Alexa thanked God the next morning that the real work of building the playground was for people who actually knew what they were doing. She could still keep her boss on message and banter with the press while her mind was constantly wandering to her date that night, but if she’d been operating power tools, it would have been a disaster.
By the time she knocked on the door of room 1624 she was a bundle of nerves. Maybe he thought better of this? Maybe he already checked out of the hotel and forgot to tell me? Maybe he . . . She didn’t have a chance for another possible worst-case scenario before he opened the door. And then she was speechless for a moment.
She’d thought Drew was hot in his worn gray T-shirt in the elevator, and she’d thought he was hot at the rehearsal dinner, clean-shaven in his pale blue button-down shirt. Now, in a tuxedo, he was so hot she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye all night.
He wasn’t even fully in the tux—that was the worst part. He had the shirt on and the bow tie untied around his neck, with his hair still damp. He looked like every romantic comedy hero at the end of the night, just before the heroine pulled his shirt out of his pants and started unbuttoning . . .
“Hey!” He interrupted her increasingly lurid train of thought. “You’re just in time. I was about to break into the snacks.”
“Snacks?” she asked. She followed him into the room, momentarily distracted from her fantasies.
“I got us cheese and crackers . . . and beer. If this is anything like most weddings, we’re not going to eat for a while. I don’t know about you, but I could use a drink before this night gets under way.”
“You read my mind,” she said. She dropped her tote bag on his bed and hung her dress up in the closet. “I almost brought a bottle of wine, but I didn’t want to start dancing on tables before the wedding even began.”
He disappeared into the bathroom and came out a few seconds later with two bottles of beer in his hands.
“Beer’s in the bathroom sink. The champagne bucket was too small for a six-pack. Plus, there are two sinks; filling one up with ice was the biggest stroke of genius I’ve had in a while, if I do say so myself.” He cracked open both bottles, handed her one, and then raised his to her. “To my wedding date, and thanks again.”
She took a long drink of her beer and looked around the room, trying to find something to distract herself from how much she wanted to lick that drop of condensation off his lower lip. Huge king bed, neatly made up, so housekeeping must have already come and gone. A full-length mirror by the closet—great, she would need that while getting dressed. Floor-to-ceiling windows beyond the bed. She wandered over to the window, beer in hand, and glanced outside.
“Wow.” The view stretched out over the sparkling bay. She could see both the gray and white bulk of the Bay Bridge and the gleam of the Golden Gate Bridge, with the bright sun overhead.
“The view is something else, isn’t it?” he asked. He came up behind her so close she could feel his body heat. She wanted more than anything to lean back against his warm chest.
“It really is,” she said, without turning around. “Olivia was on this side of the hotel, too, but we were so busy talking I didn’t even look out the window. Josh and Molly got a perfect day for their wedding.” She turned to him, but he’d already stepped back over to the desk.
“I couldn’t compete with your fancy cheese and crackers,” he said, “but I did what I could.”
She walked over to investigate and set her beer down so that she could dig in.
“I love this stuff,” she said, dipping a Wheat Thin into the tub of herbed cream cheese.
He followed suit.
“You’re not just saying that to be nice? Or because you need to eat something so that you don’t jump up on that table and start dancing? Don’t hesitate to do that on my account, by the way.”
She took another swig of beer and grinned.
“I told you, I love all forms of cheese and crackers, even that gross stuff that I used to get in my lunch as a kid with the little red plastic spreader.”
He flopped down on the bed with his beer and grinned at her. She could just push him all the way down and unbutton that shirt of his. Would he have chest hair? If so, not too much—that glimpse of his stomach she’d had in the elevator was branded in her memory, and there hadn’t been a ton of hair there.
Oh my God, what was wrong with her? A few sips of beer and her fantasies were trying to take over.
“I love that stuff. I should have bought some of that,” he said. Her eyes shot back to his face, and she tried to remember what they’d been talking about. At least if her cheeks were flushed now she could blame the alcohol. Just to make sure that excuse would work, she drained her beer.
“You want another?” he asked. He stood up and moved toward the bathroom.
“Sure.” She took out her makeup bag and closed her eyes. This whole thing was such a bad idea—she was getting drunk in the hotel room of a hot guy she barely knew, she was getting drunk enough to fantasize about jumping a guy far out of her league, and her unwelcome fantasies were probably written all over her face because he’d rolled off the bed and moved far away from her.
