Frenemies With Benefits (Geek To Chic Book 2) (6 page)

Derek came out from the bedroom and went straight to the
kitchen to grab a beer.
 
As he walked out
opening his beer, he asked Roni, “Have you told them the big news?”
 
He handed her a beer as he took a seat in the
chair, since the girls had commandeered the couch.
 

“Fuck, don’t tell us you two are getting married!” Phin
spoke with a childish disgust.

Gracey grabbed Roni’s left hand and all the girls leaned
in to see the ring.
 
Only there was no
ring.
 
“Obviously, you can calm down
Phin.
 
No ring, no wedding.”
 
Gracey laughed.

“Even worse, is she pregnant?”
 
Gavin chimed in making a face.
 

“You two are worse than my kindergarteners!”
 
Izzy laughed.
 
“How about you let Derek finish.”
 

Derek and Roni exchanged a look.
 
Alex was a little worried that Gavin was
actually correct and that there was going to be a little Derek running around
soon.
 
God help the computer world.
 

Roni rubbed her stomach, and smiled up at Gavin
sweetly.
 
Before they could truly panic
on behalf of Derek, she started laughing and threw a pillow at Gavin.
 
“No, asswipe, I’m not pregnant. First clue,
I’m not pregnant would be the beer in my hand, idiot. We’re moving in
together!”
 

“No wedding, no babies, I’m good with that decision.”
 
Phin remarked, nodding contently.
 

“And it was your approval we were most looking for, douchebag.”
 
Derek responded with laughter.
 

The girls all squealed and chatted at a level, he was
certain only dogs could hear.
 
He caught
words now and then…..redecorate…color….new roommate…moving.
 
Wait new roommate?
 
That’s right Izzy would either need a new
roommate or she would need to move.
 
How can I work this to my advantage?
 

Moving?
 
I don’t want to move.
 
Yes, Izzy knew her inner
thoughts were those of a petulant child, but she really didn’t want to
move.
 
Sure, she figured that at some
point her and Roni would go their separate ways.
 
She even knew it was going to be coming in
the next few months, since Roni and Derek had become so close.
 
Yet, she was still shocked by their
announcement last night that they were going to be moving in together at the
end of Roni and Izzy’s lease which was in less than a month.
 

Crap, I need to find a place ASAP
.
 
Izzy finished stretching
her legs on that thought, and started her run around Wash Park.
 
With the Kongos blaring in her ears, she ran
to escape all her inner thoughts.
 
Not
only did she have to find a place to live since her roommate had gone and
fallen in love.
 
She also had to deal the
feelings the kiss from Alex had brought on last night.
 
Over the last six months he had been pursuing
her, or rather trying to get her back into bed, quietly and relentlessly.
 
Last night his tenderness had tempted her for
more than any of his cocky ‘every woman wants me’ attitude ever had.
 

Picking up the pace, she fought not to think about
him.
 
I
hate him!
 
Why am I even thinking about
him!
 
Izzy chastised herself.
 
 
The
man irritated her, plain and simple.
 
Of
course with Roni and Derek together, Izzy knew she would have to find a way to
get along with the cocky bastard.
 
They
would be undoubtedly spending countless more evenings together.
 

Maybe she needed to start dating someone seriously.
 
Having a boyfriend would be a deterrent for
Alex, right?
 
She snorted a little at the
thought.
 
Two problems with her plan came
to mind immediately.
 
First, she hadn’t
met a man in over a year that sparked even a tiny spark of interest in
her.
 
Secondly, Alex would probably see
her having a boyfriend as even more of a challenge and pursue her even more
relentlessly.
 

Every single time they went out as a group, Alex somehow
managed to get her alone and cornered.
 
Sometimes he would whisper the dirtiest things in her ear and walk off
as though he hadn’t just ignited a flame in her body.
 
Other times, he would approach her with his
tilted smile that screamed he was up to no go and immediately proceed to piss
her off.
 
