Alexis scarfed down half a taco and then set it down on the counter next to Liv. “Don’t touch that,” she warned Liv.
“Where are you going?” Noah asked as she disappeared into her tiny office.
She emerged with a wrapped box and handed it to him. “Happy birthday.”
He accepted the gift with a half smile. “I thought we weren’t celebrating until tomorrow night.”
“I know, but I couldn’t wait to give this to you. It arrived this morning.”
She clapped as he tore off the paper. His eyes bulged out of his head. “Holy shit. Are you serious?”
Alexis squealed. “I know! Can you believe I found one?”
In his hands was an impossible-to-get, limited-edition Doctor Who Lego set. “Where the hell did you find it?”
“I’ve been battling some dude on eBay for a week for this thing.”
Noah turned the box over in his hands. “It’s still in the original box?”
“Yes!”
“I don’t even want to know how much this cost,” he said, looking up.
She waved her hand. “Doesn’t matter. The only question is, are we going to leave it in the box or build it?”
“Build it,” he said, nodding reverently. “And we can watch that documentary on how purple dye was discovered.”
Liv snorted and slid from the stool where she’d been sitting. “Okay, this is the nerdiest shit I’ve ever seen.”
Noah made a psh noise. “This isn’t even in the top ten of nerdy shit we do.”
Alexis nodded as she took a massive bite of her food. After chewing fast, she said, “Last weekend, we attended a lecture by a Vanderbilt professor on the history of female Viking warriors.”
Liv mouthed the word wow and then leaned in to give Alexis a quick hug. “I gotta run. More dresses to deliver.” As she walked past Noah, she grinned. “Did you survive today?”
Noah groaned and put the LEGO set on the counter. “Your fiancé is out of control.”
“Go easy on him,” Liv said. “He’s been planning his dream wedding since he was a little boy.”
Liv rose on tiptoe to peck his cheek before sailing from the kitchen. Noah watched her go before turning back to Alexis, who greeted his glance with a teasing smile. “What crazy idea does Mack have now?”
“We have to learn a dance routine.”
Alexis tipped her head back and let out a laugh that made everything worth it. He’d endure any humiliation known to man to make her laugh, because he remembered far too clearly when laughter was a hard-fought victory. She was literally crying when he first met her. It was just hours after they’d exposed Royce Preston for the predator he was. They were at Mack’s house, celebrating, when she suddenly slipped out the back door.
“Alexis.”
At the sound of his voice, Alexis jumped and turned, wiping madly at her face.
He held up his hands in apology. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I saw you run out here and wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Alexis wiped her cheeks and shrugged. “No, it’s fine. I—I was just . . .” She waggled her fingers in front of her puffy eyes. “Letting out some tension.”
“Adrenaline crash.”
“Is that when your body says oh my God what the fuck have you done?”
He chuckled quietly. “I think that’s exactly what it is.”
She sucked in a steadying breath and held out her hand. “You’re Noah, right?”
He closed the distance between them and accepted her handshake. Her fingers were small and warm within his. “Noah Logan.”
Alexis pulled her hand back. “Thank you for what you did. Helping us, I mean.”
“I should be thanking you for what you did.”
Alexis hugged her torso. “I should have done it a long time ago.”
“There’s no expiration date on the truth.”
“How about humiliation?”
Noah felt the first stirring of something he didn’t recognize. Something equal parts respect and longing. “I hope we’re talking about his. Because you have nothing to be humiliated about.”
She looked away as if she didn’t believe him.
“So, what’s next?” he asked.
“I have no idea. I’ve been living with this secret for so long. I don’t even know what life looks like or feels like without it. I think I’m just ready for some peace.” She blinked then and studied him. “I have no idea why I’m dumping all this on you.”
“Because I’m here?”
She snorted. “Lucky you.”
Little did he know then how lucky he truly was. In a million ways, Alexis was the best thing that had ever happened to him. And he had no idea how to tell her that without ruining it.
The sound of crinkling paper brought him back to the present. Alexis leaned against the counter next to him and opened her second taco. “Thank you. You have no idea how much I needed this.”
“I had a hunch that you would have forgotten to eat again.”
“It’s been nuts in here today.”
“The girl come back?”
“Yes.” She said it with an annoyed groan.
“What’s that noise mean?”
Alexis swallowed. “It means she looked like she was finally going to talk to me but then Karen marched in.”
Noah reached over and plucked a stray piece of cilantro from the corner of her mouth. “What’s she pissed about now?”
Alexis launched into a story involving parking lots and a dead rat.
“It couldn’t have been him,” she said of the part cat, part demon that was one hundred percent terrifying. “He’s been inside all day.”
She gestured toward a cat tree by the front window. Beefcake flexed his paws, and Noah’s life flashed before his eyes. He’d never been high on the cat’s very short list of people he tolerated, but things had taken a turn for the worse a month ago. The vet put Beefcake on a diet, and now the cat stared at him like a platter of BBQ chicken. He had an unkempt, murderous look about him, as if he’d just gone a few rounds inside a clothes dryer and liked it. His hair stuck out at wild
