Alex (BIG Northwest Book 2) Read online

  “Not yet. You’re still here.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Al.” He held out a hand. “I’m here until I finish what I came to do.”

  Alex smacked his wide palm away as she pushed her way out of the car. “God, you’re a pain in the ass.” She stomped her way across the field sitting between her office and her house. “Freaking stubborn, pain-in-the-ass man.”

  “I’m stubborn?” Edward kept up with her, his long legs making it an easy thing to accomplish. “You’re fighting with me instead of letting me help you. For no damn reason.”

  Oh. There was a reason.

  A good one.

  “I don’t want you here.” Alex picked up the pace, curling her toes until they ached in an attempt to keep her shoes in place. “That’s a good enough reason.”

  “You don’t want anyone here. You’re a control freak. You’re convinced no one can do anything as well as you can.”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Alex added a little stomp to her steps, taking out her frustration on the ground.

  Her next step planted on an unexpected dip in the dirt. The odd angle and force of the added stomp was enough to jolt her ankle into a twist, sending her sailing to the ground, white pants skidding along the grass.

  “Goddamnit, Al.” Edward immediately reached down to try to help her up.

  “Leave me alone. I’m fine.” She pushed up from the ground, wiping at the green streaks across her new pants.

  This was his freaking fault. If he would have just left when she told him to, her pants would still be fine. She wouldn’t have had to stay in her office until she was positive he was asleep.

  Her life wouldn’t feel so out of control.

  Alex started to walk toward her office. The first step on her rolled ankle sent a stab of pain up her shin, forcing her to immediately shift her weight away from it.

  “Really? You’re really going to try to walk on a sprained ankle just to avoid letting me help you with anything?” Edward stood in place as she attempted to hobble away, clenching her teeth against the pain each movement sent snaking through her foot and leg.

  She managed a few steps before Edward let out a sigh that bordered on a groan. “Damn it, Al.”

  In half a breath she was in the air, scooped up by a man who was too handsome. Too tall. Smelled too good.

  Alex kicked her feet and tried to roll out of his grip. “Put me down. I’m fine.”

  “Sit still and shut up.”

  The sharpness in his tone sent her eyes so wide they burned. “What did you say to me?”

  “You heard me.” The straight line of his jaw clenched tight as he walked toward her house.

  Was this man serious?

  Edward stomped up the steps leading to her front door. “Get your keys out.”

  “No.”

  His dark eyes finally came to hers. “Fine. I’ll kick it in then.”

  He took two steps back.

  What the fuck was it with the men around here this morning? First JD threatened to tow her car and now Edward was acting like he would kick her door in.

  He lifted one brow as she hesitated.

  Holy shit.

  He might really do it.

  “Fine.” Alex dug into her pocket, pulling out the ring holding her car fob and house and office keys.

  Edward angled her so the door was within reach. “Unlock it.”

  “Put me down and I will.”

  “Nope.” He tipped his head to the deadbolt. “Come on. You’re getting heavy.”

  She scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I just carried your ass across a field and I haven’t had breakfast yet because someone locked my in a damn camper with no food in it.” His eyes narrowed. “Open the fucking door, Al.”

  She curled her lip. “Fine, Ed.” Alex shoved the key in the lock and spun it.

  Edward immediately twisted the knob and pushed the door open, stepping into her space.

  He went straight past the kitchen and down the short hall leading to her bedroom and office. He continued past the spare room where she worked on the weekends and most evenings, walking into her bedroom and half dumping, half tossing her onto the bed before turning and walking straight out.

  “You’re an asshole.”

  The click of his expensive shoes on her wood floors immediately stopped.

  Alex’s heart skipped a beat as the sound of his steps came back her way. Edward stood in the doorway of her bedroom. “So you were ready to lose your shit when you thought I was going to call you a bitch, but it’s perfectly fine for you to call me an asshole?” He came closer. “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say I’m pretty sure you’re the asshole in this scenario, Al.”

  “Stop calling me that.” She scooted to the edge of the bed, getting on her good foot and hopping at him. “Why won’t you just leave?”

  His eyes moved over her face for a second. In the blink of an eye his whole expression shifted. The line of his brow lifted. The set of his jaw relaxed. His lips eased into a half smirk. “I think your brother might be right, Al.”

  Without any more of an explanation Edward turned and disappeared down the hall.

  But he didn’t leave her house.

  Alex hopped toward the door to her room. “What in the hell are you doing?”

  “You owe me breakfast.” His deep voice carried from the kitchen, where the sound of the fridge opening and rustling packages made it clear he wasn’t kidding.

  “Are you going through my refrigerator?” Alex bounced down the hall, one hand pressed to the wall for support.

  “Yup. Pantry too.”

  By the time she reached the peninsula separating her galley-style kitchen from the living room Edward had a carton of eggs on the counter next to her stove. A loaf of multigrain bread sat next to the eggs.

  “Where’s your toaster, Al?” Edward was opening cabinets like he was a welcome guest.

  “Do you always act like this?”

  He straightened, his eyes moving to one side for a split second. “No.” He shot her a grin. “Seems like you bring out the best in me.”