Alex was lucky she hadn’t
followed through on any of her plans to kill him.
 

Then there were her favorite times, the times when she
would be coming back from the bathroom and he would be standing there waiting
for her.
 
One second she would be walking
past ignoring him, the next he would have her pinned to the wall.
 
Kissing her in a way that can only be
described as fucking her mouth with his tongue.
 
During those kisses, her hands had minds of their own and wandered over
his rock hard body.
 
Those occasions left
her wet and breathless.
 
He always pulled
away from her just as breathless, with an unmistakable need in his eyes.
 

Those stolen kisses shouldn’t be her favorite moments with
him.
 
In fact, she should kick his smug
cocky ass for even touching her.
 
Unfortunately, her mind clicked off the moment his lips hit hers.
 
Those kisses were all passion and unrelenting
desire.
 
Once her hormones calmed a few
minutes later her shield went back up in regards to Alex.
 
Last night’s stolen kiss had been entirely
different.
 
The same desire was still
present. However, the feeling she felt from him were more than desire.
 
His kiss was from a need to comfort and touch
her. To help heal her broken heart.
 

In that brief moment in the kitchen, she felt the same way
about him as she did in Cabo.
 
Completely
smitten and comfortable.
 
Those were the
emotions she needed to shut down in both of them.
 
And quickly too.
 
She couldn’t give herself over to him
again.
 
She knew he was still the same
playboy she had met in Cabo.
 

You know that’s not true.
 
A little voice inside her
head argued.
 
She hated that voice, the
voice of reason.
 
To be honest she had
only heard of Alex’s playboy reputation, she had never seen him with a woman first
hand.
 
She had chalked that fact up to
him not even deeming the woman he slept with important enough to introduce to
his friends.
 
He had to have had several
special friends over the last few months.
 
Guys like Alex didn’t go that long without getting laid.
 

That was what she needed to hang onto.
 
The thought of him in bed with another
woman.
 
No not another woman, other
women, as in plural!
 
That was her ticket
to staying completely in the hate zone when it came to Alex.
 
If she thought of nothing but his playboy
ways, she would even be able to push him away next time he decided to push her
against a wall and scramble her brains with his incredible kisses.
 

Nodding to herself at her perfect plan, she looked down
momentarily at her iPhone to check her mileage and ran smack into a wall of
muscle.
 
“Oof.”
 
She stumbled back and rubbed her nose, the
only part of her that hurt from the impact.
 
She was about to apologize when she looked up to see who she had run
into.
 
“Really?
 
Are you stalking me now?”
 

“I’m fine from you running into me, thanks for
asking.”
  
Alex stood tall, with his
hands on his hips, casting a shadow over her.
 
“And yes, I am stalking you.”
 

“Alex go away…wait a minute how did you know where I
was?
 
Do you have one of your company’s
drones following me or did you put a GPS device on me somehow?
 
Crap, it’s in my phone isn’t it?
 
Never did trust you techy types.”
 
She scolded, with her eyes narrow and her
arms crossed under her breasts. Breasts which Alex’s eyes were now fixated
on.
 
She moved her arms to cover them,
earning a look of disappointment from him.
 

Lifting his gaze to her eyes, he explained.
 
“No drones, not that CPST has any, or GPS
devices needed.
 
And no I can’t track you
by your phone.
 
Although, I am sure Collin
or Derek can.”
 
He smiled, placing his
hands in the pockets of his running pants.
 
He looked absolutely yummy in his black track pants and tight white
t-shirt soaked with sweat.
 
He had
obviously already run a few miles.
 
The
smell of him all sweaty was even more intoxicating than his expensive cologne.

“So if you didn't use any of your tech toys how did you
know where to find me?”
 
She scowled,
trying to hide her growing lust for him.
 

Runners kept glaring at them as they had to go around them
on the path.
 
