I pull away, rubbing my nose. “Sorry,” I tell him.
“All good.” He squeezes my waist, then lets go. “You didn’t know Fern was here?”
“She said she didn’t think she’d make it.”
He says, “You seem upset?”
I throw up my hands. “Of course I am! It looks like the Abominable Snowman threw up in here. She’s going to freak!”
“She didn’t seem freaked when I saw her.”
I grab his arm. “She didn’t? Where is she?”
“I don’t know. It was a couple minutes ago.” He pulls me into a comforting, smooshing Alex hug. “Take a breath, Ted.”
I plop my chin on his shoulder and shut my eyes, drawing in a long tug of air, then blowing out.
“Good,” he says.
I indulge myself, soaking in the comfort of his touch, take another deep breath, then step back. “Thanks. I feel better.”
Alex looks at me like he doesn’t exactly believe me. “I know you’re anxious about everything going well tonight; you took a risk and pushed for this. Which I’m proud of you for, by the way.”
“I hate risks,” I say grumpily. “I hate pushing.”
Alex bites his lip like he’s fighting a smile.
I glare at him. “This is funny to you?”
“No. I just wish…” He clasps my arms, his thumbs runningsoothing circles along my tense shoulders. “I wish you could enjoy this instead of worrying about it. But I get why that’s hard. Fern doesn’t make it easy for you.” He holds my eyes. “I will say, when I bumped into her, Fern said she’s thrilled. Customers are buying the shit out of these books. You’ve got a reporter here, covering the event, and they are very happily eating their third cake pop while washing it down with a complimentary decaf cortado Jordan made them.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” I sigh. “If Dan had made it, we’d be cooked.”
Alex smiles softly. “It’s going great, Ted. Everything’s going—” He does a double take suddenly over my left shoulder and freezes. “Shit.”
“What?” I start to glance that way, too, but he squeezes my shoulders hard.
“Don’t,” he says urgently. “Don’t look. Please.”
“What’s wrong?”
Alex steps close and whispers in my ear, “It’sKate.”
It’s hard to focus on what he’s saying with his mouth brushing my ear, his familiar scent washing over me. I shut my eyes and force myself to process what he said. “Kate who?”
“Ted,” he groans.
Hearing him say my name like that, low and rough, hot in my ear, I have to swallow a whimper. A flash of aching lust bolts through my body. “What?” I mutter hoarsely.
“It’sTheKate. From the dating app—”
“Wait.” I pull away, snapped out of my trance. “TheKate? From Kate Gate?”
“Kate-NateGate,” Alex reminds me.
I whole-body shudder.
“Yes,” he says darkly. “That one.”