“She was looking for you.”
It’s notthatfar off from the truth. Marissa did say she needed to give Theo the rundown for the interview. What better time than now?
“Dude, I don’t wanna,” he whines. I almost feel bad. Almost.
Then I remember he called Alia cute and checked out her ass when she wasn’t looking. Yeah, fuck sympathy.
“She’s over there.” I point toward the busy yard while Novak grumbles under his breath and trudges over. As soon as he’s out of earshot, I turn to Alia and curtly say—”You can’t date him.”
Alia drags out a blink so slow, I count the seconds it takes to complete the action.
“Excuse me?”
I don’t take it back and, as the silence stretches, her incredulity gives way to anger. Her face flushes, eyes narrowing to slits. Fuck me, she’s hotter when she’s angry, if that’s even possible. Chin tilted up, she takes a step toward me, spearing me with a defiant glare.
I want to pin her against the railing and lick that ticking vein in her forehead. My nails bite into my palm as my body tenses with her closeness. She needs to step away before I do something stupid. Awesome, but stupid.
“Listen to me, Cal, because I will only say this once,” she warns me in a voice so soft, it passes over my skin like a lover’s caress, rousing my dick from slumber. “You donotget to tell me who to date.”
My lust-laden mind is focused on her voice, on her proximity. I’ll never be able to smell lemons again without thinking about her. I don’t fully register what she’s said until she huffs off, her hair whipping me across my neck. She stomps into the house, her smackable ass swinging left to right. Seconds later, I’m rushing after her.
“Tots,” I call, when I spot her approaching the front door.
She ignores me and wrenches it open, escaping into the night. But I’m too stubborn to give up. The scent of mud and grass hits my nostrils when I step out and spot Alia darting down the sidewalk. Shit, I must’ve really irritated her. My strides lengthen as I cross the front lawn.
“Alia, slow down.”
“No,” she snaps over her shoulder, turning the corner down a walkway that ends in a circular greenspace with a gazebo in the center. She stumbles momentarily, so I rush ahead of her, barricading her route.
“I don’t want to hear anything from you.” She attempts to bypass me, and I step in her path again.
“Callum!”
I love my name on her lips, even when she’s pissed.
“Theo’s not right for you.” That’s not what I mean to say but the link between my mouth and brain is full of fissures caused by blinding jealousy.
“Stop it,” she scolds.
We’re out where the breeze should be cooling but my skin is on fire. It has been since the moment Novak leaned a little too close to the woman I have an unhealthy obsession for.
“Theo was being nice and I was having a wonderful time. Until you showed up with your ridiculous decrees you had no right making.”
“He wasn’t just being nice; he was trying to get into your pants.”
“Really? That’s good! I was worried I was reading it wrong.”
Envy has made me stupid because I can’t tell if she’s being serious or fucking with me. Either option is shit.
“Alia, c’mon.”
“I’m a divorced, twenty-six-year-old woman with no romantic prospects, a dead career, and confidence that stinks of roadkill. If he’s interested, then I am too.”
Her body is stiff and her expression guarded, like she’s expecting me to have a reaction that’ll hurt her. I hate the boulder in my chest that grows heavy, both at the idea of her liking Novak romantically and feeling the need to protect herself from me. I want to claw this ache out and chuck it into the bay. Better yet, drown it.
“You had no right to barge into a conversation to which you were not invited.” Her throat works as she swallows whatever terrible sentiment my behavior has given rise to.
“I’m sorry.”