Oh well, at least she was getting free cheese and crackers out of this. And beer.
He came back from the bathroom with two more beers and stood next to her at the desk as she grabbed more crackers.
“Tell me about your morning,” he said. “You built a playground? I’m impressed.”
“Oh please, don’t be,” she said. “The playground building operation was well orchestrated by an actual construction company. My boss and I were just there for show and for the press. I mean, the playground did actually get built—well, started, at least—and I got a few splinters in the process, but everything I did was under the very close supervision of someone who knew what she was doing.”
“But tell me.” He sat down on the bed. “Where does the construction company come from? How did they figure out where to build the playground?”
“Oh, well, this has been a project that started almost as soon as my boss got into office. Low-income kids are a real priority of his—and mine. We identified a few areas early on that needed safe and attractive playgrounds, and this is the first one that actually got built.”
He leaned back on his elbows. Good Lord, was he doing this to torment her?
“Is this your modest way of saying that you found the construction company and you figured out where to build the playground?”
She slipped her sandals off and rubbed her toes into the plush carpet.
“Yes to both of those things, but I’m not that modest; I just hadn’t gotten there yet. I can be kind of long-winded.”
He laughed and motioned for her to toss him a cracker, which she did.
“Do you have any pictures?”
• • •
Alexa beamed at him and reached for her phone. She got so excited when she talked about her work. He liked that about her. He looked over her shoulder as she scrolled through the pictures of what the empty lot had been, the groundbreaking today, and some sketches of what the playground would look like when it was all finished. She was so animated in telling him about it that he couldn’t stop himself from moving closer to her on the bed; close enough that their shoulders touched, that her head was almost against his chest.
She turned and looked up at him. They both seemed to realize how close they were at the same time, but neither of them moved away. His hand moved to the small of her back, up her back to the nape of her neck, and back down again. He could smell her perfume. Vanilla, with a hint of spice.
Suddenly there was a loud knock on his door.
“Drew? You ready?”
Dan. Not now. Not yet.
He turned back toward Alexa, but she jumped off the bed and went back to the cheese and cracker table.
“Yeah.” He sighed and stood up.
He threw open the door to Dan, who looked altogether too perky for the occasion.
“Hey, man. Oh, hey, Alexa! You almost ready for the wedding? We’ll see you over there, huh?”
She looked up and smiled at Dan but didn’t look at Drew.
“Yeah, see you there. Is Lauren going to be on the shuttle?” she asked Dan.
“She is! She’s still in the room getting dressed, so you guys can ride over together. Here, let me give you her number, so you can be buddies.”
“See you at the church,” Drew said to Alexa, willing her to look at him. She met his eyes for a second, then looked away.
He was halfway to the elevator before he heard his name from behind him and turned around.
“Drew, aren’t you forgetting something?” she said.
He could think of many things he’d forgotten to do in that hotel room, but he could say none of them with Dan standing there.
“Your bow tie?” He glanced down and saw the offending garment dangling from her fingertips.
“Oh. Right.” He took the tie from her and smiled. “If you finish the beer, save that table dance for where I can see it, please.”
• • •
Oh God, she had really been about to kiss him. One and a half beers and a few minutes of him listening to her talk and she was ready to pounce on him. She needed someone to talk some sense into her, and right now the only person to do it was herself.
“Alexa,” she said out loud at her reflection in the lighted magnifying mirror. Holy shit, she really needed to pluck her eyebrows. Thank goodness she’d brought her tweezers.
Wait, she needed to focus. She was talking sense to herself, remember?
“Alexa ELIZABETH. This is all fake. This is a fake date; this is a fake boyfriend. You can’t just go around kissing hot guys who look like they come straight out of a movie set because they smile at you like that and listen to you prattle on about your job for a few minutes. Just because Maddie told you to practice flirting doesn’t mean you get to practice kissing, too.”
She cringed to think how humiliating it would have been if she’d actually moved in to kiss him. He would have gently kissed her back for a second. Then he would have pulled back, put his hands on her shoulders, and said that he was very sorry if he’d given her the wrong impression about everything, but she wasn’t really his type. All he was looking for from this evening, he would have said, was a buddy to stick by his side and repel other women, and if that was going to be a problem for her it was totally okay for her to go home now instead of to the wedding with him.
