Alex. Thanks for thinking of me, but I already have plans. Me and my girl are watching it over at a friend’s house. Should be a good one!

Interestingly, it’d been a few minutes, and Chels hadn’t responded to that last text as quickly as she had to his previous ones. Valerie glanced at Alex, who was watching and waiting for a response as if he should be petted for being good. Clearly, she still didn’t appear as impressed by this as he was expecting, because his smile waned.

Valerie stood to carry her plate to the sink still having not said a word. The moment she put her plate down in the sink Alex wrapped his arms around her from behind, inhaling deeply.

“Okay,” he began. “So this is all new. We both have friends we’re gonna have to break this new change to. I won’t be making any announcements or sending out a group message or anything, but just like with Chels, one by one they’ll get the news about my girl.” He kissed her cheek. “You can’t be mad every time something like this happens, especially if I’m being honest with you.”

She nodded then shrugged looking up at him. “You know it’s still gonna kill the mood every time.”

“Just so you know,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “Normally, I wouldn’t have responded to her if you were here. I never respond to anyone that quickly. I would’ve just ignored it and responded to her later. I only did because things are different now. I’m trying to prove to you I’m serious about this.”

She turned to face him, bringing her arms around his waist. “Why don’t we do this,” she offered. “Since I get the feeling it’ll be a while before all your little friends are informed of this new change in your life, why don’t you continue to ignore the calls while I’m around and respond to them when I’m not. At least not in the same room.”

He peered at her for a moment then nodded. “Okay”—he kissed her—“but just remember you’re the one who asked for me to do it that way.”

“As long as you respond the way you did to Chels, there shouldn’t be a problem.” He smirked as she pushed him away gently. “It’ll save us a lot of grief and irritation.” She started through the dining room toward his bedroom. “Why do you think I didn’t bother bringing my phone in the kitchen?”

She glanced at him doing her best not to smirk because his playful demeanor was instantly gone. His brows shot up though she was sure he was just going along with her obvious teasing.

“Is that right?” he asked, stalking toward her as she picked up her step. “You’re hiding your texts from me, Z?”

“No,” she said, unable to hide the grin as she hurried away from him now. “I just don’t want them killing the mood.” She turned to see him walking faster then added, “Every five minutes.”

She screeched when she saw him start running and ran into his room, laughing. They fell onto his bed where he tickled her until she told him where her phone was. It was right on the nightstand, and he reached for it.

“Unlock it,” he said, holding one of her hands down and freeing the other.

Valerie could barely catch her breath; she was still laughing so much. She unlocked it, fairly certain there’d be nothing incriminating, and as expected, there wasn’t. She showed him the two texts she had, one from Isabel and one from Sarah, and she had one missed call from her dad.

“Bad girl,” he said as he placed the phone back on the nightstand. “You have to stop doing that, you know,” he said, kissing her hard then biting her lower lip.

“Why?” she laughed. “When my punishment”—she reached down and wrapped her hand around her massive and ready to go punishment—“is always so good.”

That made him groan, and he was up on his knees instantly, pulling off his shirt. Jesus. Watching him do that would never get old. He was absolute perfection. Her heart beat wildly as if this were their first time doing this, and she had to wonder if that would ever change. He brought his muscular body over hers and kissed her so deeply it made her toes curl.

Nope. This would never get old.

Chapter 6

Alex

It felt different, but a good different. Getting ready to go out with Valerie at his place felt right as if it had always been like this and should always be this way. Alex couldn’t think of a single reason why he shouldn’t suggest she stay here more often.

He walked out of the room to turn on the television in his front room. The game had already started, and he figured he’d watch it while Valerie finished getting ready.

“Is that the game?” she called out when he turned up the volume.

“Yeah,” he said, tossing the remote on the sofa. “It just started.”

“I won’t be much longer,” she began to say. Then her phone rang.

He walked over to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge and turned back when he heard the crowd going wild on the television.

“Whaaat?” He shook his head. “Come on! What was that the first pitch?”

The runner on the Yankee’s team was already trotting around the bases after having hit one out of the park. Alex was just taking a swig of his water when he heard Valerie answer her phone, which meant it had to be one of the girls or her dad. She’d since reiterated she wouldn’t be responding or answering any calls around Alex that might “kill the mood.”

He started toward the sofa, still frowning about the Yankee’s early lead, when he heard . . . squealing? For a moment, he wasn’t sure because it stopped, but then it started up again, and sure enough, Valerie was squealing. Then she spoke in an excited rush.