He squeezed her shoulder before getting out of the vehicle. “Good night, Alexis,” he said before closing the door and walking away. “Keep walking, Finley,” he told himself aloud. “Just keep walking.”
Alex walkedout of her bathroom, rubbing her wet hair with her towel. The long, hot shower had helped soothe her muscles and remove any remaining sand from her body. She picked up her workout clothes scattered about the room and threw them in the hamper, then hung her towel on the bathroom rack to dry. She slid into bed with a sigh.
When she picked up her phone to check her alarm, she noticed the voicemail indicator and hit play. Fin’s voice greeted her. “Hey, Alexis. I wanted to call and tell you again how much I enjoyed tonight. And… And to, um, apologize for the kiss. I wasn’t expecting that to happen, it just did. It felt so natural to kiss you goodbye and it didn’t occur to me until afterward I might have been out of line. Anyway, I’ll call you tomorrow and see about plans for dinner. I hope you’re still interested. Goodnight.”
Alex played the message three times before setting her phone aside. That kiss! It had taken her completely by surprise. It had been a fleeting touch, nothing but a gentle caress of lips. But that brief touch of his lips had zipped electricity through her body right down to her toes. From the beginning she’d been aware of the attraction between them, but she kept telling herself it was his celebrity status that fascinated her. The man had been voted this year’s “Hottest Man Ever,” for Pete’s sake! Who wouldn’t feel attracted to him? But tonight, after that kiss, she acknowledged that the chemistry between them was more than some starstruck reaction.
She considered their interactions the last few days. Alex had noticed right away Fin was a toucher. He used his hands to communicate, and part of that included touching people. He held her elbow to guide her through people at the airport, he touched her back, guiding her through a door, he touched her shoulder when pushing in her seat for her… all respectable and chivalrous ways to show consideration for someone. And Alex had noticed every single one of those touches because she wasnota toucher. Ever. She could tolerate hugs from friends, but a business-like handshake was as close as she came to touching anyone outside of her inner circle. Funny how she hadn’t minded those touches from Fin at all.
She groaned and rolled over, trying to put thoughts of Fin’s touch out of her mind. Eventually she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of soft kisses and baritone voices with sexy Scottish accents.
Chapter8
Wednesday
Alex’s morninghad been busy. She’d completed several documents on one team project, then reviewed and approved a revised draft from Grace on another. Man, she loved working with competent people. Afterward, she emailed the final documents to the stakeholders for approval with instructions on how to submit e-signatures.
She and Sam were in the IT department finishing up a meeting with the infrastructure guys about the availability of virtual servers for yet a third project. As they wrapped up the meeting and exited the conference room, Alex’s phone pinged. She glanced at the text message from her friend Melissa stating, “What the heck did I miss?!?” She smiled and stopped to say hello to a systems analyst who had helped her on a previous project.
Lunch came and went before Alex made it back to her desk. She was deep into updating the PMO proposal when her office phone rang.
“This is Alex.”
“What happened at Rally Up last night? Are you actually dating a celebrity? Why wouldn’t you tell me this?” her friend Melissa fired off at her. Surprised at hearing her friend’s voice on her office phone, Alex glanced the phone’s display and found she had answered her cell phone via Bluetooth connection on the desk phone. She laughed, realizing she had been so imbedded in her work she’d failed to screen her calls as she normally did.
“No, I’m not dating a celebrity. How did you know about him, anyway? Scott told you?” She saved her work and stretched her back, grateful for the break.
“Yes. Plus it’s all over their website.”
“What?” Alex yelped. “Hang on, let me go look.” Alex pulled up her search engine and found the Rally Up Sports page. Sure enough, the site contained multiple pictures of Fin and herself plastered on their home page. “Ugh, I’ve never been on their page before and now I’m splattered all over it! Who took these anyway?”
“Looks like Daisy or possibly that new bartender took most of them, but anyone who tagged Rally Up last night got posted as well.”
“Ugh. I hope no one from work sees these. I’ve spent years cultivating my professional reputation, working to get my coworkers to see me as an authoritative figure and not some barbie doll pretending to be one.”
Alex clicked through the images until she came to one with her and Fin sitting together. She was laughing at someone to the left, and Fin’s gaze focused on her. The longing in his eyes was almost palpable. “Oh, man…” she murmured.
Melissa chuckled and said, “Sounds like you found the one that caught my attention. Scott told me you guys bumped into each other on the flight home and you offered him a reporter-free evening. Which seemed totally plausible until I came upon that picture and how he looked at you. Now I want the real story. Drinks later?”
“Um, I can’t tonight,” Alex stammered, her eyes never leaving the photo on her screen. “I have a dinner date.”
“With him?” Melissa’s tone sharpened, and Alex pictured her friend sitting up straighter.
“Yes. He’s in town for a week. Or was it two? Anyway, we hit it off, and he’s having fun acting like a regular guy. I genuinely like him. He’s not what I expected at all,” she ended quietly.
Melissa paused and then said, “It’s kind of surreal, yeah?”
“Yeah, definitely. But temporary. Might as well enjoy it while I can, right?”
“Yes, enjoy it as much and as often as you can,” Melissa laughed. “Every chance you get before he leaves.”
“It’s not like that!” Alex opened her mouth to defend herself but stopped when Sam stuck his head in her office. “Melissa, I’ve gotta run, but I’ll call you tomorrow and give you all the details, okay?”
They said their goodbyes and Alex closed her browser before following Sam to his office to address the latest process issue.
Around four o’clock,Alex’s cell phone pinged with a message from Fin asking if she had time to talk. Silently thanking the stars she wasn’t in a meeting, she answered in the affirmative. Her phone rang shortly afterwards.
“Hey, you.” She smiled into the phone. “You sore at all?”
