Alex (BIG Northwest Book 2)

by Janice M. Whiteaker

Edward gripped the wheel, twisting it a little, trying to take out the unwanted anger. He’d gone almost ten years without ever being mad at Alicia.

  She never irritated him. Never aggravated him. Definitely never pissed him off.

  Everything was always fine.

  Which was why he left. Why she let him go.

  Because fine wasn’t really fine.

  They were almost back to Shadow Pine when Edward finally turned to the woman sitting silently beside him. “What the fuck, Al?”

  He considered just pushing it off. Just letting it go.

  Almost managed to do it.

  But damn.

  Alex lifted one shoulder. “Figured you’d be happy to have some company while you were here.”

  She didn’t even pretend not to know what he meant. Knew damn well what he was upset about.

  Because she did it on purpose.

  Edward pulled Kari’s car up in front of Alex’s house, parking it and shutting the engine off. He shoved out, slamming his door before going to the other side.

  Alex was already getting out, struggling with the crutches as she tried to balance on one foot.

  Edward grabbed her, hefting her up.

  She yelped. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m not watching you fall on your face.” He stomped up the steps.

  “I thought you were mad at me?” The snark in her tone only pissed him off more.

  “I am.” He stopped at the door. “Unlock it.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “Now, Al.” He was frustrated in a way he’d never been. She liked to jab at him. Pick at any spot she could and poke it over and over until it finally irritated him.

  Just to be a pain in the ass for no reason.

  Alex stabbed her key into the door, scowling at him the whole time. “There.” She twisted the handle and shoved the door open. “You saved the day again, Prince Charming.”

  “Prince Charming?” He thought she couldn’t piss him off any more. Thought there was nothing else Alex could say or do that would make him more upset than he was. “What the fuck are you trying to get at?”

  Alex’s head bumped back a little. “Isn’t that what you want everyone to think you are?” She waved her hand around his face. “Some sort of perfect Adonis who is cool and calm and the man of every woman’s dreams?”

  She was right on at least part of that. He’d spent his whole life being cool and calm. Relaxed and easygoing.

  And bored as hell.

  Edward set her on her foot next to the high counter between the kitchen and living room. “I apologize if I’ve given you the wrong impression, Al.” He tipped his head down. “Because it would appear I’m not what you think I am.”

  At least not anymore.

  Or maybe he was just now finally finding it. The unrest and unhappiness he tried to ignore was finally finding its voice.

  And it might be her damn fault.

  “I’ve spent years being nice and agreeable. Content with a boring fucking existence.” Voicing the things he tried not to think spurred him on, one truth shoving another. “I’m done being bored and boring and perfect.”

  It’s what everyone saw. A perfect couple. They said it all the time. Marveled at the relationship he had.

  It would have been wrong of him to want more.

  And how could he? What would be better than perfect?

  “Now you’re perfect?” Alex’s brows lifted. “That’s awfully bold.”

  He smiled. “You’re the one who said it first, Al.”

  He’d never fought with anyone the way he fought with her. Never had anyone give him the amount of shit she tried to pile on.

  And it was oddly addicting. The rush that came with it.

  She was emotional and combative.

  Defiant.

  Reactive.

  Passionate.

  “Because that’s what everyone thinks.” She stood taller, stretching to her full height. “You saw the nurses. They couldn’t keep their eyes off you.”

  “And you just loved encouraging it, didn’t you?” That was what pissed him off the most.

  That Alex wanted other women to look at him. To do more than look at him.

  She snorted. “You loved it.”

  “Does it seem like I loved it, Al?” Edward stepped closer, wanting her to see just how little he appreciated what she did. “Do I look like I appreciate you sending other women to hit on me?”

  “I didn’t send her to hit on you.” Alex eased back a little, leaning toward the counter as she gripped the stool at her side. “And men love that shit.”

  “I think you don’t know as much about men as you think you do, Al.” He moved in on her a little more, liking that Alex was starting to see him as something besides what he’d been all these years.

  That he was starting to be something besides what he’d been all these years.

  He didn’t want fine.

  He didn’t want constant agreement.

  He wanted more.

  “I don’t need you to send women my way, Al. I can find them all by myself.” Edward leaned in, resting his hands on the counter at each side of her body. “Understand me?”

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” She swung at him.

  Edward caught her hand just before it connected, gripping her wrist as she tried to yank it away.

  “Understand you? You don’t tell me what to do.” Her other hand came his way.

  Edward caught that one too. “No one does, do they? You go around doing whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want.”

  “That’s right. Glad we’re on the same page.” Her blue eyes almost glowed in the dim light. Alex’s nostrils flared with each breath, her chest lifting with the movements.

  Her hair was loose and a little wild.

  It’s what she was. Wild. Untameable.

  Anything but boring and agreeable.

  “We’re not even in the same book, Al.” Edward eased closer, easing his hold on her wrists. “Maybe not in the same library.”

  “What are you doing?” Alex went perfectly still, her eyes dipping to skim down the front of his body where it nearly brushed against hers.

