My Only - Alex & Jamie (20 page)

“Yeah,” Joey said, still hanging onto Jamie’s leg.

“That’s my husband Riley. Do you want to help me dunk him?” Chelle asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“Yes!” Joey enthusiastically agreed, all signs of any hesitation gone.

“Let’s do it!” Chelle lifted her hand and Joey gave her a high five.

“Okay. Since I have a baby in my belly I don’t have to stand behind this line. I get to walk up closer than everyone else,” she loudly whispered to him.

Jamie looked up at Riley, who seemed to have figured out exactly what Chelle was doing. Jamie couldn’t hear what he was saying behind the glass but if her lip reading skills were correct it was something along the lines of, “Rachelle, don’t even think about it.”

Chelle just smiled up at him and put her hand to her ear saying, “What? We can’t hear you through the glass.”

Then as they got about a foot away from the target Chelle handed Joey a ball and told him to go for it. Joey hit the target easily and Riley went down, water even splashed over the glass partition.

Jamie cracked up as Riley’s head popped up and he shook his hair to get rid of the excess water. He looked down at his wife with a wolfish smile that looked to promise payback. But somehow Jamie didn’t imagine Chelle would have a problem with whatever her husband had in mind because her cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she blew Riley a kiss.

Joey turned around, jumping up and down, “Mommy, I did it! Did you see me? I did it!”

“I did, I did see you!” Jamie said as her laughter started to subside.

“Good job, little man!” A deep voice said from behind her.

Goosebumps broke out all over her arm, she knew that voice. And that voice should be sitting at The Kissing Booth, not standing so closely behind her that she could feel his breath on her neck.

Joey ran up with his hand extended to give Mr. Goosebumps a high five. Jamie didn’t know what had come over her but she didn’t want to turn around. She just stared straight ahead.

Chelle walked up to them and cheerily said, “Hey there, Kissing King, how goes it over at the booth?”

“I’m retiring my lips for the evening. My kissing duties are officially over,” he said from behind Jamie’s shoulder.

Chelle looked at Jamie then up at Alex then back at her. Then a larger than life smile appeared on Chelle’s face before she turned her attention down to Joey, “Hey, since I’ve got this baby on board, I need to get candy for two...but I can’t do it all by myself. Do you want to go help me win more games?”

“Can I Mom? Can I pleeease?” Joey pleaded, even clasping his hands together like he was praying.

She looked up at Chelle, who still wore her mega-smile, “Pleease Mom?” She too was doing ‘prayer hands’.

“Are you sure you need to be walking around?” Jamie asked as a last ditch effort to keep the buffer that was her son, beside her.

But it was to no avail, as Chelle quickly replied, “Are you kidding me? Walking is exactly what I need to do. Everyone is telling me it might kick start my labor and I am so ready for this little girl to be here!” she said as she rubbed her belly.

Well, crap! That hadn’t worked. “Okay Joey, but you stay right by Chelle and you listen to her, do you hear me?”

Joey looked at her solemnly, “I will mom. I promise.” Then he reached up and crossed his heart.

To Chelle, she added, “Text me where you are when you guys are done and I’ll come find you.”

Chelle nodded and gave Jamie a little salute, which Joey immediately mimicked.

“Okay, what are you gonna help me win first?” Chelle asked as she and Joey headed off walking hand in hand.

Jamie stood watching them leave, still not turning around to face Alex.

She felt Alex lean down so his lips were lightly brushing her ear as he asked, “Hey, can we go and talk somewhere quiet?”

Jamie’s heart was racing so fast she wasn’t sure if she was having a panic attack or a heart attack. She knew logically it was neither, but her body was doing a pretty good job of faking it.

“Sure,” she said, probably a little too loudly, as she turned around and looked up into his heavy- lidded green eyes.

It took her a second to realize that it wasn’t lust making his eyes droop, he looked exhausted. Concern replaced the arousal that had been bubbling up inside of her.

“Alex, are you okay?” She reached up and touched his face.

He leaned into her hand and smiled. “I am now.” She saw a twinkle in his eye and knew that he might be tired but he was okay.

She felt a flash of relief as he took her hand from his cheek, threaded his fingers through it and guided her through the crowd of people. She didn’t know where they were going. She didn’t know why she wasn’t pulling her hand away. She didn’t know if people would get the wrong idea. But she knew one thing for sure. She really liked the feeling of Alex’s strong hand wrapped around hers and she was going to enjoy it, for now.

--- ~ ---

As Alex led Jamie through the sea of people that had come to the festival, he had a strange feeling of pride. He was walking a little taller with her by his side. He was still a little shocked that she hadn’t pulled her hand away, but that just increased the proud feeling that was overwhelming him.

When they reached the sectioned-off corridor Alex held up the rope that the event coordinators had put in place up so that people didn’t go into the area. Jamie ducked underneath it and then Alex easily stepped over it. They rounded the corner to a secluded hallway and, although there were hundreds of people within a few yards of them, it felt to Alex like he and Jamie were the only two people in the world.

“I just want to make sure I have service back here just in case Chelle texts me.” Jamie reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell, “Yep, I’ve got bars, it’s all good. What’s up?”

He knew on some conscious level that she had asked him a question and that he needed to respond to it. But he was having a hard time forming words. She was just so unbelievably stunning. Jamie in scrubs and sweats was beyond sexy. Catwoman-Jamie took sex-appeal to a whole new level.

In the looser clothes she normally wore, he had seen hints of the curves she had, but those clothes did not come close to revealing the sexiness that was hiding beneath them. In these tight black jeans, her legs looked like they went on for miles, and her snug top showcased her hour-glass figure perfectly. And her backside was just…damn. Earlier when he had walked up and stood directly behind her, it was because he had seen a bunch of guys walking by and checking out her perfect heart-shaped ass and it had made him crazy.

