Alec heard a series of frantic knocks at his door. The storm outside was fierce, so he hurried to open it and let in whoever it was.
Standing in front of him, drenched and crying, was Cat.
"Holy shit. Cat! What's wrong?” He pulled her inside and wrapped her up in his arms as she continued to sob.
"I just…I can't do this anymore!"
"What?"
"I can't play this game with you anymore!" she sputtered.
"What? We're not playing a game!" he insisted, becoming bewildered.
"I'm not stupid, Alec! Or blind. I've seen the way you look at me."
His eyes grew huge. "You have?"
She leaned up against his chest. "Yes. I know you're in love with me."
Alec gulped. "You do?"
"Don't act like it's not true," she whispered. Her face was so close to his that her light breaths tickled his chin. "Kiss me. I know you want to."
How could he say no to that? Because he did, in fact, want to. He had for months.
Alec lifted his palms, cupped the sides of her face, and then tilted her chin upward. He lingered there for a moment, just drinking her in, and then unleashed every ounce of longing and secret lust he'd kept bottled up since he'd met her.
Before he even knew what was happening, Cat tugged at his shirt, unbuttoning and slipping it off his broad shoulders, while she left a trail of kisses and strokes of her tongue down his chin and neck. She stripped off her shirt and kicked off her shorts, leaving her clinging to him wearing nothing but a scandalous set of lingerie. For only a split second, he let his brow furrow in confusion at the idea that Cat would even own such a thing, let alone wear it for him, but he wasn't about to protest. Instead, he lifted her up by her ass and set her onto a kitchen counter.
"So tell me," he began, coyly pulling away from her attempts to take back his lips with her own. "Where should I start this time?"
This time? What the hell am I saying?
He tugged at one of her bra straps, slipping it off her shoulder, and gave a small nip to her collarbone. "Here?"
"Or here?" His hands went down her neck and into the cups of her bra as he slipped out one of her breasts to run the tip of his tongue over her puckering nipple.
"Oh. I know…here." He tiptoed his fingers down her waist, over her hip, and slipped them under the moist strip of lace tucked between her thighs. Her breath hitched, and he smiled at her mischievously.
"Cat, it seems to me that you don't need any of my lame foreplay." He glided his two fingers up and down over her slick entrance. "Do you?"
Cat dropped her head backward as she gasped at his touch.
"Yes."
"Then tell me."
"I need it."
Alec sank his two fingers inside of her and leaned forward to suck on her neck.
"Need what?"
"I need you."
He curled his fingers in a come-hither motion, locating the tiny hot spot and playing it like a delicate instrument, which garnered a series of sharp gasps and moans from deep within her.
"Why?"
"Because…I love you."
"I love you, too. I always have," he murmured, as he ran his free hand over her hair and gazed at her in complete adoration. His fingers still strummed, but he added his thumb to circle the swollen outer bud, which left Cat panting and white-knuckling the edge of the counter. "Almost there, huh?"
"What about you?" she managed to squeak out.
Alec put his lips to her ear. "I told you, this is just foreplay."
He slowly let his fingers drag out of her, scooped her off the counter, and then hastily carried her to his bedroom, where he set her down on the bed.
His tongue swept the column of her neck and he teasingly slid his way down her taut stomach. Once he made his way to her hipbone, he tugged her panties off with his teeth and bowed down to kiss her lower lips, causing her back to arch and her fingers to grip his hair.
The longer Alec ran his tongue over her, the harder he got, and the more he ached to fill her. When neither of them could take it anymore, he pulled open his belt and jeans, and poised himself above Cat, ready to dive in headfirst.
Just as he was about to glide in, her hands flew to the sides of his face, and she moaned through ragged breaths, "Impregnate me immediately, Stanley!"
"Huh?"
"Now!"
Suddenly, his bedroom door flew open to reveal his mother.
"Do it, Alec! You've made me wait long enough for grandchildren!"
"Christ's fuckin' sake, Ma, what're you doing here?"
Alec whipped his head back around to apologize to Cat, only to find she had vanished.
"Cat? Cat, no! Cat, where are you?" He threw the pillows and blankets aside, searching for her frantically. He kept trying to cry out her name, but his voice was as gone as she was.
Alec's body convulsed as he awoke with a start, drenched in sweat and panting hard.
"What the fuck?" he hollered to no one. He pulled himself out of the tangled mess of sheets to reach for his phone, and realized he'd overslept.
"Dammit," he grumbled as he sprang out of his bed and into the shower. "Today of all days."
* * * *
"Cat!"
Alec banged on the door louder. He felt as if the past several months of his life were just a series of moments strung together by all the instances of him standing on Cat's doorstep, waiting to be let inside. Today, however, he wasn't able to stay. It was an important day.
"I'm coming! Hold your damn horses!" her voice called from the other side.
The door flew open, and Alec found himself face to face with a dripping wet Cat, wearing nothing but a towel.
He instantaneously forgot why he was there and quickly turned around. The idea that only a thin piece of terry cloth was separating his eyes from the bare skin of her beautiful body and sensuous curves sent his compromised thoughts back into that forbidden place, and he was afraid he'd lose control and do something stupid.
Like confess he was head over heels in love with her.
Cat, however, was oblivious to his internal conflict, and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Well?" she demanded impatiently. "Come on, Alec, I'm naked. Give it to me."
