offer, “Why don’t I call in an order at that little Italian restaurant down the street. If you’ll get the girls showered and in bed, I’ll go grab dinner for us.”
“What about the kids?”
“Just give them a Lunchable or something quick,” I tell him as I grab the keys to my car and head out.
As I pull out of the driveway, I’m already placing my dinner order, but it’s the second call that causes my heart to pump small doses of adrenaline through my veins. When I hit the first red stoplight is when Alec answers and all the anxiety within me begins to sedate.
“Hey you.”
“Hi,” I respond, smiling without delay.
“Can you hold on for just a moment?”
“Sure.” The light turns green, and I start driving while I listen to muffled voices followed by a door shutting and then silence.
“Okay, I’m back.”
“If this is a bad time, I can let you go.”
“No,” he says. “I’m over at my brother’s house and my nieces were singing along to some Disney movie, so I stepped outside where it’s quiet.”
I pull into the lot of the restaurant, park away from all the other cars, and kill the engine.
“What are you doing, Victoria?”
Releasing a heavy breath of tension, I close my eyes and lean my head back as thoughts tumble around. Confliction and contentment battle for the upper hand, but neither is victor. This has always been innocent fun—just harmless entertainment—but this isn’t benign if I’m hiding out in the shadows of a parking lot just to talk to Alec.
“What are you thinking about?” Alec’s voice is silk, slipping through the phone and caressing my ear softly.
“You.” I shouldn’t be so honest. I should lie. I should hang up. I should go home.
“I’ve been thinking about you too.”
Don’t say that, Alec. Don’t encourage me.
“You have?”
“I told my sister-in-law about you tonight.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing much,” he tells me. “Only that I met a girl who’s piqued my interest.”
“Alec . . .” I murmur breathlessly around the flutter he invokes.
“Talk to me.”
“This isn’t me,” I admit. “I don’t act this way with anyone.”
“How do you mean?”
“I’m not a needy person. But with you . . . if I’m not talking to you, I’m thinking about you. You’re probably the most intense person I’ve ever met. You’re all-consuming—addicting—and I don’t know what to do with that because it brings out this neediness inside me that’s never been there before.” My words fall freely from my lips as I make my confessions. “I feel a little crazy here because we’ve only been talking for a week and I’m so unsure of everything I used to be so certain of.”
“Does that scare you?”
“Yeah . . . it does. And I’m not one who scares easily, which is why I feel so thrown off by you.”
He doesn’t respond immediately, but when he does, his words surprise me when he says, “You scare me too.”
My laugh is one of nervousness and not of amusement. “How on earth do I scare you?”
“Because I’m not needy either, but I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re nothing like the women I go for. You’re the opposite of what attracts me, and yet, the attraction I have for you is profound and difficult for me to understand.”
“This is crazy.”
“Why?”
“Because,” I say as I lean forward and rest my head on the steering wheel. “Because this is really fast. Too fast.”
“Look, I like you. But if this is too much for you, then we can end it now.”
The thought of walking away doesn’t sit right with me. I’m still curious about him. There’s still so much left for me to explore and learn from him. I’m just not ready to close the door on him just yet.
“No. I don’t want to end this. Today just shook me up a little bit. I didn’t expect to feel this pull. I mean, I should be able to go a day without talking to you. I hate feeling this way because it makes me feel like a little weak girl.”
“I like that you feel weak for me.”
I shake my head, laugh under my breath, and tease, “You only like it because it feeds that big ass ego of yours.”
“I made you smile though, didn’t I?”
And he did, but I still feel so torn when I shouldn’t. There’s nothing I should be conflicted about. I mean, I’ve never even met this guy, so why do I even feel like this? Why am I even here?
I need to get home.
“Can