And she would have had to suck back her tears like she always did and smile big and say oh no, it was probably just the beer getting to her, it would be no problem. And then things would have been awkward and weird all night.
Well, it was still probably going to be awkward and weird all night, but at least that would be more subtext than text.
Enough pep talk time. All she could do now was look as fabulous as she possibly could. She cued up her girl-power playlist, pulled out her reddest of red lipsticks, and threw herself into getting ready.
• • •
“One more with the maid of honor and best man—Amy, you give him your bouquet this time!”
Drew was more than ready for these pictures to stop and the wedding to begin. Especially because that meant Alexa would finally get here. Even though he wouldn’t be anywhere near her during the wedding, at least he’d have one person on his side among his sea of blatant or veiled hostility.
She hadn’t texted him yet. He should check in and make sure she was on her way.
You on the shuttle over here? Everyone being nice to you?
A few minutes later:
Just getting on now. Dan’s girlfriend Lauren is my new date. Glad I met her last night.
He smiled down at his phone. Oh thank God, she was on her way.
Wait, does that make Dan my date? I think I like you better, no offense to Dan.
“Hellooooo, Drew!” He looked up to find the rest of the wedding party, sans bride and groom, staring at him. “Stop texting your girlfriend and pay attention.”
“She’s—”
Oh shit, close save. He’d been that close to declaring, She’s not my girlfriend, the way he did every time someone called some woman his girlfriend.
“. . . on her way,” he trailed off, as everyone stared at him.
“Great, that’s great.” Amy came up to him and put her arm around his waist. “But can we finish taking these pictures before the wedding starts without us?”
He put a smile on his face and walked over with her to where the rest of the wedding party was waiting for him. He managed to disengage himself from Amy when the photographer ordered the bridesmaids and groomsmen to opposite sides of the church garden.
The groomsmen came back into the church just as the shuttle full of people arrived. Drew searched the crowd for Alexa, and when he finally saw her, laughing at something Dan’s girlfriend said, his mouth dropped open. That red dress made him want to grab her hand, pull her out of the church, and bring her back to his hotel room immediately.
Josh’s cousin Bill walked up to her before he could get there. What the hell was he doing, looking at her like that?
Apparently, her dress also made Drew want to tell every other man in this room that he wasn’t allowed to look at her. Drew walked faster toward her.
“Ladies.” He got to them just as Alexa was shaking Bill’s hand. “May I escort you to your seats?”
Bill smirked at him.
“Sorry, Drew, I already claimed them. You snooze, you lose.”
Drew narrowed his eyes at Bill and slid Alexa’s arm into his.
“Oh, Bill, you must have misunderstood. This one is mine.”
They walked down the aisle in silence for a few seconds. Once they were out of earshot, she murmured, “I’m sorry, did I interrupt a pissing contest? I can go back to the hotel, I don’t want to be in the way.”
He laughed and drew her closer to him.
“No, don’t worry about it. And I won you anyway.”
She raised her eyebrows at him.
“You . . . won me?” she said.
He coughed.
“Wait, that came out wrong. You aren’t a thing to win or whatever. Sorry about that. It’s just that that dude always rubs me the wrong way.”
She smiled and held on to his arm tighter.
“Well, I would much prefer that you win me than him, even though I am indeed not a thing to win, so I guess we agree there.”
He stood at the end of the pew with her, not wanting to let go quite yet.
“Excuse us.” Dan elbowed him aside to let Lauren into the pew.
“Poor Bill.” Alexa laughed up at him. “Cock blocked on both sides.”
He didn’t remember her looking this hot in the elevator. Good job, Thursday-night-Drew, for somehow knowing that she’d be this hot when she was shoeless sitting on the elevator floor.
Oh wait, at that point he’d been trying not to stare at her cleavage, so maybe he had reason to know.
“Whatever,” he said. “He needs to get his own girl and stop trying to grab someone else’s.”
She went up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
“See you at the reception.” She slid past him into the pew and sat down next to Lauren.
“Save me a sandwich,” he said, just to make her laugh. It worked.