of time, Darling.
She felt her stomach do a flip and everything went mute until she heard Alex’s voice.
“Your boyfriend?”
She shook her head but couldn’t hide the dread fast enough. Her eyes searched around. Was he watching her now?
“Something wrong?”
She glanced back at Alex. His brows pinched, and he seemed startled. “Valerie, you’re as white as ghost. What is it?”
Valerie was surprised he could tell. It was dark already, but the moon was pretty bright. She tried to compose herself. This was really freaking her out now. Still she shook her head. “Nothing.”
Alex stood in front of her. “No, Val. It is something.” He looked down at her phone. “You’re trembling.” It was more of an accusation than a statement.
There was no hiding the concern in his eyes. “Last night you were almost in tears when I startled you. Is that guy still bothering you?”
She shrugged in an attempt to play it down. “It’s just a text.”
With a razor sharp stare he asked, “A text that drained the blood from your face and has you shaking?”
Alex wasn’t going to drop this. She’d have to get creative without lying. But he didn’t need to know everything. She hated getting tangled in lies. She’d never been good at it. Alex was still searching her eyes for answers.
“Yeah, well, it’s the first I’ve got on my phone, so it freaked me out a little.”
Alex’s stare seemed unyielding for a moment, and then he glanced back down at her phone. “What did it say?”
Even with all the fear and apprehension she felt about sharing this with Alex, she couldn’t help be distracted by his incredible arms and shoulders. Instead of telling him, she showed him the text.
*
Every muscle in Alex’s body tensed as he read the text in Valerie’s small trembling hand. “Is this the same guy from the club?”
She shrugged. “It’s not his number, but I’m sure it’s him.”
“A matter of time for what?” Alex remembered how adamant that guy had been about taking Valerie outside that night. What could he tell her outside that he couldn’t in the club? Or worse, what was he planning on doing to her?
He could tell Valerie was contemplating whether she was going to tell him or not, but he sure as shit wasn’t dropping this. This guy was threatening Valerie. He wanted to know everything.
“C’mere, sit down.” They sat on the sand. Her dainty leg brushed against him alerting all his senses. “Tell me, Val. What’s going on?”
She stared straight ahead into the ocean and took a deep breath. “It’s just like I told you. I got involved with this guy a while back, and he’s still not over it.”
Valerie wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all Alex. There was more to this. “What about the matter of time part? What’s that about?”
“A matter of time before he gets what he wants.”
“And that would be?”
Valerie put her hand on his leg, “Can we not talk about this now? It’s such a beautiful night. I don’t want to ruin it because of this jerk.”
Alex exhaled sharply. He held back all the questions he still had. But he didn’t hold back the urge to put his fingers through hers. He held her hand tight and she let him. His half-baked bonfire idea was turning out okay after all. He did have other things he wanted to talk to her about, but he would definitely get back to this later.
“Did you give any thought to what I said last night?”
She nodded and glanced back out into the ocean. “A lot actually.”
Her expression was vacant. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. He squeezed her hand gently and she turned to him.
“I’m not with Luke anymore.”
Alex let that simmer for a moment. There was a hint of apprehension in her eyes, like there was more. She turned away again. “I didn’t even start dating him until after the shower. I lied about seeing someone that day.”
He waited until her cautious eyes were on his again. “Why?”
“Because I was afraid of getting sucked back in, Alex. The pain of walking in on you and your tutor was still so raw. I didn’t even realize it until I saw you at the shower. It was safer to just lie and keep you away. I never want to feel that kind of pain again.”
“You won’t. I promise.” Alex could feel his heart speeding up. If he patched things up with her now, he’d make sure he never screwed up again. He was never going to be away from her now. Ever. “When did you break up with him?”
“It’s been almost two weeks. We tried to keep it discreet, and as far as I know, nobody in the office knew. That is until Bruce, the jerk from the club, started calling the office and telling anyone that answered.”
“That’s why you stopped seeing Luke?” This wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Did she still have feelings for the Luke?
Valerie shook her head and put her hand on his thigh. “No, I was going to break it off anyway. It was going nowhere. I felt nothing for him. Only reason I even went out with him was… to try to get over you.”
Despite the elation he felt, he needed to ask something that might kill the evening. Something that had burned in him ever since Angel mentioned the lingerie conversation with Sarah. He had to know. “Did you two ever…?”
Her eyes searched his and then they opened wide. She immediately shook her head.