  “If this is the best then I don’t want to see the worst.” She gripped the back of one of the metal stools lined down the peninsula between them.

  “Then you should probably tell me where the toaster is.” He backed toward the other side of the kitchen. “Unless you want me to keep exploring. Your call, Al.”

  Was this a situation where it made sense to scream? Because she sure as hell felt like screaming.

  There was a strange man in her house. He was rifling through her things. Stealing her food.

  “If you’re not going to lay down then sit down.” He pointed to the stool she held. “Sit.”

  “I don’t know who you think you are—”

  “You know what, Al? I’m not sure who I think I am either.” Edward continued to dig through her cabinets. “But I feel like I might finally be figuring it out.” He reached into one of the lower cupboards. “There you are.” He pulled out the toaster stashed inside and set it on the counter. “How many pieces of toast do you want?”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “I didn’t ask if you were hungry.” Edward untwisted the tie around the bread bag then pulled two pieces free and dropped them into the toaster. “I’m not sitting here eating alone, Al. I’ve eaten alone enough in the past six months.”

  Alex eyed Edward as he turned to the stove, clicking on the front gas burner.

  It was a little less troubling to look at him when he wasn’t staring back at her. A little easier to notice the width of his shoulders under the perfect press of his button-up shirt. The thick muscle of his thighs behind the tapered cut of his pants. His body was just as unfortunate as his face.

  Maybe if he was less attractive she would have considered asking him to assist with more than the books.

  But as it was, Edward was too damn tall. Smelled too damn good.


  And that freaking face-full of dimples.

  No way would she ever consider inviting him into her bed. That would be the start of nothing good.

  “Al.”

  She jumped a little when he turned to face her. “What?”

  His lips curved into a knowing smirk. “You gonna at least tell me how you like your eggs?”

  Her belly growled at the thought. She skipped breakfast this morning in her haste to ensure she was out of the house when Edward woke up and discovered her car holding him hostage.

  “I’m making them either way and I like mine over hard so—”

  Alex cringed. “Over hard? What’s wrong with you?”

  “Probably lots of things, but runny eggs make me gag.” Edward held a single egg in his hand. “What’s it going to be, Al?”

  “How can you not like runny yolks? That doesn’t make any sense.” She glanced at the bread in her toaster. “And you eat hard eggs with toast? That sounds terrible.”

  “You know what sounds terrible?” He looked right at the stool in front of her. “Standing on a sprained ankle when there’s a perfectly fine seat right in front of you.” Edward turned away and started cracking eggs into the pan.

  This morning was completely out of hand. Had gone entirely off the rails.

  Sitting felt like giving in. Admitting defeat.

  Being agreeable.

  Like her mother was.

  Going along with whatever the stupidly handsome man said.

  Like her mother did.

  But now she wanted eggs. And Edward clearly wasn’t leaving no matter what she did.

  JD definitely wouldn’t help her kick him out after this morning.

  There had to be some sort of way to still make it clear she wasn’t going to just bend to Edward’s demands.

  Alex turned to the living room. She hopped a couple bounces, grabbing onto the back of the sectional as soon as it was within reach. Once she was close Alex glanced over one shoulder to see if Edward was watching.

  His back was still turned to her as he moved the eggs in the pan.

  Hobbling all the way around to get to the seats would be a pain in the ass. And in the ankle. Instead, Alex bent forward, rolling over the back and onto one stretch of cushions. She used her hands to scoot her butt to the corner of the L-shaped sofa.

  “Much better idea than mine.” Edward held out a plate with two over-easy eggs and a slice of toast with butter and jelly smeared across it. He didn’t wait for her to take it, instead setting it directly on her lap before going straight back to the kitchen.

  She shouldn’t eat the eggs.

  Definitely not the toast.

  “Is this the grape jelly?” Alex chewed her lip as she waited for his response.

  “Doesn’t taste like it.” Edward was already back. Pretty speedy for a man who liked his eggs to be a potential stand-in for a hockey puck. “Tastes like it might be raspberry.” He dropped a kitchen towel over her injured ankle before setting on a bag filled with ice and water.

  “I’m fine.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Her ankle didn’t feel too terrible.

  Her head however, was starting to hurt.

  “If it swells you won’t be fine.” Edward was back in her kitchen, sniffing another open jar of fruit spread. “How much jelly do you own?”

  “We make it.” Alex pressed her lips together just as soon as the tidbit of information jumped free.

  His eyes immediately came her way. “Seriously?” He held the quilted jar up, peering at it as if homemade jelly would look different from store-bought.

  The difference wasn’t in the looks.

  “That’s amazing.” Edward turned back to the toaster and loaded in two more pieces of bread, shoving the lever down.

  Alex picked up the toast, the smell of warm raspberry jelly making it impossible to ignore. She took a little, guilty-feeling bite.

  God bless it. He buttered the damn thing too.

  Edward dropped onto the couch right beside her, his plate stacked with five pieces of toast and three wasted eggs. “How is it?”

  Alex shrugged one shoulder.

  “It’s amazing. You can say it.” He set his plate on the coffee table. “I won’t let it go to my head.”

