In my Arms Tonight (NYC Singles Book 2) (22 page)

Although her independent self rebelled at the admission, Alex filled up some deep need inside her. Some need she hadn’t even known existed until now. Maybe he’d created that need in her.

When the clock struck noon, she’d still not brushed her teeth.

On Thursday the security in his apartment building called Alex to let him know that there was a young woman to see him.

He wasn’t expecting anybody at nine pm, but after the steamy phone conversation he’d shared with Kat a few hours ago, he wouldn’t blame her if she showed up.

He bounced up when the bell rang, but the face he saw was one he didn’t recognize.

A young girl in capri leggings and a tank top smiled at him. He couldn’t identify her. The muscular structure of her arms and legs suggested that she engaged in some sort of athletic pursuit.

“Alex?” she asked, wedging herself in the space between the door and the doorjamb.

Startled by his sudden closeness to her, Alex took a step back. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar. He had the feeling that he’d heard it somewhere before.

“And you’re?”

“Keira, Kat’s sister.” Inviting herself into his apartment, she absorbed the fluttering drapes, the framed artworks on the walls and red chaise lounge, bewildered. “This place’s cool.”

“How did you get my address?” Alex followed her in, letting the door shut itself.

“My friend’s a hacker.” Her eyes glowed at the plasma TV, which was turned to CNN. Without asking him, she picked up the remote like it was hers and changed channels. “I was bored, so I decided to come down here and hang out with you.”

Alex avoided the temptation to roll his eyes. “Me? This is the first time I’ve ever seen your face.”

“It’s never too early for you to get acquainted with your future sister-in-law. I’m going to be the one taking your side when Kat and you have fights. Treat me well and you can count on my support in the future.” Keira put her hands on her stomach and winced. “Geez. I’m famished after that long plane ride. Let’s see what you’ve got in your fridge.”

Alex was too busy absorbing what she’d said to get her in line. Sister-in-law? What exactly was Kat telling her sister about them?

Ignoring him, Keira raided his refrigerator. She tossed around stuff, disregarding up the precise order in which he organized things. “Milks, eggs, broccoli … don’t you have anything crunchy or fatty? Ice cream? Chocolate?”

“Please don’t mix the milk cartons with the beer cans.” Alex came and stood behind her and his forehead creased at the rearrangement Keira had done in his refrigerator. He liked his things in order.

She extracted a six-pack from his fridge. “Let’s drink. I feel like drinking.”

Alex didn’t waste a second in relieving her of the six-pack and putting it out of her reach. Blocking the refrigerator with his body, he steered her in the direction of the TV. “No way. You’re underage.”

He might’ve had a wild youth, but he wasn’t letting any other kid walk down that path. Especially when that kid happened to be Kat’s sister and, ahem, his possible future sister-in-law.

“Don’t be such a stickler for rules.” Keira pouted. “What’s the fun in being with a grown-up if I don’t even get to drink? By the way, I think I’ll like the taste of beer. It’s supposed to be refreshing, isn’t it?”

She didn’t sound like she’d had alcohol before, but it was better to confirm. “You’ve never drunk before.”

Her eyelashes angled downwards. “I’ve never had a reason to drink before.”

“What’s the reason now?” Alex restored his refrigerator to the orderly state it had been in before Hurricane Keira had torn through it.

Keira busied herself checking out the contents of his kitchen cabinets. Her search yielded fruit and nut granola. Disappointed, she reconciled herself to munching handfuls of it.

Alex was too polite to start on her behavior, so he held it in when she jumped onto his couch and spilled granola on his Persian rug. He told himself he was planning to get it dry-cleaned anyway.

“Woo! This is fun.” She bounced on the cushions. Changing channels, she motioned him to sit beside her. “Come here. We need to be bonding.”

“Weren’t you playing in the Australian Open?” Alex asked, leery. He recalled Kat mentioning something like that.

“I lost, so I’m back early.” She chowed through the granola faster.

“Is that why you wanted to drink earlier? Because you’re upset over losing?”

“Drowning sorrows in alcohol always works in movies.” Keira extended a hand over the back of the chaise lounge.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in real life.” Alex spoke from experience. If alcohol, cigarettes and drugs worked, he would never have been sad in his life.

“That’s a bummer,” Keira said.

“Do your parents know you’re here?” Alex asked. He didn’t know a lot about Kat’s parents but he assumed that they were going to worry if Keira didn’t show up at their place.

“Relax. My flight landed at JFK two hours ago. Nobody knows I’m back. And they don’t need to know until tomorrow.” Keira stretched her legs over, leaving dusty prints on the red velvet upholstery. His annoyance meter spiked by five points.

“Where’re you gonna stay until tomorrow?”

“Here. Where else?” She said it like it was a foregone conclusion.

Millennials and their sense of entitlement.

“You’re not staying here.” Alex used his firmest tone.

Keira’s cheeks, which were a lot chubbier than Kat’s, twisted into a questioning pose. “Why not? You have a lot of extra space and nobody’s around.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to let you use the space.”

“You’re already letting me use your space.” She pointed at herself sitting in his living room.

Since Alex knew he’d lose an argument with a teen, he took another route.

“I’ll call Kat. You can stay over at her place.” Stern-faced, he crossed his arms in front of his chest to let her know that he wasn’t open to compromise.

“Yeah? Call her, then. Let’s see if she comes and gets me.”