"Huh!" Alec squeaked, his voice lifting to a nervously shrill pitch.
That's not what she means, that's not what she means, that's not what she means, he told himself, trying to force his scandalous dream about her out of his head.
"My ticket," she prompted. "Don't you need to get going?"
"Oh! Yeah. Yes I do."
Alec pulled the ticket out of his coat pocket and flipped it over his shoulder at her.
"I'll come find you after. Later, Cat," he hollered, as he hurried off without turning back to toward her.
"Bye…" she trailed off, but then she called out to him just before he disappeared down the stairs, "Break a leg!"
"Thanks!"
* * * *
Cat shifted uneasily in the cushy theater seat, trying to remember to keep her legs together. She had always been a tomboy and wasn't comfortable in the dress she'd chosen to wear, but she knew tonight was special and had tried her best to look the part.
A short black dress with long sleeves and an open back, with sheer black stockings and sky-high black heels that would bring her almost to Alec's six-foot-two stature. She had managed to sweep her black hair up into a shiny, sleek French twist. She felt incredibly grown up, but a bit like an imposter, and she figured Alec would tease her relentlessly about her playing dress-up when he finally saw her. She'd already decided she would let him, seeing as this was his big night.
The play premiered that evening; however, it had already garnered a surprising amount of attention and subsequently thrust Alec, as its star, into a tiny bit of the spotlight. None of which surprised Cat in the slightest. She knew he was destined for stardom, and after all the struggling she'd seen him experience over the course of their friendship, she couldn't have been happier even if it had been her own personal success.
She just hoped he wouldn't ultimately forget about her.
The lights finally dimmed, and his voice echoed across the massive theater, as a spotlight slowly revealed Alec in the center of the stage.
"This," he boomed, "is a love story. Not just of a man and a woman. But of a man and his life. The sad truth is that not every love story has a happy ending. Sometimes, we lose everything we love, and so it goes with this story. My story."
Cat sat in the second row on the far right side, so she was sure he couldn't see her. She, however, could see him. And she felt as if she truly saw him for the first time.
Every larger than life gesture, every nuance of his expressive face, every dart and shift of those eyes that she loved.
Transfixed and mesmerized for the next two hours, Cat sat and watched and involuntarily smiled. Laughing when he joked, swooning when he kissed the leading lady, and crying when his character's heart broke. Her own heart swelled with pride, but she also quietly longed for a man like that.
Alec had been such a good friend to her over the past few months, it never would have occurred to her that what she felt might have been anything deeper than admiration for him and happiness at seeing the payoff of his hard work. She wasn't blind, however. Alec was amazing, and Cat knew, with his increasing success and visibility, it was only a matter of time before some lucky lady snatched him up. Her only hope was that she'd get to maintain the place in his life that she currently found herself so happily residing.
* * * *
"Cat! Hey, Cat!" Richie hollered across the theater lobby. "Come on back, he's almost finished."
Cat scurried as fast as she could in her heels and followed Richie down a long hallway which emptied into a loud room, jam-packed with cast, crew, and members of the press.
Richie snagged her by the elbow as he led her through the mass of bodies. Peeking around various heads and shoulders, she spotted Alec, looking oh, so swoon-worthy in a black suit with no tie and the top few buttons of his white dress shirt undone. He was talking enthusiastically with several people, shaking hands, and getting hugged and kissed by random women.
The entire scene buzzed with excitement, but Cat couldn't help feeling a bit out of place.
Richie released her elbow when she was just a few steps away from Alec and gave him a pat on the shoulder and a few words in his ear, which caused Alec to whip his head around to face her with lit-up eyes.
"Hey!" He leapt toward Cat, wrapped her up in a hug, and lifted her off the ground for a second.
"Hi! Oh my god, you were amazing!" she gushed. "The whole play was fantastic. I was bawling like a baby at the end. But in a good way." She giggled.
"Good! I mean, not good that you were crying, good that you, ya know, liked it." He chuckled sheepishly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I think it went really well."
"Oh it did! It definitely did. Everyone was cheering and crying and laughing. It was fantastic." She punched his shoulder. "Told you so."
"Yeah, you sure did." Alec let out a contented sigh and flashed his million-dollar smile at her. "Wow, Cat. I can't even tell you how glad I am that you're here."
He paused briefly, and Cat noticed his gaze dart to her feet and draw slowly back up to her face. She figured this was when the teasing would commence, but she was somewhat shocked when Alec took hold of her wrist, pulled her flush against his chest, and placed both hands on the small of her back, his lips right next to her ear.
"You look spectacular," he whispered, and then placed a tiny peck right below her earlobe, leaving Cat with her eyelashes fluttering slightly and thinking her knees might give out. He could be such a damn flirt sometimes; he had to know what he was doing to her, and was probably doing it just to get a rise out of her. So Cat just brushed it off, and Alec released her quickly enough that she managed to keep standing upright. She shook her head slightly and gave a polite little laugh.
"Thank you. I feel like a little girl who raided her mom's closet wearing this silly thing."
"No, it's awesome." He grinned. "You should wear stuff like that more often. Although I'm worried that you look a little too good. I might have to pull out the fake boyfriend act again to keep the sleaze-balls at this party off of you."
Cat laughed as she put an arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. "You're such a goofball. You can be my fake boyfriend anytime.”