  “I’m sure that’s only because it’s already overflowing.” Alex sank her teeth into the toast and tore a bite free.

  “Ah. That explains it.” Edward folded his top toast in half and took a huge bite, lifting his brows as he chewed. “The strawberry’s good.”

  “Of course it’s good. It’s strawberries and sugar.” Alex wrinkled her nose at him. “You’re getting crumbs on the carpet.”

  “You’re getting crumbs on the couch.” Edward leaned back, bringing his toast with him as he settled beside her, his arm almost touching hers.

  She shifted away. “What do you mean, that explains it?” Alex pulled her plate of eggs closer, trying to smother out the smell of his cologne with the aroma of eggs and bread.

  “I’m good-looking so you assume I’m full of myself.” He leaned forward, going back for the next toast in line. “I think this one’s peach.”

  “And you just proved I’m right.” Alex wanted to feel smug about it. Happy she’d been right all along.

  But the feeling didn’t come.

  “How in the hell did I prove you right?” He leaned back, once again settling his arm where it almost touched hers.

  And once again she scooted away. “You said you were good-looking.”

  “I am.” Edward lifted his brows. “Admitting it doesn’t make me full of myself. It means I’ve got eyes.”

  “That sounds an awful lot like arrogance to me.” Alex slammed the side of her fork into the eggs on her plate.

  Edward leaned closer, taking back the bit of room she put between them. “I make perfect eggs too.”

  “See?” She scooped up a pile, feeling less guilty about eating them. “Arrogant.”

  “Are you arrogant if you admit you’re beautiful?”

  The bite of eggs hovered in front of her mouth. “We’re not talking about me.”

  “Turnabout’s fair play, Al.” Edward stabbed one of his eggs with his fork and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. “Acting like you don’t know you’re physically beautiful would just be dumb.”

  She knew she was beautiful. All her sisters did too. It was part of the reason they lived like they did for so long.

  Six beautiful sisters hidden from the world was much more interesting than six ugly sisters tucked in the mountains. It made people want to seek them out. Treat them like animals in a zoo.

  So they hid.

  “Owning what you are doesn’t make you arrogant, Al.” Edward grabbed another toast. “Thinking it makes you better than someone else does, though.” He bit into the toast, dark eyes widening. He gave her an easy smile. “I think the raspberry is my favorite too.”

  FOUR

  “WHY WOULD YOU think it’s my favorite?”

  Edward leaned forward, lifting up the edge of the ice pack on her ankle. “It was the emptiest.” He moved the towel keeping the freezing cold from sitting directly on her skin. “I think it’s starting to swell.”

  “Don’t you have things to do?” Alex pulled her ankle away, tucking it under a pillow. “Someone else to torture?”

  He smiled. “Making you breakfast is torture?” Edward relaxed into the soft cushions of Alex’s sofa. “Most women would think it was sexy.”

  “I’m not most women.”

  He’d been working hard not to laugh at her all morning, starting when she parked her car right against the camper, but now he couldn’t help it. “That is perfectly clear.”

  Alex was nothing like any other woman he’d met. The equivalent of a designer bag full of piss and vinegar.

  She took no shit from anyone. Didn’t pretend to be fine when she wasn’t.

  And he’d bet his teeth she never went with the flow. Never tried to be agreeable just to avoid an argument.

  He
r authenticity was refreshing.

  And contagious, apparently.

  “If you thought that would offend me then you’re wrong.” Alex ate more of the eggs on her plate.

  “Why would it offend you that I notice you’re different?” Edward stretched one arm out across the back of the couch. “Different isn’t always bad.”

  “Different is never bad.” Alex smirked as she corrected him. “It’s just different.”

  “Fair enough.” Edward watched her squirm, trying to get away from where his arm rested behind her. “Something wrong, Al?”

  “No.” She stopped moving. “I’m fine.”

  “You keep saying that, and it’s making me wonder what it takes to make you not fine.” He glanced down at the ankle she was still trying to hide. “Because I’m pretty sure that ankle needs to be looked at.”

  “I’m always fine.” Her chin lifted. “And my ankle is fine.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Edward pulled his arm free from the spot she kept eyeing. “You done with your plate?” He didn’t wait for her answer, taking the empty dish from her hands and stacking it on his. “What do you need from your office?”

  “Nothing.” Alex worked her feet to the floor. “I’m going back to work.” She tried to stand up but immediately fell back to her ass.

  “Seems like you’re not.” Edward rinsed the plates in the sink before loading them in the empty dishwasher. “Seems like you’re working from home today, Al.”

  “I’m not.” She stood back up, this time keeping all her weight on one foot. “I’m going back to my office.”

  “You’re stubborn as hell, aren’t you?” Edward let out a breath, trying to sound frustrated. “Come on.” He turned his back to her. “Grab on.”

  “No freaking way.” Alex pressed her lips into a frown, shaking her head. “Not happening.”

  “Then we can do it the other way.” Edward turned to face her, making a move like he was about to scoop her up again.

  Alex grabbed his shoulders, pushing against him. “Don’t you dare.”

  His eyes accidentally moved to the spot where she touched him.

  Alex immediately yanked her hands away. “I can do it myself.”