Page 180 of Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions
Don’t speak?
Don’t touch him?
The options were endless. It wasn’t that I was frightened he’d be angry if I disobeyed. I just…didn’t want to hurt him. Especially not when he was already hurting.
He wasn’t a man anymore—but an open wound.
Maybe…Juniper wasn’t the only person who had been having a difficult time lately. Maybe…the watch had only been a catalyst. Weddings were high-stress in general. But I got the feeling that Alex’s current mood had very little to do with Juniper’s upcoming nuptials or the camping trip in general. Something else was going on. Only I didn’t have enough puzzle pieces to see the whole picture.
Was it because of the car accident his dad had been in?
Was that it? Why would that have anything to do with his missing watch?
“Distract me?” Alex was so hoarse I barely recognized his voice. “Please.”
Distract him.
Yes.
I could do that.
Relief flooded my body as I turned to face where he was lying on his back beside me. I wriggled in close, and my hand settled on his lower abs. It inched down toward his crotch and Alex’s fingers wrapped around my wrist, stilling the movement.
“Not like that.” He chuckled. “But thank you.” He didn’t release my wrist, simply held it, like the touch was anchoring him. His expression was unreadable, gaze trained on the sloped tent ceiling, blue eyes lost as he peered up at the sky through the see-through fabric panel at the top. The silhouette ofhis nose and the shape of his lips looked particularly kissable from this angle.
“Distract you how?” I asked.
“Tell me…” Alex trailed off, his brow furrowing. His full lips pressed into a thin line as he mulled over what he was about to say next. “Tell me…what it’s like to be George-Arthur Milton.”
Well, that was random.
“What?” I must’ve sounded confused because Alex finally looked at me. It was only a glance, but the moment those pale blue eyes found mine I was no longer drifting. I became tangible. And my world started spinning once again.
“Imagine it’s next Monday,” Alex said, lips twisting up at the corners. “You’re back home in New York. Tell me about your day, start to finish.”
“This is going to bore you.”
“Nothing about you is boring,” Alex replied immediately.
I couldn’t help but recall the fact that I’d thought he’d called me boring at the barbecue. Somehow…I believed this over that. Maybe he hadn’t meant that before? Maybe I’d misinterpreted that too?
I wouldn’t be surprised.
Alex was more withdrawn than usual, but the fact he was talking was good, wasn’t it? Better, at least than he’d been. It wasn’t as though his request was inappropriate. Certainly not as inappropriate as the fact I’d gone for his dick the second he said he wanted to be distracted. It was innocent, even if it was odd.
“I’m really not all that interesting,” I deflected. “But if you?—”
“George,” Alex’s voice was nearly as warm as it usually was. “Believe me when I tell you that you are the most interesting person I’ve ever met. You couldn’t bore me. Not even if you tried.”
I bit my lip to hide my smile but failed. “Okay. Fine. But I warned you.”
“Noted.” Alex turned to face me, leaning on his elbow. It felt too intimate, so I wiggled onto my back and stared at the ceiling.
“It’s…Monday.” I licked my lips, letting my eyes drift shut as I tried to figure out how to make my life seem anything other than ordinary. There wasn’t a way to do that though. So I…settled on the truth. “My alarm is set to go off in…fifteen minutes? But Mr. Pickles has decided he’s starving to death and I need to be woken up with his ass on my face so I can get him breakfast.”
Alex’s laugh felt like a reward. “What next?”
“I feed him.”
