She smiled back, a small grateful smile. "No thank you."
"Well why'd you come to a bar if you didn't mean to drink?" he teased her. Her body language still suggested she was interested in him, and he was not one to give up so easily.
"I'm meeting someone," she said shyly. To Alec, she seemed flattered and unused to the attention he was paying her, which was inconceivable to him because he found her very attractive and approachable. Maybe even a little gullible. If he pushed hard enough, he felt certain he could talk her into anything. "I'm early," she explained further, when Alec didn't say anything.
He snapped out of his musings, and upon seeing her tentative smile, decided that she came by her naiveté honestly. It wasn't an act. He liked that. "Well, how 'bout a drink while you wait?" he asked again.
An hour later, the alcohol had loosened her tongue and her inhibitions, and she and Alec were in a full-out flirt fest.
"I thought you had to meet someone," he said, leaning his strong jaw on a fist. She jerked his hand from under his head to read his watch and swore when she saw the time.
"I've got to go," she said apologetically as she stood. "It was nice meeting you..."she shook his hand.
"Alec."
"Alec," she repeated, still holding his hand. "It was nice meeting you."
"You...already said that," he said, and she ducked her head in embarrassment.
"I have to," she motioned over her shoulder.
"...to go, yeah," he said, dropping her hand. "See ya around." It occurred to Alec as she briskly walked away that he forgot to ask her name. He turned back to the bar and tried to figure out why that mattered to him. He only knew the names of a handful of women out of the many he had seduced over the years. Or who had seduced him, he reminded himself, He wasn't an animal. No, Alec wanted to know her name because she was nice, genuinely nice, and that wasn't so common these days. It didn't mean he was falling for her. He had given up Ordinaries anyway. A ringing sound pulled his attention away from self-reflection and he answered his phone monosyllabically: "Yeah."
"Alec, it's Max."
Max's behavior was getting weirder by the hour, and Alec grinned to himself, gearing up for some light-hearted banter. "Maxie! You missed Logan tonight. Poor guy looks absolutely dejected without you."
"Shut up," she snapped. "I have a favor to ask."
"Oh now Maxie, you know that'll cost you something."
"Can you not be an ass for two days?" It was obviously a rhetorical question, so Alec didn't say anything. When Max didn't continue yelling at him, Alec decided maybe it wasn't so rhetorical.
"Two days?" he asked.
"Give or take."
"What's the deal?"
"Logan's cousin is in town and needs protection."
"What'd he do?" Alec asked, annoyed at the prospect of playing bodyguard to an Ordinary just because Max and Logan had relationship issues.
"She. And she didn't do anything. Logan's family are just those kinds of people."
"Whatever. Is she hot?"
"Alec," Max's tone was pleading. "Please don't." Alec sighed. "Besides, Logan said she was fat. Not your type."
"None of them are," Alec mumbled.
"What?"
"Never mind. I'll do it. Later." Alec flipped the phone shut and looked around for Logan. Spying him in a corner booth, he went over, stopping abruptly when he recognized the girl from the bar sitting across from Logan. Her jaw was dropped in guilty surprise as she saw Alec approaching.
"Alec?" Logan's question was almost a greeting.
"Hey, Logan," Alec said brightly. "I was just coming over to talk to you about your cousin, but since you're busy, I'll come back later." He turned and stalked away, pissed that Logan would move on his girl. Ok, granted that things between Alec and Logan had been strained pretty much since they met, what with Alec trying to kill him and all and Max claiming that she and Alec were lovers, but that didn't excuse...
"Alec," Logan called after him. Alec paused, thinking the situation through. "This is my--"
"Your cousin!" Alec exclaimed with a wide smile as he turned around.
"Eve," Logan said.
"We've met," Alec and Eve said at the same time. Logan looked from one to the other, thoughtful and wary.
"Forgive me if I didn't recognize the family resemblance. Anyway, Max said your cousin was fat," Alec continued, looking back to Logan.
Eve blushed. "I had a few extra pounds as a kid," she said, the hurt evident in her voice. Alec winced, an almost imperceptible tightening of his eyelids that Logan thought he imagined seeing on Alec's face. Did she have to be so damn sincere all the damn time? What was wrong with him?
Alec turned his head to face her and smiled faintly. "And look at you now." It didn't even begin to make things right, but it was the best he could do. He didn't apologize because he didn't regret. He didn't regret because you could never take things back anyway. He pulled up a chair while Logan briefed him. Eve needed protection to and from her classes. She understood her danger and wouldn't go out otherwise. Besides, Logan would come see her, too, when he could.
"Max said she'd be able to take over the job in a couple days," Logan finished.
"Fine," Alec said. "I'll be at the bar. Let me know when you're ready to leave."
"What about surveillance?" Logan asked, barely masking anger toward Alec's attitude.
"Logan," Alec said, returning his chair to its original table, "It's me. I'm always watching the door."