Page 29 of Thank you, Next
A lump formed in Alex’s throat. That was maybe the nicest thing he’d ever said to her. And after having him touch her in the most tender way he’d ever touched her—the most intentional way he’d ever touched her—she wasn’t sure what to say. She stepped back out of his space, the fight gone from her.
“You’ll really go with me?”
Will looked down, but she could tell that he was fighting not to smile. “If you insist on doing this, then sure. But I have one condition.”
Alex had been in negotiations with a lot of hard-ass lawyers before. She’d sat across courtrooms and conference rooms, facing off against guys who thought she was nothing but a cream puff because she was pretty and had a recognizable family name. When they looked at her like a confection and not a honey badger ready to rip their faces off, that’s when she’d always known she’d won.
But with Will, she’d made the mistake that those geezers had—underestimating him. “What’s the condition?”
He looked up at her, and the vulnerable look was back. She wasn’t sure if it was genuine or if he was using it to manipulate the situation. Maybe he was going to put a condition so onerous on teaming up that she would agree to halt the entire initiative. Sometimes spouses did that at the end of the divorce process, trying to win their spouse back by inserting a poison pill into the final agreement.
Alex wouldn’t have guessed that Will would do that, but she wouldn’t have guessed that she’d find herself alone with him, in his apartment, wanting to kiss him after all these years of trying to pretend that he didn’t exist to her in that way.
She took another step back before she did anything stupid, like try to taste his mouth. When did his lips start to look as tasty as his food? Maybe she shouldn’t have made fun of him when GQ named him America’s Sexiest Chef after his Instagram Live videos blew up.
“We have to go interview my wife.”
“Your ex-wife, you mean?”
Will just grunted. Alex didn’t want to talk to the woman, but she didn’t even really know April all that well. Although April had started dating Will shortly after he’d started apprenticing in his first kitchen, Alex hadn’t taken the time to get to know her. At first, she’d assumed that April was just a convenient girlfriend for him to have. He’d worked long hours, and she’d been available. But once their relationship had stretched for more than a year, Alex had deliberately ignored April because she didn’t want to know anything about a person who could snag Will’s romantic affection.
Now, after they were divorced, Alex was curious. If this attraction to Will didn’t go away, they’d have to do something about it eventually. Otherwise, it would turn ugly and make their run-ins when they crossed paths because of Lexi complicated.
“Fine.” Alex stuck her hand out so they could shake on it.
Will raised his eyebrows before extending his. Alex knew she’d made a mistake when their skin made contact and she felt as though she’d gotten a shock—but just to her lower abdomen.
Him having this kind of effect on her after all these years was concerning, but she had the perfect person for them to track down, one who would make her weird pants feelings for Will pale in comparison.
“Who are we talking to first?”
“James Faherghty is having a party at his house on Saturday night. I thought we’d go there next.”
Will’s face dropped.
THIRTEEN
Will hadn’t been able to ignore Alex’s involvement with James Faherghty—the teen star turned grown-up movie idol—because it was all over the gossip blog that his girlfriend at the time had been obsessed with. Will had hated the guy on sight. Probably because there was nothing wrong with him. He was wildly handsome, filthy rich, and shockingly well-adjusted. If Will was into dudes, he would definitely date James, but that didn’t change the fact that he hated the guy.
And James had been crazy about Alex for about six months when she was eighteen. After Will had tried and failed to let Alex down easy, he hadn’t heard about her dating anyone else for a while. And this was not for lack of trying to pump Lexi for information. Come to think of it, that was probably how Lexi got the idea that he and Alex were fated mates or some shit.
But the summer before Alex started college, she’d gotten a fake ID, used it to get into some Hollywood club, and met James Faherghty. The dude had been mobbed everywhere he went, even picking up beers at the Bristol Farms. He’d just been cast as a superhero in a major franchise and was followed by paparazzi even going to take a leak. The paps caught James and Alex on the night of their meet-cute at a valet stand. He’d been smooth about asking for her number—smoother than Will had ever been in his life. He’d touched Alex’s elbow, said something that made her laugh, put her number into his phone, and trotted back to his car.
Thinking about Faherghty touching Alex still made Will grind his teeth, but he couldn’t say anything about it. He’d rejected Alex—for her own good, but he’d still rejected her. She could date whomever she wanted. And, for that summer, they were a tabloid golden couple.
People on gossip blogs had even gotten it wrong and said they were engaged once. One of the servers mentioned it when he was on the fish station, and he’d had to go into the walk-in and take several deep breaths. He hadn’t cried, but it was a close one.
Actually, April had found him there and made a joke about the chef de cuisine that had gotten him out of his head about Alex. It was the first time he’d noticed the woman who would later become his wife.
He should probably think about that more. But later, not when he was currently hoping that Alex’s friend Jane wouldn’t get them killed on the way to James Faherghty’s Mulholland Drive mansion.
“I can’t believe you talked me into going to this party with you. His agent is going to think that I’m trying to poach him,” Jane hissed as she took a curve in the road on two wheels. “As if I would try to poach the whitest actor on the planet.”
“He’s actually really great. I’m excited for you all to meet him.” Will wanted to throw up listening to Alex talk about her ex like that. “And he’s more of a spicy white than white-white, you know?”
“There was that photo of him getting his hair cut at the Dominican barber,” Jane mused. “And he does wear a chain.”
“He also dated me,” Alex said. “And the woman he married in Vegas the weekend after we broke up was also biracial.”