All of Me by Ann Christopher

Author:Ann Christopher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blue Iris Press

Chapter 17

“Hey,” Alyssa said warily when she opened her front door for Isaiah at around seven that night, her breath making clouds of steam in the night’s chilly air. She looked good enough to eat in her faded jeans and long-sleeved top, but she didn’t look like she was headed to work anytime soon. “What’re you doing here?”

“What’re you doing here, is the question.”

He wanted to yank his testy words back the second they hit the airwaves, and that was before she commenced with the glaring, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms. He shifted uncomfortably, adjusting his grip on the pizza box in one hand and the bottle of wine in the other.

“I live here,” she said.

“Yeah, well, you’re supposed to be at the restaurant right now. Making my life a living hell while I try to enjoy a quiet and well-cooked meal in peace.”

A glimmer of amusement lit her expression. “I’m allowed to have a night off every now and then. If you don’t like your mother’s personnel decisions, take it up with her.”

“It’s not the night off I object to. It’s the fact that you didn’t think to tell anyone about it.”

“It never came up.” She made a production of tapping her chin with her forefinger and thinking hard. “And who in this whole wide world, other than your mother, cares whether I show up for work or not?”

A glare-off ensued. He’d known he’d have to eat some serious crow if he wanted to get back into her good graces, but he’d hoped to at least make it inside the house before he had to pull out his knife and fork.

“I’d like some warning if I’m going to have to train a whole new server.”

He almost got her that time. Her lips twitched, but she caught herself and hit him with a stern look instead as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms.

“Sorry for the inconvenience to your life. And thanks for stopping by to chastise me in person. I appreciate the effort—”

“My motto is ‘excellence in everything.’”

“—but it’s freezing out here, and I don’t make a habit of spending time with people who show up on my doorstep without calling first.” She stepped back and reached for the door. “Have a great night.”

He took a quick step forward, propelled by his rabid hunger to spend more time with this woman any way he could. The house seemed so warm and inviting, with a golden glow from the lamps inside and the faint smell of wood smoke that promised a crackling fire. Not to mention the dulcet tones of John Legend drifting out to greet him.

Most of all, he’d missed her.

He could tell himself that she was a near stranger and that they had zero standing in each other’s lives all he wanted to, but it wouldn’t matter to his aching chest. Alyssa Banks had snuck in and carved a place for herself in his brain, and he wanted...

He needed...

He hoped...

Fuck.

He didn’t know what was going on.

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