Alex grabbed her elbow and
led her out of the way, off the path, to a group of large oak trees.
 
“I knew were you would be, because I know you
Izzy.
 
I have paid attention to every
word you have spoken around me for the past six months. I know that you always
run on Saturday mornings at Wash Park if the weather is nice enough.
 
If it is raining or snowing you go to the
gym.”
 

Pushing away from him, she stared in awe of him.
 
Her heart doing a little flip at the thought
that he had not only listened to everything she had said to him over the last
few months but also to what she had been saying her to friends when he was
near.
 
“You heard that?”
 

Shrugging, he took a step closer to her.
 
“Of course, how else would I become stalker
of the year?”
 
He winked at her, flashing
her that killer smile.
 
His dark blonde
hair moved a little in the breeze, causing it to fall in his face.
 

Before she could stop herself, totally caught up in a
trance of his creation, she reached her hand up and brushed the hair from his
eyes.
 
Trailing her fingers down his
cheek before her hand fell back to her side.
 
His eyes held a surprise look.
 
He
looked down at her hand and up into her eyes as though he was trying to figure
out if she had really touched him.
 
In
complete silence, they stood near the large oak trees off the side of the
running path and stared into each other’s eyes.
 

Breaking the moment first, Izzy looked down at her
watch.
 
“I…um…I better finish my
run.
 
Good seeing you Alex.”
 
She stepped to move around him and return to
her run.
 
Her head spinning with more
thoughts of the man she was supposed to hate.
 
Why did I touch his face?
 
Big mistake.
 

~*~*~*~

“Hey, why don’t we run together?
 
I still have a few miles to get in.”
 
Alex called out as he moved to catch up with
her.
 

“Umm, ok.”
 
She put
her headphones back in and kept running.
 

He could tell she wanted to ignore him, pretend he wasn’t
even there.
 
He was going to allow her to
do so.
 
For a few miles anyway.
 
He wanted her to relax, concentrate on her
run.
 
Once she was in that state he would
pounce.
 

Like Izzy, running soothed Alex.
 
It gave him time to think and return to the
reality of life with a clear head.
 
After
last night he had needed a good run.
 
When she melted into his gentle kiss in the kitchen, he was sure he had
finally made some head way.
 
Of course,
he was wrong.
 
Very wrong.
 
The kiss he thought had melted her had in
fact renewed her fire against him.
 
She
had done everything in her power to ignore him the remainder of the evening.
 

Normally he would have given her space, regroup and found
another place to run today.
 
However,
when Roni was chattering on about how excited she was to be moving in with
Derek, he saw the brief sadness flutter across Izzy’s face.
 
She didn’t want her friend to leave her, he
could tell.
 
They had been living
together for the better part of a decade, so he understood her apprehension
when it came to change.
 
Especially when
that changed involved moving.
 
Moving
sucks!

Thump, thump, thump.
 
Their feet hit the pavement in an even rhythm.
 
A soothing rhythm.
 
A rhythm that matched his heart.
 
They had to be on their millionth or so mile,
Alex thought, and he was starting to fade, Izzy, however was going strong.
 
Grabbing her hand, he stopped her forward
momentum and pulled her earbuds from her ears.
 
Bending over with his hands on his knees, he tried to catch his
breath.
 

Laughter from beside him made him turn his head.
 
“You’re trying to kill me.”
 
He mumbled.
 

More laughter came in response.
 
This time she sat down on the dying grass and
started to stretch her legs out.
 
“Oh did
the petite little woman run do many miles for the overly large Viking like
man?”
 
Her giggles continued as she
continued to stretch.
 

He collapsed on the pointy grass next to her.
 
Laying on his back, with his knees bent and
his right forearm over his eyes, he dragged in long breathes.
 
His legs were screaming at him for the long
miles he had put them through.
 
“Viking
like, huh?
 
I like that description. And
yes, the little woman kicked my ass today.
 
Remind me never to run with you again.”