by Emma Vikes
“You want me to be your bridesmaid?” Alexa repeated, staring at Eleanor blankly. Eleanor simply nodded with a smile on her face. “I’m flattered, Eleanor, really, I am. But…you barely know me. I’m just…” Alexa glanced at me briefly and then focused her gaze back to Eleanor, “I’m just Everett’s girlfriend.”
“And probably soon-to-be wife,” Eleanor added, grinning. I was taking a sip from Alexa’s Jamba Juice when she said that, and almost spat out what I had drunk. Alexa bit back a giggle after she noticed me, but blushed when I looked at her. “Oh come on, Everett, don’t act all shy. I distinctly remember you telling me that you’re going to marry the first girl that became your girlfriend because you also want her to be your last.”
I swallowed and then shrugged. I could feel sweat dripping from my forehead down to my chin. I tried to act casual, but failed miserably, because I could feel Alexa’s hazel gaze burning on my back as I made my way to my desk.
But before I could think of anything to say, Alexa swooped in and saved my ass. “Eleanor, are you really sure you want me to be a part of your entourage? You just met me.”
Eleanor nodded her head and stood up. “Yes, Alexa, I’m a hundred percent sure. You’re going to be paired up with Everett too so it won’t be weird and awkward for you. I just need you to say yes so I can drag you downtown for the fitting.”
“I don’t think I’m allowed to say no,” Alexa said, shaking her head and chuckling. She glanced at me and I could literally see the word ‘help’ flashing in her eyes, “but if the fitting is today, can Everett come along?”
“Ah the honeymoon phase, always wanting to be right next to each other,” Eleanor said, grinning at the both of us, “Well, of course, he can come. He’s actually our ride there. Can you two clock out now?”
Alexa and I glanced at the wall clock, at the same time, and I turned to Eleanor. “Now is good, but my car’s not with me.”
Eleanor pursed her lips and looked at Alexa, and it suddenly dawned on me that this was exactly what Eleanor had wanted, to have a moment alone with Alexa so she could ask her questions. “We can wait for you to get it.”
Shit.
As I made my way to the door, I glanced at Alexa who shot me a look which made me hurry to get my car. As I walked back to the penthouse, I pulled out my phone and sure enough, there was a series of texts from Alexa.
To be honest, I didn’t really think that we would have to pretend to be in a relationship again after Thanksgiving. In my head, I would just tell my family that I broke it off with her because things didn’t work out. Or maybe bring her to the wedding as my date and pretend that we were a couple. But the wedding was two months away, so I thought we’d have time to think of answers to at least the basic relationship questions.
It took me nearly half an hour to get back to the department with my car. I texted Alexa that I was downstairs so she could sign off and head out with Eleanor. They arrived ten minutes later and I opened the passenger door for them, pushing the front passenger seat down so Eleanor could get in the back. Before Alexa got in, she reached for my wrist and squeezed it, smiled at me and then kissed me on the cheek.
I froze.
Blinking, I looked at her confused. But she rolled her eyes subtly, tilted her head to where Eleanor was sitting, watching us with keen golden eyes. I realized that she had done that because Eleanor was watching us and we were a ‘couple’. I returned her smile and then closed the door once she had settled in, and then drove downtown.
Eleanor whisked Alexa inside the moment the two of them were out of the car, and begrudgingly, I followed suit. Thankfully there was a couch that I could lounge on as the seamstress took Alexa’s size. Eleanor had gone inside to fit her wedding gown. “Wait, so basically we choose what color we want? Is it okay if I get this color and this cut?”
I was playing on my phone when I heard Alexa’s voice, and looked up. She had just stepped out of the fitting room decked in a dress that was a soft shade of orange. I swallowed, staring at the plunging neckline of the dress and the flimsy straps that barely held the dress together. She jumped slightly when she noticed me staring.
I cleared my throat and ran a hand through my hair. “You look amazing in that, but I don’t think that neckline suits you.”
