Avoiding Responsibility (6 page)

The time and effort put in paid off when Ramsey's eyes lit up at the sight of her. Lexi knew him well enough to know that she could have showed up in a black trash bag and he would have thought her beautiful. However, the shock and awe that followed her entrance proved that he fully approved of what he saw.

With a long hug and a light kiss on the cheek, Ramsey escorted her to a waiting cab. They were dropped off at a restaurant that they had been to before, and as Lexi crossed the threshold she got a sick feeling of
déjà vu.
Her heart pumped wildly as they were seated at the same table in the same place and probably ordered the same food. She wasn't sure what about the experience was making her body kick into over drive. Something had just overtaken her body and paralyzed her in place. She realized that she had been staring forward into Ramsey's concerned face for a full minute without speaking…or really seeing.

"Are you alright?" he asked reaching across the small table and taking one of her clenched fists.

"Oh," she gasped taking in a huge gulp of fresh air. "I'm sorry. I just spaced out."

He smiled knowing that she was lying. He could always tell. "Should we have gone somewhere else?" he asked intuitively.

"No, I love this place," she said visibly relaxing to his words. He hadn't done this on purpose. He wasn't trying to put her on edge. If anything, he had probably brought her here to make her comfortable, to keep her around the familiar. She was just making something out of nothing.

Ramsey leaned forward his voice lowering compassionately. "You look like your dog just died," he said a smile spreading across his face.

Lexi giggled despite the depressing image that filled her mind. "I do not!"

"There that's better," he said congratulating himself as he leaned his back against the chair once more. "You're smile lights up the room."

Lexi smiled even bigger at the compliment. She had forgotten how much she had missed his presence in her life. A month's time wasn't all that long to be away from each other, but she had been attempting to block him out the whole time. Now, when she looked at him, everything came rushing back to her. Every second they had spent together, every laugh and smile, every tear and moment of pain. She coughed uncomfortably at the wave of emotions. She reached for the glass of wine placed before her and took a large gulp.

Yeah, alcohol was exactly what she needed.

"Woah there," he said seeing her discomfort, but knowing alcohol really was not the answer. He, of all people, knew what she was like when she got drunk. With the evening still young, he wanted to wait as long as possible before it got to that point. "We haven't even gotten our food yet."

She took one last swallow and placed the glass back on the table giving him a falsely apologetic smile. She had taken too many trips down memory lane today leaving her heart exposed. It wasn't a feeling that she liked to accustom herself. Vulnerability hurt too much.

"I'm really glad you called. I wanted to so many times, but I knew you needed your time. I felt that if I stepped in too soon you'd just hate me even more. I'd understand if you did hate me more. I kind of hate me," he blabbered on.

Lexi smiled at his adorable habit of rambling whenever he was nervous. It was completely out of step with everything else in his personality, and thus, Lexi loved it even more. His apologies were long winded and sometimes completely incoherent. That was the way she knew that they were genuine.

"Can we not?" she asked quietly, hating reliving anymore of her past. Seeing him was enough self-induced pain that thinking about the other stuff was threatening to make her nauseous.

He looked up from his wine and into her wide-eyed expression. "Of course," he said taking in the way her supple bottom lip stuck out just a little bit farther than normal. The way her hand reached up involuntarily to tuck a lock of hair behind her hair as a nervous habit. The way her eyes traveled up to the right as if she were remembering past events. She looked utterly beautiful and he didn't know how he had ever been able to tear his eyes from her face…or make that beautiful face ever look so sad.

"There is something I wanted to talk to you about," he murmured diverting his eyes from her beautiful face.

Lexi looked at him suspiciously. She wasn't sure what this was about, but by the look on his face she was pretty sure she didn't want to know. "What about?" she asked cautiously, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"I…" he began.

"Oh
my
God, Ramsey Bridges," a girl squealed rushing up to their table completely uninvited.

