Sarcastic. Smart. Sexy.
"Listen, if you honestly don't want to go out, that's fine. I won't be offended or an asshole because you say 'no' or change your mind. But I'm not going to try to convince you to like me. I'm also not going to waste time pr...
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"I had a good time. Sorry about earlier." The light from her porch washes us with a warm glow. She looks pensively at the rose she's still holding in her hand.
"Me too. I guess we got a little intense," I say, running my hand across her arm reassuringly. Essi peaks over the rose and smiles coyly at me. "I'm telling you," I tease, "that kiss got us all riled up."
She swats the rose at my chest. "You wish."
I grip both of her shoulders and feign seriousness. "Why must you lie to yourself?"
Pulling from my hold, she turns and unlocks the door. "I'm going inside now."
"Wait, come back," I plead, pulling her back to me. "I'll see you again?"
"Yeah, I'm sure there's probably a good view of my window from the bushes so anytime you want to see me, just grab your favorite binoculars and you're good-"
I cut her off. "You are such a smart ass." Shrugging, she brings the rose to her face, inhaling it's aroma for the millionth time. "Come here, gorgeous." With my hand on her jaw, I guide her lips back to mine and breathe her in. She breaks the kiss after a moment and looks down shyly.
"Have a good night," she whispers before disappearing behind her front door.
***
"I got back with Olivia. I'm picking him up for you in the morning before she leaves."
"Thanks," I reply to Nathan from his office doorway. "I didn't want him staying by himself for that long. He gets so anxious with the noise and they really don't pay them enough attention."
"Well, he'll officially be yours tomorrow," he says with a deep sigh, turning in his chair to face me. "And then that's it. I can't imagine she could come up with anything else to bother us with."
"Good. I'm exhausted." I plop down into the leather chair opposite his desk.
"You and me both, my friend." Resting his palms at the back of his head, he leans away. I've dealt with a lot of divorces, but this one was definitely up there. Longest two years of my life."
I scoff, "Yeah, well it was the longest six years of mine."
"What a waste of college, dude."
"Honestly."
"We would've killed it with the girls back then if you were single," he reflects, eyes narrowing.
I shake my head at him, smiling. "You can pretend like you were a player all you want, but we both know Alexa had you wrapped around her finger since like high school."
"No she did not," he argues and I simply stare. "Okay, maybe a little." He leans forward again and puts his elbows on the desk. With a suggestive raise of the brows, he continues, "So are you going to use this time to catch up then?"