Eleanor came out of the fitting room, carrying her wedding gown and looked at Alexa with critically. “Hmm, I don’t know about you, Everett, but Alexa looks absolutely gorgeous.”
Alexa looked at me and this time, she managed to look at me straight in the eyes. “Now, what’s the problem with my dress, Everett?”
I shrugged, unsure if I was willing to go with the truth behind my reasoning. But Eleanor and Alexa kept on looking at me, waiting. Finally, I let out a sigh and tried to act nonchalant. “I don’t want other guys staring at you.”
Alexa seemed stunned at my statement and looked down, blushing. Eleanor, on the other hand, looked mildly impressed and whistled lowly. She shook her head and turned to Alexa with a smirk. “Another glass of champagne?”
I was about to tell Eleanor that Alexa wasn’t the biggest fan of drinking, but Alexa nodded her head and accepted the glass that one of the staff handed to her. “Wait, how many have you had?”
Alexa raised a hand, showing two fingers. She smiled at me sheepishly. “They offered me one glass when I went inside and then another when I was trying on the other dresses.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Elle, please don’t get my girlfriend drunk.”
Eleanor tipped her glass towards me slightly and smirked. “Oh, Everett, you’re going to thank me later.”
We stayed in the shop for another thirty minutes, because Alexa couldn’t find another cut that she liked, other than the first one. As the minutes ticked by, both girls had more and more glasses of champagne, and were giggling like crazy by the time Leo arrived to pick up Eleanor.
“Who let these two pretty ladies raid the liquor cabinet?” Leo asked as Eleanor clung to his arm, leaning her head down on his shoulder and sighing contentedly. Alexa was sitting beside me on the couch, giggling over something on her phone, a glass of champagne still in her hand.
I sighed and pried Alexa’s fingers off the glass she was holding, while she protested. “Apparently, there’s free champagne for customers here.”
Leo glanced at Eleanor and chuckled. “Explains why she chose this place then. Well, good luck getting your girl home, Ev. I think you might need to carry her though, champagne hit her hard.”
When I looked at Alexa, she was surprisingly asleep. With a chuckle, I lifted her up and headed to the car, and I got her in with the help of a store employee. I buckled Alexa in and drove her back to her apartment.
I had to search for her keys in her purse, after which I unlocked her door. I brought Alexa inside and we were nearly in her bedroom when she groaned and stirred in my arms. “Everett?”
“Hi. Hey. Yeah, it’s me,” I said quietly, setting her down on her bed and then removing her shoes. She shifted and then slowly sat up.
“Why didn’t you like that first dress?” Alexa mumbled.
I chuckled and then helped her take off her coat. “Because I don’t want other guys staring at you.”
Alexa was looking at me with a dazed expression on her face- probably alcohol induced- and then she yawned, stretched and started removing her blouse. My eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
She paused before she pushed her blouse off and looked at me, tilting her head to the side, a slow smirk forming on her face. “Why are you blushing, Everett?”
I wasn’t sure why things had turned in this direction, but I hastily stood up from the bed, trying to look away. Alexa was only in her bra and I was trying to resist from staring at her full breasts. I had a peek earlier at the shop when she had worn the dress with the plunging neckline and the sight had made me uncomfortable. Because it made my mind wander to places that I didn’t want it to.
“Didn’t you say that this was only meant for your
eyes?” Alexa whispered, but it felt as if she was screaming those words at me. Suddenly, she reached for my hand and held it tightly, her eyes burning with desire. And then she pulled my hand and pressed it on her chest, above her breast, and I could feel the heat of her body “Doesn’t that mean that this is only for yours to touch?”
I swallowed, my insides coiling, my blood boiling beneath my skin, like a simmering volcano. My heart was pounding against my rib cage, hard and relentless and all I wanted to do was push her against the bed and fuck her till morning.
Good god, Everett.
“Alexa…”
“Kiss me, Everett,” she whispered, trapping me in her hazel eyes, “Just kiss me.”
9
Alexa
Kiss me, Everett. Just kiss me. Kiss me until the world disappears and all I think of is you.