Lexi looked the girl up and down and groaned in protest. She was gorgeous. At least 5'7" but still rail thin with long flowing blonde hair and perfectly flawless skin. She could have been on a runway. Lexi tore her eyes from the girl and moved to Ramsey face. His cheeks flushed a light pink and his mouth was agape. She could tell in his eyes that he wasn't happy about the interruption.

"Ashley," he acknowledged her standing to give her a hug. "What a pleasant surprise."

He said the words, but his mouth was strained around the edges. His body wasn't comfortable with the touch of another woman. Lexi knew he wanted to be far far away from this moment in time. Though she was curious who this woman was, she was more satisfied with his discomfort. She wasn't sure how he always found himself in this situation….oh wait yes she did.

"Holy cow, what are you doing in New York City?" she crowed her Southern accent coming out thick with his recognition of her. Lexi figured she had to go through a lot of work to get rid of that.

"I'm actually here with my girlf…uh…," he stammered breaking off his statement and glancing at Lexi. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm visiting my friend Lexi," he corrected gesturing in her direction.

Lexi smiled sweetly and extended her hand politely. "Ashley Turner," the girl replied shaking her hand meekly. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," Lexi said hoping she sounded sincere.

"Ashley went to private school with me," Ramsey informed Lexi filling in the gaps. Lexi raised her eyebrows once. She had bad luck with people that Ramsey had known for long periods of times. Hopefully, the girl would just disappear, but she wasn't that lucky.

"Mind if I interrupt your friendly dinner," Ashley asked snapping her fingers at a passing waiter and commanding him to bring her a chair. "My hubby can just wait." She wagged her fingers at a handsome gentleman across the room who barely noticed her disappearance.

Lexi looked around at the restaurant and wondered how many people came here when they weren't on dates. The girl needed to get a clue. It was pretty obvious that the tension between her and Ramsey was palpable. Lexi just hoped that whatever this was went smoothly.

"Uh…actually Ashley," Ramsey said scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Oh, come on. I'll only be a minute. I haven't seen you in forever," she practically pleaded.

Ramsey looked at Lexi anxiously who just stared back. They hadn't seen each other in almost a month and after everything they had gone through, they both knew that an interruption of their night wasn't a good idea.

"Geez, I've never felt so unwelcome from a Bridges family member before. Aren't you supposed to Bridge all my troubles or whatever?" Ashley asked expertly arching an eyebrow.

"By all means," Ramsey murmured gesturing for her to take the seat that was offered her. Lexi clenched her hands together under the table to keep from rolling her eyes at the woman.

"So, tell me what's going on with Bekah?" Ashley gushed. Lexi involuntarily gagged at the mention of her name. She sputtered a bit and made it seem like a cough, but the look on Ramsey's face showed that she wasn't playing it off very well. "Oh dear, are you alright?" Ashley asked reaching out and touching Lexi's arm.

She cleared her throat once and tried to force a smile. "I'm
just
fine," she said shooting Ramsey a look that clearly stated
change the subject
.

"She's doing fine," he murmured hoping to cut the conversation short.

"Isn't she like getting married?" Ashley asked wide-eyed.

Lexi nearly lost it. She quickly stood from her seat scraping the chair back against the floor. "I…uh…need to use the restroom. Excuse me," she said throwing the napkin on the table and stalking out of the room.

Lexi wandered into the bathroom and waited for her heart to stop palpitating so fiercely. She knew that she shouldn't have reacted so negatively towards the subject, but Ashley had managed to bring up two of the three subjects she liked to discuss the least in the world. She hated Bekah down to her very core and the thought of her marrying the one person she had loved with every bit of her heart just made everything worse. She wasn't sure she would have been able to control herself if she had been sitting there any longer. Why did Ramsey always have to know
everyone
?

After a few minutes, she figured it would begin to look suspect if she stayed away for much longer. Lexi peered around the bathroom door towards her table and pleasantly saw Ashley standing up and walking back towards her own table.

Lexi sighed and made her way back across the room. Their eyes locked together as she sat down across from Ramsey. She wasn't going to apologize for leaving, and he knew that she had every right to want to leave. Luckily, their food had just arrived and they didn't have to fill the uncomfortable silence with anything but the scraping of silverware against glass.

