Nothing You've Come To Expect - Alex Turner

10. i guess the coastal air gets a girl to reflect

With a sensual move, Alex comes closer, slowly, puts his hand in the back of my head and follows my order.
I throw my arms around his neck, my fingers end up buried in his hair as we kiss deeply. His hand sneaks under my shirt, around my waist, and it feels warm on my naked skin.

"Are you trying to get dessert before dinner?" Alex asks jokingly, taking advantage of a pause for air, our lips still touching. A sly grin on his face.
"Well, I just wanted a kiss for now, but...mmh..." my hands move down on his chest, past the opening of his shirt, and find their way down his stomach, his waist. The feeling of his body under the silky fabric makes me ponder the idea.

"Maybe not here," he looks around the dusty, messy room.
"Definitely not here. I've seen what crawls down here. I'm a classy bitch, you know." I poke his chin with my index finger, making him smile. "But if you really wanted..." I'm half joking at this point.
He laughs. "We'll keep it for later. Hold that thought," his low voice and the intense eye-contact makes it even harder NOT to think about that.
"Oh I will."
When you look at me like that, my darling, what did you expect?
...Let's change topic.
"I wanted to show you something."

We move to a corner on the other side of the room, that we use as a laboratory.
"Here, look at this. This is my 'hit'. My #1 single," I say excited.
"What is it?"
"It's an ancient weaving loom, from the 6th century BC. I helped digging it out when I was a student and then I discovered that it was sitting in the storage of a museum in Toscana, barely restored. Not enough funds, they said. This is a very rare finding. I worked hard and have been fighting for months to get it here and I'm having it fully reconstructed so that it can be exhibited."
Besides being my hit project, this is my key to get Vera's job. She's promoting later this year to the Board and I want her position.
"Your passion is inspiring, darling" Alex comments, watching me, with a smile on his face, while I talk with my hands like crazy.

We go back upstairs and I take him for a quick tour around the museum. I stop by the most interesting displays, telling him stories about them. I like to keep it humorous. That's what I used to do when I worked as a guide and I always had the best reviews. With him I have the advantage that I'm familiar with his sense of humor, so I can customize my performance. It works. The echoing of his giggles in the halls is like music to my ears.

"You should do this as a job. You're really good at this. You should be like, teaching at the university, or be on the History channel or summat."
I laugh at his last statement.
"For real!" he insists, "It's your thing. I could listen to you all day."
"You know? I could say the same thing to you." I think about the long hours I spent with his voice in my ear.

I end the tour back in my office and we sit at my desk, chatting.
"It was sweet of you surprising me here today. Sorry if I didn't invite you, I didn't think you'd be interested."
"Well, you interest me, love, and you make everything interesting. Oh, that was a good night." He's pointing at the picture of us laughing at Ceci's birthday party, on my desk. I brought it here. On the fridge at home now are some silly photos we took during Miles' brunch last weekend.

"I remember it with fondness." he continues.
"I do, too."
"That's when I knew that a kiss wouldn't be enough. Even before the kiss," he's hinting at the song.
My eyes move from the photograph to him, I return his smile.
"That's when I realized that I really lucked out." I look at my hands as I say that, feeling a hint of shyness, but then I go back to his deep gaze.
"To be fair though," he continues, "I already knew that since we first met, that night at me house. I had noticed you, in the crowd, looking at me you know?"
"Oh god, I thought I was annoying you. I couldn't take my eyes off you. I was very embarrassed, that's why I went hiding actually!"
"Really? So you were hiding from me!" He chuckles, his eyebrows arched, "Nah, you weren't annoying me. You were trying so hard not to get caught looking, without success, over and over, and it was kind of funny and sweet."
"I would think that you're tired of such behavior and maybe even irked by it."
"I usually ignore it, but there was something about you. And I thought you were charming. How do you think I kept catching your stares? I wasn't having a good day. You were the only one who made me smile that night."
And here's that smile again.