  “I’m going to kiss you,” He leaned into her, “just to see what happens.”

  It was the absolute fucking truth. He hadn’t kissed anyone but Alicia in almost ten years. Nearly a third of his life.

  So long he couldn’t remember what it was like to kiss anyone else.

  “What if I don’t want you to kiss me?”

  “Well that would be unfortunate.” He smiled a little. “But I wouldn’t hold it against you.”

  She huffed out a little snort. “Right.”

  Edward tipped his head back, putting a little space between them. “Do you really think I would be upset about something like that?”

  Thinking he was an ass because of how he looked was one thing.

  Thinking he was the kind of man who would be pissed when a woman said no was entirely different.

  “Aren’t you?”

  Edward eased back a little more. “What kind of men have you been hanging out with, Al?”

  “That’s none of your business.” Her chin lifted just enough to answer his question without her having to say a word.

  He took a deep breath. Then he took a step back. “I think it’s time for you to take your ass to bed.”

  She crossed her arms. “I’m not tired.”

  “I am.” He pointed down the hall. “Go. I want to make sure you make it there in one piece.”

  “I have to take a shower and—” Alex pushed her shoulders back. “You know what? I am tired, actually.” She yanked her crutches from where they were propped up against the stool at her side, stuffing them under her arms before hobbling her way down the hall. She paused at the door to her room. “Buh-bye, Eddie.”

  She was going to be difficult. It was written all over her face.

  Edward snagged the key to her door off the counter and went t
o the camper. He took a quick shower before pulling on a pair of jogging pants and a t-shirt. The key to Alex’s house sat on the tiny counter space.

  Should he go check on her? Make sure she didn’t bust her ass getting out of the shower?

  Having to pick up a soaking wet, naked Alex wasn’t an unappealing thought.

  But she’d been sure he was the kind of guy who didn’t like hearing no. And there was nothing more he wanted to do than prove her wrong. Even if she was at death’s door, Alex would still absolutely think he was only helping her to peek at her tits.

  Because it fit her agenda, which was to prove he was exactly what she wanted to think he was.

  A son of a bitch.

  Edward shut off the small light in the camper, knocking the trailer into a level of darkness he wasn’t expecting. It took a few blinks for his eyes to adjust to the difference, but after a minute he could start to make out the edges of the dinette and the sofa.

  It might have made it harder to see, but the darkness also did something else.

  It made all the sounds outside seem louder.

  Including one that sent a chill down his spine.

  Footsteps.

  They moved right along the side of the camper. They were even and quick.

  Definitely not Alex.

  Edward moved slowly toward one of the windows. The pull down shades made it impossible to peek out. The steps continued past the camper, the sound of them growing more muffled with each second.

  Whoever it was wasn’t interested in him.

  He waited a few breaths before easing up the bar holding the shade in place, working it up just enough to squint through the gap and out into the darkness.

  The only glow came from small solar lights set up around Alex and Charlie’s houses. Both porch lights were off and the windows were dark.

  A figure moved around the edge of Alex’s house, disappearing down the side where her bedroom was located.

  Edward was out of the camper in a flash, Alex’s key clutched in his hand as he ran after whoever was creeping around the windows of Shadow Pine. The second he rounded the corner the sound of retreating steps drifted in the breeze. The ground was soft, making it impossible to tell where the peeper was. Edward stood still, listening for any indication of where they might be.

  But the night went still.

  An odd still.

  It was silent.

  The air was heavy.

  Even though he knew the person ran away, heard it happen, it still felt like they were there.

  Watching him.

  A bird chirped in the distance as the leaves of the trees rustled on a breeze he heard but didn’t feel.

  Edward backed away, slowly going the way he came.

  But he didn’t go to the camper.

  He banged on Alex’s door.

  He was just about to use the key in his hand when the door opened. Alex glared out at him. “You said you were tired.”

  “Someone was outside your house.” He pushed past her, closing the door behind him and locking the deadbolt. “They were trying to look in your bedroom window.”

  Alex lifted a brow. “Someone was trying to look in my bedroom window.” She hopped a little on her good foot, adjusting the crutches he was happy to see her using. “Was it you?”

  “Did you just really fucking ask me if I was trying to look through your window?” She could take him from perfectly fine to pissed in three damn words. Edward stepped close to her, his adrenaline fueling the anger she stoked. “Let me tell you something, Al.”

  “Please do. I’m all ears.” She shifted her weight a little, pushing one hip out. “It’s not like I’m supposed to be sitting down or anything.” She waved one hand at him. “But by all means. Continue.”

  He shoved one finger in her face. “You act like every man is just out to fuck you over.”

  “Not every man.” She smiled at him. “Just you.”

  “Why in the hell would I come all the way here to fuck you over? Sublet my apartment. Sell my car. All that just to screw over some woman I’ve never met?” He leaned closer. “You don’t make any damn sense, Al.”

  Her eyes narrowed on him. “You know what doesn’t make sense? Any of that. Why in the hell would you sublet your apartment and sell your car to come to a place you didn’t even Google?”