Dinner ended without any additional complications. After an evening on Broadway, Lexi and Ramsey headed back to her apartment. She knew he had a hotel in the city somewhere, most likely the Plaza, but since the incident with Ashley had all but dissipated from her mind, she was becoming more comfortable with the idea of him coming over…at least for a little while.

Fumbling with the lock, Lexi finally pushed open the door to her apartment. Ramsey's arms were around her instantly holding her flush against him. He kicked the door closed with his foot and his mouth came down upon hers. He kissed her feverishly, hungrily as if the last month had been years. It had certainly felt like it. His hand crawled up her shirt and cupped her breast. He groaned into her mouth at the feel of her.

They heard someone clearing their throat behind them, and Lexi quickly backed away. She yanked her shirt down and ran her fingers across her wet lips. "Ray," Lexi murmured staring between Ramsey and her roommate. "I didn't know you were back in town."

Rachelle had been interning much of the summer at a Boston law firm and had rarely been around. "Ramsey," she said nodding her head in his direction but glaring nonetheless.

"Rachelle," he said smiling guiltily.

"Claire and Elizabeth were in town so we were all going to meet up," Rachelle told her. "I thought you'd be home and would want to come out with us."

"You're going out?" Lexi gaped at her anti-social, study-aholic, recluse of a roommate. They had lived together for three years and Lexi could count the number of times they had all gone out on two hands. She was actually a little disappointed that she was going to miss it.

"Yeah, but I guess you're busy," she said eyeing Ramsey again. "I was just heading out anyway." Lexi watched Rachelle scamper out of the apartment as fast as she could get away.

Letting out the breath she had realized she had been holding, Lexi wandered over to her couch and plopped down. All the interruptions were really starting to get old. First Ashley and then Ray. Would she ever just be able to enjoy herself with Ramsey or would everything else always be looming over them?

She honestly didn't have an answer for that and it kind of scared her. What was the point of seeing him again if they could never
be
again?

That thought hurt her and all she wanted to do was push it away. She knew she was over analyzing. It was a common thing for her to do, but sometimes she couldn't keep her mind quiet. She threaded a piece of hair behind her ear several times before glancing up at Ramsey. "Well are you going to sit down?"

He smiled and walked over to meet her. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his lap. "You look tense," he murmured reaching up and tilting her head to meet his gaze.

"You know why," she said looking into the depths of his green eyes. They were a rich emerald green with gold specks shooting out from the center and a deep brown rim circling the iris.

"I know," he said his hand beginning to massage the back of her neck. "I want to make it better."

"I don't know Ramsey," she said her eyes closing of their own accord as his expert hands moved from her neck to the knots in her shoulders and upper back. Her hand reached out and gripped his upper thigh as he worked out a particularly troublesome spot. She could feel him tense under her at the abrupt movement, but she didn't move from her position.

His hands were so large when laid out flat against her back they covered the entire width of her body. Reacting to her touch, his hands moved from the massage and came around to the front of her body, rubbing her stomach. Just as they reached the curve of her breasts, Lexi's head dipped back on his shoulder. He took that as encouragement and moved to cover her once more. She tilted her head to the side and kissed his neck. A smile crossed her face as she felt his black pants tighten underneath her.

She groaned as his hands moved from her breasts to the hem of her dress and began working the muscles in her inner thighs. A pulsing began in her lower half at his advances and the heat coming off of her body only increased his desire for her.

Unable to continue, he effortlessly picked her up in his arms causing her to squeal in surprise. Carrying her into her room, he laid her down on her bed. Before he started up again on her, he quickly untucked his white button up, and threw his black slacks to the ground…where they belonged. In only his black boxer briefs and half-unbuttoned white shirt, he continued his work on her thighs. As his hands dipped farther and farther towards the most sensitive part of her body, her back arched with desire. His fingers brushed as lightly as he could allow against her thin black underwear causing her to buck against him.