More Than Friends (New Beginnings - Book 1)

Chapter 4

"Alexia, you're... refreshing!" he continuous. "What I mean is I like you as a person, a friend. I'm too fucked up in the romantic department to want something with someone like you."

"Someone like me?" I frown, his comment hitting just too close.

"You have 'innocent' written all over your face. I bet you want to be married and have two and a half kids before you hit your thirties." He crosses his arms and leans by the door.

"And what's wrong with wanting that?" I raise my chin because that's what I had planned with Greg until some weeks ago.

That's exactly what I want or wanted... I'm not even sure anymore.

"Nothing, really! I didn't mean it as an insult. It's just that it's not in the cards for me." He shrugs, and I wonder if there's more to him than his easy smiles.

"How do you know? Maybe you just didn't find the right girl."

"Why, is that an offer?" He lowers his voice in a way that makes my entire body shiver.

"Don't be a jerk." I head to my door, but I don't have time to open it, because what he says next stops me right in my tracks.

"I did. I found the right girl. But I lost her... so not in the cards. I don't believe there's another one in this world for me. "

Surprised, I turn to him and he meets my gaze, only his eyes are so sad my heart hurts for him. "I'm sorry," I whisper, with a sudden urge to hold him.

"Yeah, she died five years ago and my only focus now is on raising our son," he says, frowning as if surprised to be saying so much about him.

"You have a son?" I ask, once again taken aback. He seems young, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, just a couple of years older than me.

"Yeah. Nate. He's six..." He smiles and for the first time since I met him, I think I see a genuine smile on his face.

"What about Clare?" I blurt the question without thinking.

Yeah! Maybe she bothers me more than I'm ready to admit to myself.

"What about her? She knows what to expect from me, I know what to expect from her... " He says.

"Isn't it bad for your son to see you changing from woman to woman?" I keep vomiting the words.

"I don't go from woman to woman. Clare and I have a deal, so don't go thinking I'm hurting her feelings and stuff," he says, his eyes so hard I look away.

"I see..." I whisper, not knowing what else to say. This guy is totally different from any other guy I've met. 

"Alexia..." He starts, but I interrupt him.

"Well, I'll get going then. Thanks for getting my car. I feel bad you paid for it when I was also responsible for the accident. I'd like to pay-" 

"Alexia," he says, walking towards me, "it doesn't mean I don't know how to be a good friend. You're new to the city... I- I could show you around..." He lets out a short puff of air, his eyes searching mine.

"Thanks, I don't need your pity." I don't know why I say that, but every time I think I have him figured out, he shows me a side of him I don't know how to deal with.

Or maybe I am the one not understanding my own feelings here.

"God, who said anything about pity, woman?" he says, his head shaking as he stares at me for a moment. "Have you had breakfast?"

"What?" I ask.

"Breakfast? That meal you have in the morning?"

"I had some coffee."