to worry about.
“Where is the tablet?”
“In the top bin near the door,” I told him, and he went to get it while I put all my ingredients into my blender. I added protein powder to it and was getting ready to hit the button when Alex came back into the kitchen.
“Looks like the cameras are working.” He held the tablet out toward me, and I zeroed in on Ali moving around the kitchen.
She glanced up at one of the cameras, and her lips were moving. “What is she saying?”
“Don’t know,” Alex said and pushed a button on the screen to see if he could pick up the microphone. The small ones didn’t have sound, but the main ones did.
We could just make out what she was saying, and Alex turned it up. “I guess it doesn’t matter; you did it for your own reasons. I might never know what they were or why you demanded that I leave, but I have to respect your wishes.”
“I assume she is talking about you?” Alex said in question, and I hushed him as she continued.
“I wondered for a long time this morning if maybe I had been the only one to feel it, and that’s why you kicked me out.”
“You kicked her out?” Alex asked quickly.
“Shut up!” I hissed at him as I took the tablet from his hands and walked away. She looked like she hadn’t slept all night, either. That was no doubt my fault.
She sighed. “I thought you had, but I guess I was fooling myself.” She shook her head. “See, that’s part of my problem; I think that when I feel something, someone else might too. That’s why I decided to do this stupid dancing show anyway. I thought maybe without words, with just movement, I might find someone who was perfect for me.”
She frowned, and I sank onto my sofa. I felt Alex step behind the couch and knew he was watching. I didn’t care. I only cared what she had to say.
She glanced up, her green eyes wary. “I sure thought I did. I mean, I know I told you that I was sorry and that I had chosen wrong, but what Blake and I—”
I turned off the speaker before I could hear what she had to say. I didn’t want to know what Ali and Blake had together. It didn’t matter. Her words didn’t matter. I tossed the tablet to the couch cushion and started toward the stairs.
Alex grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing, I need a shower. I don’t have time to listen to her boohoo about how she picked Blake and doesn’t know what to do now.”
“What happened with you two last night?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
Alex laughed. “That sure didn’t sound like nothing. Did you sleep with her when she brought you home?”
“No!”
“Did you kick her out before you could sleep with her?”
I rubbed my hands up and down over my face and then sighed. “She came in, she pushed the limit. I didn’t give her anything she didn’t ask for.”
Alex frowned and shoved my shoulder. “Ask for? What the hell did you do, Harv? Did you hurt her?”
“Whoa, I would never physically hurt a woman.”
“Then what the fuck did you do, man?”
I turned and plopped my ass on the second step. “Ali pushed me last night, and I told her that she needed to leave, or I was going to have her screaming my name. She refused to leave, so I took her upstairs and made her scream my name. We didn’t have sex, though. That’s when I told her to leave.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because she’s still with Blake!” I jumped to my feet. “I don’t do cheats, Miller. I forgot about it just long enough to lose my head, but then I remembered before it was too late. I am not that kind of guy. I will not be that guy.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ali
What was going on? Why did he want me to leave? Was he seriously going to walk out of here? I stared at the empty doorframe, heard a board creak on the wooden steps, and realized he honest to god was.
What in the hell just happened? Didn’t he want this? Had I been mistaken?
Holy crap! I must have been! What a fool he must think I am to throw myself at him as I did. I gathered the rest of my clothes and quickly dressed. Where were my car keys? I