“Alexa,” he murmured. The way he said my name made the muscles in my entire body grow weak. Slowly, I pushed myself up so I was in a sitting position, staring at his gorgeous gray eyes that had been haunting me in my dreams. The desire to have him was so strong. I couldn’t really think clearly or think at all. “You’re drunk and I don’t want to take advantage…hmm.”
I gripped his shirt and yanked him close to me and then crashed my lips against his, muffling the rest of his words as my mouth covered his. Everett responded without a beat, pushing me back on the bed and hovering over me, kissing me roughly. I had a conscious thought that my lips were probably going to be bruised after this hot and heavy make-out session.
But I didn’t want it to stop.
My hands tangled in his soft locks as he bit my lower lip gently, dragging it lower and chuckling to himself before letting go, and continued with his kisses, going down, down, down... “Oh!”
His mouth was on my nipple, his teeth grazed the sensitive bud and I arched my body forward. I shut my eyes tightly, in pleasure, and I writhed beneath him. I felt his cold hand grazing my bare stomach, inching down and dipping into the waistband of my jeans. “Oh, Jesus, Everett!”
He pulled away from me and our eyes locked in that moment. I could see his eyes filled with desire. I reached out to touch his face and then lowered my hand to his chest. Sitting up slowly and with fumbling fingers, I began to unbutton Everett’s shirt, staring straight into his eyes as I did so. He could stop me if he wanted to but he didn’t. Instead, he watched me as I undressed him and then obeyed when I pushed him down on the bed and straddled him.
I kissed his chest, licked his nipples and went lower, down, down to the happy trail that led to a growing erection. Everett hissed beneath me and held me by the shoulders before I could even begin to unbutton his jeans. I was hovering over his erection and Everett was staring at me, mouth clenched tight, eyes darkening as every second ticked by.
“Alexa…” he hissed, his eyes boring right into mine, “No.”
I gasped awake, my breathing heavy as I clutched onto the covers of my bed, my hand resting on top of my chest as I tried to calm myself. “Shit.”
It was all a dream. It had to be a dream. I had too much champagne with Eleanor at the store and she had been teasing me about my sex life with Everett. Which was absolutely non-existent because we weren’t in an actual relationship. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to imagine Everett in that way. I was attracted to him, no matter how much I tried to stop myself. It was like with each passing day that I worked with him, I liked him more and more.
Beside me, I felt something move and startled, I turned to the side and almost fell down from the bed in shock. He sat up, eyes bleary. “Alexa?”
Everett.
Holy shit, maybe it wasn’t a dream.
“Come back here,” he murmured, his arm searching the side where I was. Heart pounding, I crawled back into the space where I was meant to be and Everett pulled me closer, eyes half-closed and yawning, “Go back to sleep, and stop trying to kiss me. You’re drunk.”
Oh my god, it did happen.
I searched for my phone but couldn’t find it. I looked at the digital clock on my nightstand. It was 4:32 in the morning. It was too early. Everett snuggled closer to me, his lips grazing my forehead lightly, eyes still closed. I let my erratic heartbeat slow into a calmer pace before I closed my eyes, begging for sleep to overtake me. I could worry about what the hell had happened in the morning. For now, I still had an excuse to snuggle with Everett and not think of the fact that he was simply my colleague that I was pretending to be in a relationship with.
The second time I woke up, it was 8 AM, and I could smell food in the air. I was about to get up when I realized that I had taken my clothes off and thrown them somewhere last night. I was only in my underwear. I wasn’t sure if Everett was still around, but I decided to wrap the blanket around my upper body. I then trudged barefoot to where my small dining table set was. There was a surprising amount of food on the table and I chuckled, knowing that Everett was the one who had set it all up.
And then I heard the toilet flush and my heart began to race when I realized that he was still here.
He was still here.
The door opened and Everett stepped out of my bathroom, in his jeans and button-down shirt, albeit with a few buttons undone. He saw me standing in the middle of the room, clad in just my blanket and I watched as his eyes visibly darkened and he swallowed, turning away. “You’re awake.”