  “I told you why I did it.” He’d been more honest with her than he’d been with himself. Told Alex more of the truth than he’d told his own parents.

  But he still hadn’t told her all of it.

  The whole story was complicated.

  And confusing as hell.

  “That’s right.” She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “You left because you were bored of your perfectly fine girlfriend and your perfectly fine life.” She reached out to pinch his cheek between her first finger and thumb. “Poor Eddie. Isn’t happy with perfectly fine. It’s not good enough for him.”

  He jerked his head back, moving his face out of her reach. “Is that what you want, Al? To be with someone you think is fine?”

  “Most people don’t even get that.” Her gaze was cool as it rested on him. “Most people are just happy to be with someone sane.”

  He laughed. “I hope that’s not what you’re holding out for, Al, because you’ll drive a sane man out of his mind in about five minutes.”

  “Take that back.” She shoved at his chest. “Now.”

  “No damn way.” He let her push him again, keeping his feet planted, knowing it would piss her off more when he didn’t budge.

  “Take it back.” She pushed him harder, the wood of her crutches clattering to the ground as she went at him with both hands. “You are such an—”

  “Asshole. We covered this, Al.” He let her bump him back a step. “You bring out the best in me.”

  The sound that came out of Alex was almost feral. Animalistic.

  Might be terrifying if he wasn’t so damn aggravated.

  She lunged at him, pushing off the ground with her single functioning foot with a surprising amount of force. “If you won’t take it back I will.” Her fingers dug into his skin as she grabbed hold, her body slamming into his with more weight than he expected.

  And it sent him flailing backwards.

  Into and over the back of the L-shaped sectional where she’d eaten the breakfast he made.

  Edward’s legs caught on the back of the sofa as his head went toward the floor, his body draped across the cushions. Alex went down with him, her long body tangling with his as she fought the fall.

  He held her tight, hoping to keep her head from hitting the coffee table and her ankle from catching the lip of the sofa back. “Damn it, Al. You make everything harder than it has to be.”

  Alex’s hands smashed into his face as she wrestled him, clearly not caring if the fall resulted in another trip to the emergency room. “You make everything harder. You’re the problem. Not me. I’m fucking perfect.”

  “You can be perfect and a pain in the ass.” Edward used one hand to grab at hers, trying to keep from losing an eye to the woman who would give a wild animal a run for their money in a fight. “The two aren’t exclusive.”

  “I’m so sorry that you’ve never dealt with a woman willing to tell you like it is, but that doesn’t make me a pain in the ass.” She pulled her hands free, stretching them high and back in an attempt to keep him from grabbing them again.

  Edward held her around the waist, her head hanging almost upside down. The length of her blonde hair fell in his face, tickling his nose. “You make me fucking nuts, Al.”

  “Good.” She stared him down, her blue eyes unwavering. “You deserve it.” Her gaze snapped to his mouth.

  Before he could jab back at her with something about what she deserved, Alex grabbed his face with her hands, the tips of her fingers digging into the scratchy growth he hadn’t bothered shaving before his shower.

  And she put her lips right on his.

  SEVEN

  IT WAS SUPPOSED to
prove a point. Prove that Edward was just like every other man in the world.

  Because he kept trying to make her think he wasn’t.

  Alex pulled him closer with her hands on his face. His lips were not at all what she expected. They weren’t stiff with surprise or hot with excitement.

  They were warm.

  Soft.

  And something else.

  Careful.

  Edward didn’t exactly kiss her back, but he also didn’t not kiss her back.

  He simply held steady, like he was waiting to see how far she would take this.

  Fine.

  Alex released his face, wrapping both arms around Edward’s neck as she tried to coax him into taking over the kiss.

  Proving it’s what he wanted.

  Then she could tell him no. Show them both who he really was.

  Alex nipped at his lower lip.

  Edward still didn’t react. His arm held her tight to him, keeping her suspended off the side of the couch, but other than that he simply went with whatever she did. Participating, but not initiating.

  Alex shoved her hands into his hair, tilting her head as she skimmed her tongue along the seam of his mouth. Edward immediately let her deepen the kiss, his tongue sliding against hers.

  Of course he’d be a good kisser.

  She tightened her fingers in his hair, pulling hard enough it should hurt. She wanted to punish him for being what he was. Trying not to admit it.

  Pretending to be different.

  Trying to trick her like every other man.

  She sank her teeth into his lower lip harder this time, pulling it out as she did, twisting the hair in her hands, craving an admission of sorts.

  A reaction.

  Edward’s arm tightened around her waist as a low rumble moved through his chest. It was deep and rough and nothing like she expected.

  He rolled, bracing his other arm on the floor as their legs fell to the cushions before continuing down to the shaggy rug. Alex grunted a little as they hit, her body falling against his. She sat up, straddling his legs and grabbed at him, an almost unidentifiable desperation spurring her on.

  She wanted something from Edward. Some sort of retribution for the existence of his species.

  For all the ways they’d wronged her and her sisters.

  Alex fisted his shirt, shoving the cotton fabric up his chest.