Just One Touch: A Black Alcove Novel (The Black Alcove Series Book 3) by Jami Wagner Read Free Book Online Page A

acting so
standoffish before today, I smile at Alex. I expect her to be happy
about Beth’s comment. Well, I guess I expected anything other than
watery eyes.
    “Are you okay?” I
ask, getting up to kneel in front of her. I grab her hand as she
waves the other in front of her eyes.
    “I’m sorry, I don’t
know what came over me.” She looks at Beth. “So your friend Sara,
the one you mentioned earlier who owns the bar, she’s having a
baby?”
    “Yep.”
    “Wow.” Alex sounds
a bit choked up. “That’s awesome.” As if it’s an
afterthought, she congratulates my sister, too. Kelsey thanks her but
is now watching Alex with an odd expression. The same odd one Ethan
had earlier. It’s a mixture of shock and happiness with a little
bit of unease that does nothing but leave me worried that my family
and friends are going to scare away the first girl I feel something
for other than just wanting to get her into bed.
    Luckily for me, Alex
doesn’t notice, and we manage to go another hour on the boat
without my sister or Ethan asking her something personal. When she
gets in Beth’s car and they drive away, I feel like I’m in high
school all over again, counting down the hours till our first date.

Chapter Four
    Alexis
    I’m starving, and
since I’ve been keeping busy with making new friends, I still have
no food in my apartment. I know that Conner invited me over for
dinner, but today was mentally exhausting. So much information was
loaded on me that I have to keep repeating it to make sure I have it
all straight. Conner is my neighbor, and somewhere between despising
him for forty-eight hours then spending the day on the water with
him, I’ve already developed a crush on him, despite the fact he
also happens to be best friends with my brother, Logan. Logan and
Sara own the bar that Conner and Beth work at. And I’m going to be
an aunt.
    My eyes immediately
tear up. Logan went through all the same things I did and yet, here
he is, creating the family we never had. If he can overcome the way
we were raised, then I can too. I just don’t know how. Logan would
be the perfect person to ask, but now he’s moving on. What will
happen if I just come barging back into his life bringing up the past
that he’s possibly happily forgotten by now?
    I slide on a pair of
slippers as I pass the last two boxes that I should be unpacking
instead of reading another book. I open the fridge and stare. How, of
all things, have I not made time to go to the store? As much as I’m
thrilled over the dinner invitation, especially knowing I’m not
coming between anyone, I’m almost too worn from the day to be good
company. I should tell him I can’t make it and go pick something up
from the store, but that smell of garlic bread starting to waft
across the hall has me craving spaghetti.
    Conner’s door is
ajar. I hesitantly take a step toward it, rethinking skipping out on
dinner since he clearly cooked, when the very guy himself comes
through the building’s front door instead of his own. He’s caught
off guard to find me standing in my doorway.
    “Hey,” he says with
such a lazy grin that I find myself smiling back too. “Were you
looking for me?” He’s wearing a simple gray pair of sweats and a
plain t-shirt. Sans shoes.
    “Yes, I was actually
just going to step out for some groceries when it occurred to me that
I don’t know where the closest store is.”
    His chuckle is deep as
he closes the door behind him. “Well, there is actually a place
within walking distance, but it’s getting late and they don’t
stay open past 10. If you leave now you’ll probably make it just
fine, but you’d miss the awesome dinner I made.”
    “Oh.”
    I feel his hot gaze
wash over me as he steps around me. “I made pasta. How about we eat
dinner tonight and then tomorrow we can go to the store?”
    “We?”
    “Yeah,” he answers,
walking into his apartment. He starts talking again, which means I
have to follow him inside. “I