I wasn’t sure how I was meant to respond to him. The fact that he was still here, looking as if he had just rolled out of bed and me, looking like I just had the best sex of my life. Although I was aware that that hadn’t happened. But something did happen. All that champagne had given me the liquid courage to have a hot and heavy make-out session with Everett Hudson, my colleague.
Oh, dear god, Alexa.
I should’ve listened to the rational part of me that had told me that drinking wasn’t a good idea. I normally listened to that part of me but I wasn’t sure what had happened last night. Maybe it was because I was uncomfortable lying bluntly to Eleanor, who was being so incredibly nice to me. But all the lying made me feel bad and I needed something to neutralize what I felt and at that moment, I thought alcohol was a good idea.
And I thought I had a better grip over myself, but it turned out I didn’t. At least Everett had a better head on his shoulders than I did, and stopped things from escalating further than it already had.
Because I had wanted it to escalate further.
God, I couldn’t even look at him properly without remembering how his body had felt beneath my palms. How he flinched slightly every time I touched him, how he let out a shaky breath when my lips were pressed against his skin, how he whispered my name so softly and how it made me feel. Everett cleared his throat and looked at me with a small smile.
“Eleanor called. She forgot to get your number. She said she wanted to invite you for lunch. Apparently, Megan’s in town for her own fitting and she wanted to meet you too. Girl’s lunch out, she said.”
Everett sounded so nonchalant and unbothered that I couldn’t help but wonder if last night was real or if I had dreamed the whole thing. It felt so real and I did wake up almost naked and Everett was still in my apartment. Maybe Everett slept over but slept on the couch or something.
And then I stood incredibly still- even my breathing stopped- when I saw that Everett was approaching me. His gaze was dark and his eyes flickered on to the blanket that was wrapped loosely around my body. He held my face with one hand, thumb caressing my cheek and he stared at me with such intensity that I wanted to melt into a puddle right in front of him.
“Alexa,” Everett whispered my name, and it was as if each syllable was meant to set my soul on fire.
His voice trailed off and I could feel his gaze undressing me, slowly, slowly, slowly. It felt like the world had stopped spinning on its axis and I was lost in the clouds. Everett took a step closer, his lips an inch above mine. I wasn’t sure what was going on or what had gotten into Everett for him to act like this, or maybe I was s
till stuck in my desire-induced dream. But he was right in front of me and I could feel him, could touch him. I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on between us right now. But if there was one thing that I was certain of in this moment, it was this: I wanted him.
I sucked in a deep breath as his lips pressed lightly against mine and all I wanted to do was to push him up against the wall and kiss him as roughly as he had kissed me last night. But before anything else could happen, there was a knock on the door and a voice called out my name. “Alexa? Alexa! It’s me, Eleanor!”
Everett’s eyes fluttered shut and he let out a deep sigh. When he opened his eyes again, I saw a brief flash of disappointment in his eyes that quickly faded away. He stood in front of me awkwardly and then scratched the back of his neck, looking slightly dazed. But then he recovered, and looked at me with the corner of his lips twitched into a small smile. He tilted his head to where my bathroom was.
“Go take a shower and get ready. I’m sure the two of them would love to have coffee with me, while they wait for you.”
I quickly pulled out clothes from my closet and then rushed to the bathroom, before Everett opened the door. The moment that I shut the bathroom door close, I pressed my ear against it and listened in on the conversation happening on the other side. “The fact that you’re here explains why I waited for nearly an hour outside the penthouse for either you or Leo to open the door for me.”
I heard Everett chuckle. “I’m sorry, Megan. It slipped my mind that you were arriving today.”
“Where’s your girlfriend?” I could hear the teasing note in the voice of the lady and I pressed my ear firmly on the door, wanting to hear Everett’s response.
“She’s getting ready. And can I ask a favour from the two of you? Please be nice to her. Don’t make her uncomfortable by asking too many questions about our relationship.”