“Alex, did you need to talk to me?” Jamie asked, sounding a little worried.

Her outfit was making it very difficult to think so he just blurted out. “Do you still have the invitations?”

“What invitations?” Jamie looked even more concerned now.

This was ridiculous. Alex couldn’t believe he was acting like some horny teenager. He needed to start thinking with the head that was on his shoulders, not the one that was below the belt. The information he needed to give her was important.

“Sorry.” He shook his head. “I spoke to Katie today and she wanted to see you early next week whenever you have time. She wants you to bring anything you think that might even be remotely pertinent to the case. If you have the invitations that you sent and can show that they were returned, she would like you to bring them.”

“Alex, you didn’t need to talk to her. I was planning on calling her Monday,” Jamie said as she crossed her arms. The movement did not seem defensive to Alex, it was more like protective.

“I know, but Jason and Katie were over today and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you and that whole shitty situation since I left your house last night. I just asked her what she knew about grandparent’s rights and, I know people joke around about Katie being like
Sherlock Holmes, but honestly - I asked her one question and she basically had the entire scenario figured out within sixty seconds. It was weird.”

Alex didn’t know how she had done it, but when he asked Katie what she knew about grandparent’s rights, she had just given him a strange look and then asked, “Why?” Then before he could answer her face lit up and she asked, “Is this about Jamie?” It was slightly unnerving.

Jamie smiled as she tilted her head, “You’ve really been thinking about me today?”

“Are you kidding me?” Alex asked, “That’s all I’ve been thinking about. I have almost called, texted, or stopped by at least fifty times. I just wanted to talk to you and make sure that you were okay.”

Jamie's eyes glistened and he wasn’t sure if she was going to start crying. He figured they might be happy tears, though, because her face slowly broke out into a big smile as she sniffed, “Thank you, Alex. You don’t have to worry about me, but you could have checked on me if you wanted.”

He wanted to do a lot more than ‘check’ on her but he figured now was not a good time to point that out so he smiled as he said, “Well, there were no 'ground rules' for checking on you so I wasn’t sure.”

Jamie’s lips pursed and she scrunched her nose as she playfully swatted his arm.

“Hey, that’s a blatant violation of ground rule #2.”

She laughed as she shook her head at him.

God, he wanted to kiss her so badly.

“Why didn’t you come by my booth?” He tried to sound casual but, he heard the slight edge that he was unable to keep out of his voice.

She looked up at him, her golden eyes twinkling, “There was a
really
long line.”

“Is that the only reason?” he asked.

“Well,” she hedged, “I guess, it wouldn’t be my favorite thing in the world to watch you lip locking with a bunch of ‘customers,’” but then quickly added, “But mostly, it was the line.”

“Were you jealous?” He teased.

“No,” she said, shaking her head.

“No?” He asked again, raising a brow.

Then with the same sassy tone she had adopted when she had broken out the ground rules she said with her hands on her hips, “Why would I be jealous? You didn’t look at any of them the way you look at me.”

What he was sure was meant to be just a playful comeback hit him square in the chest. She was right. He had never looked, and was pretty sure would never look, at another girl the way he looked at Jamie. Because he loved her. He loved her so much it hurt not to show her. And even if she was joking
, the fact that she had noticed it changed something between them.

The energy between them became intensely electrified. He so desperately wanted to hold her, to touch her, to kiss her.

“How long have you had your no-dating rule?” He asked, and his voice definitely had an edge to it now.

She looked a little surprised by his question. “Um, since Joey was born.”

“When's the last time you were kissed?” he asked, his body filled with so much desire he felt like he was going to explode.

Her eyes widened and her breathing became labored, “Before Joey was born.”

He leaned down closer to her, his heartbeat was pounding loudly in his own ears, “Well, how would you feel about changing that?”

“Um...” She absently licked her lips. “Well…”

“Jamie,” He rested his forehead against hers, he felt the warmth of her breath against his mouth. “I’m asking if I can I kiss you?”

Her phone beeped loudly and she jumped. Luckily, he quickly stepped back so they didn’t bump their heads against each other. She pulled her cell from her back pocket.

“It’s Chelle. She says Joey’s asking for me,” she said as she began walking away. Then she turned back, realizing Alex was still standing in the same spot, and she asked, “Are you coming?”

He looked down at his extremely
snug
jeans then looked back up smiling, “I think I need a minute.”

Her eyes darted down his body and then shot back up, “Oh, okay.” A small blush crept up on her cheeks as she rounded the corner.

As soon as she was out of sight, Alex leaned against the cool concrete wall.

“Oh, and Alex?”

He turned his head and saw Jamie peaking around the corner with a mischievous smile and a gleam in her eye.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“My answer is yes.”

And with that admission, she was gone. Damn. Now he was going to need a lot more than a minute to get himself under control.

--- ~ ---

Why?! Jamie asked herself. Why did I do that? Why did I have to go back and say that 'my answer is yes' last night?! I could have left it how it was and everything would have been fine. But, noooo. I just had to go and make things weird.

Jamie was just finishing wrapping Alex’s bandage for the last time. This was the final day of her assignment to 'oversee Alex’s home care.' She had been at his house for four hours and he hadn’t even so much as
mentioned
the night before. In fact, it was as if last night had never happened.

He was acting completely normal. Unlike her. She felt like a basket case and she was pretty sure she was acting like one.

She was so out of practice when it came to 'guy-girl' signals that she felt like maybe she had read too much into his. It seemed now that he wasn’t that interested in her at all. Sure, he was being nice, like always, but that was it. No flirting, no teasing just…nice.