Without sparing another moment, Alex picked up the phone that he’d set on the ottoman and tapped contacts.

Worry and anxiety caught up to Keira. “Wait… I’ve changed my mind. I’ll go on my own. I’ll go… as soon as I catch up on
Scandal
first. I’ve missed this show so much. It’s only thirty minutes long. Please?”

Her puppy eyes came out in full force. Alex balked, then relented, pressing himself into the opposite end of the couch. Stick a sad girl in his face and he couldn’t help but feel bad and want to remedy the situation. Kat was right about his savior complex.

“Okay. But you’re leaving in thirty minutes.”

“Scout’s promise.” Keira put a palm over her heart.

Alex wasn’t a sitcom-watcher but the show drew him in within the first five minutes. It wasn’t even a sitcom, really. It was a drama. With an intriguing plot.

When the show took its first break, Keira yawned, picked granola out of her brown hair and looked to him.

“By the way, we sorta skimped on the etiquette earlier. I’m Keira Cullen.”

“Alex.” Alex held out his hand for a handshake, but Keira jumped the gun and coiled around him in a bone-crushing hug.

She patted his back in approval. “Strong shoulders. You’ll be good at doing housework. I can tell. Well, that’s one problem sorted.”

Alex wasn’t sure how to respond. But he didn’t have to, because she continued to babble.

“You’re slightly older than I thought, so I was concerned about your physical vitality, but you’re sturdy. I read in
Seventeen
that most relationships end because of poor sex. You and Kat don’t have a problem in that department, do you?” Folding her legs in front of her, Keira regarded him over her knees.

“Uh…” Alex was speechless. He could feel heat snaking up to his face. Air conditioning hummed in the background, but the air wasn’t cold enough to freeze his embarrassment.

Was she seriously asking him about his sex life?

His mind groped for a response that was age-appropriate and curt at the same time, but before he had a chance to respond, she’d hopped onto the next thing.

This girl needed to get herself checked for ADHD.

“You’re watching
CNN Newsroom
? That’s what Kat watches everyday, too.” The click of her tongue let him know she didn’t think that was a good thing.

“Kat and I have a lot in common,” Alex said, dryly.

“Like?”

“We both sing
Little Big Town
songs in the shower.”

“Wow, you sing songs in the shower with her?” Her knees grazed her chin “And here I thought you guys weren’t serious.”

Alex brought his hands to his hips. “Then what was that about being my sister-in-law earlier?”

“It was a joke.” Sticking her tongue out playfully, Keira winked. “But it could be serious, depending on what you do in the future.”

The return of
Scandal
on the screen jerked his gaze away from Keira. Alex was slightly embarrassed by how quickly he was getting addicted to this show.

The clock ticked away, advancing menacingly, as temporary stillness and ads buzzing on TV filled his ears.

“I wish I was as smart as Olivia.” Keira sighed, a few minutes later. “Then if my pro tennis career doesn’t pan out, I could at least go to college.”

Alex, feeling the need to counsel, placed a hand on her head. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve only lost one match. As long as you enjoy playing, I think it’s worth sticking to it.”

“Sports is competitive, though. I can’t just turn up and be happy. I have to win. I have to keep winning, or I won’t have a career.” Keira frowned.

“Politics is the same,” Alex gathered granola droppings from the couch. “Unless I win the next election, I don’t have a job.”

“Right? That’s so stressful. I like playing, but the pressure to win every game is too much. I can’t enjoy the match when I’m so stressed about winning.” Tucking a cushion under her chin, Keira tightened her arms around it.

Alex could understand. He felt disillusioned too, on days when it seemed like all that mattered was victory.

“Don’t let the pressure get to you,” he said. “You can only do things at your pace.”

“Yeah.” Keira yawned, her focus now back on S
candal
. “Doesn’t Olivia remind you of Kat?”

“In what way?” Alex felt his butt go numb under him. He’d been sitting for too long.

“She has that same sad, single woman vibe about her.”

Alex couldn’t help but defend Kat. “No, she doesn’t.”

Scratching her chin, Keira said, “Not anymore, because she’s not single now, but she used to. And she used to be really disagreeable, too. My mom told me that there was this one time in fifth grade when she got into a fight with a guy because he made fun of her political opinions.” Keira threw her hands up in the air. “Yes, she had political opinions at ten.”

“I’m not surprised.” Alex smiled.

“She also wanted to go to Paris when she was in college. But she was on a tight budget, so she couldn’t. She’s never been to Paris.” Keira crossed her legs and although she wasn’t looking at him, Alex knew she expected an answer.

“Paris,” he echoed, surprised. Recently, he’d been thinking of taking a break to unwind after the chaos of the elections had passed. Perhaps, he could go to Paris with Kat. “That’ll be a great place to visit on Valentine’s day.”

“So I’m asking because I’m curious...” Keira’s eyes glittered with hope. Taking his hands between hers, she closed her eyes. “Are you going to marry my sister?”

Uncurling from the posture he was in, Alex swept his hand over his head. “Your sister doesn’t want to get married.”

“Can’t you change her mind?”

Although he was touched by the earnestness of Keira’s request, his mind was made up. “I don’t want to.”

“Why? You don’t like her? I mean, I know she’s full of faults. She’s critical, has a temper, is too ambitious, but she is… shit, I just realized that I don’t have anything good to say about her.”

Alex finished it for Keira. “But she’s secure, confident, intelligent, caring and I happen to like her temper.”