Page 1 of How the Other Half Lives

“You need to tell me more about this mystery man of yours, Vance. If you expect the family to meet him, we’re going to need a little more than just it’s a ‘guy I’ve been seeing.’”

I sighed and resisted the urge to run my hand through my hair. That was a nervous tic I had long since coached myself into not doing through years of hard work. It wasn’t something that ever looked good to the opposing side while defending a client during a trial, and I had already styled my hair for my dinner date and didn’t wish to have to redo it.

I sat down on the white leather sofa, my phone pinched between my shoulder and my ear so my hands were free. “I’ve told you quite a bit about him, Elain. Haven’t you been listening? I’ve talked to you nearly every day since he and I met.”

“I guess I just didn’t realize how serious it was,” she said.

“So you weren’t listening?” I was pretty sure I had talked about Alex ad nauseam to my sister. Our close friendship surpassed that of any others I had. She was my confidant and critic—when I needed it.

“I was, but I thought he was just a hookup! What changed? Is he a plumber or something? I can’t recall what his profession is.”

It was true, my relationship with Alex had started as just a hookup. But it was so much more now.

“He’s one of the maintenance workers in my apartment complex. I called to get a replacement for my sink or a part of my sink or something since it was leaking. And he was the person who showed up to do the work.”

“How’d that turn into a hookup? Sounds like the beginning of a porno Jake and I watched last week.”

I could have gone without knowing that my sister and her husband were watching porn together. Good for them, but I didn’t need to know about it. “I felt bad that he was working after hours, and I ordered food. We enjoyed it.” That first night hadn’t turned into anything more. But it had been fun. Alex had reluctantly sat down and had dinner with me. I had made it past his gruff defenses.

A few days later, when I saw him again as I was carrying a pizza, I convinced him to join me. Since he wasn’t on the clock that time, I was able to convince him to stay the night. Not that it was a hardship.

Since then, we had been pretty regularly hooking up and having dinner together at my apartment. One morning, that had been coffee together when he had arrived early and I was working from home.

It had been two months since we’d met.

Tonight, though, would be the real deal. I had convinced him to go on a date with me and actually go out to dinner. A friend of mine was having their grand opening of their new restaurant, and I had a reservation for us.

“You have reservations at Blake’s restaurant tonight?”

“Yes. Alex has no idea where we’re going. Not that he would care. He is just going to complain about the portion sizes the whole time. We’ll probably get takeout on the way home.”

I was pretty sure Alex had some concerns about some perceived economic differences between us, being that I was a lawyer and he was a handyman, but none of that bothered me. His concerns didn’t make it easy for me to broach the other subject I needed to talk with him about, but we would get there.

“Listen, you and our parents get to meet him this weekend. He agreed to come over for dinner on Sunday.”

“Did you tell him it was a family dinner?”

“I’ll mention that tonight.” I most certainly hadn’t told him it was a family dinner when we talked about it the other day. I didn’t want to scare him off. I hoped that tonight during our dinner at the restaurant I could bring it up and make sure he understood that I was serious about us. It was something that started as just an attraction. The sex had been fantastic, but the conversation was what had me hooked. He and I connected on a level that was out of this world. We talked for hours. We shared jokes throughout the day, even though both of us were working and should have been focused on that.

The knock at the door pulled me out of my daydreaming about my man.

“Listen, he’s here. I’ve got to go. You’ll get to meet him Sunday.”

“Okay, but tell him he’s in for a hell of a hazing.”

I laughed. I knew she was only a little bit serious. She would behave and so would my parents. Mostly. This was the first time I was introducing them to a guy, and they weren’t going to try and scare him off. They’d welcome him with open arms just as we had for my sister’s husband when we’d first met him. Minor hazing just to make sure they had a sense of humor.

“Haha,” I said and hung up the phone.

I grinned as I opened the door and Alex stepped inside.

“I can’t believe I’m wearing this,” he said.

I stepped aside so he could make it through to the open area of the apartment.

He wore a pair of black pants with a white button-up and a black jacket that looked just fine on him. The suit did wonders for his broad shoulders. I wanted to slip my hands underneath the notched lapel and push it off his shoulders.

“The suit? Clearly you have one—”

He shot me a glare, but there wasn’t a lot of heat behind it. “I do own nice clothes.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know you do. And you really don’t need to be that dressed up.”

“You’re wearing a suit.”

“I wore this to work all day,” I said. “I told you anything was fine.”

“Really? How about if I show up in my denim jumpsuit I wear when I work on my truck.”

Talk about the start to a porno… “That sounds amazing. That’s how most of my favorite fantasies about you start.”

He laughed, the lines around his eyes crinkling. “I’ll keep that in mind for later. I’m sad that I didn’t bring it.”

“You worry too much.”

Alex stepped into the living room and gazed down at the marble chess table tucked in the corner of the room.

“This isn’t our game,” he said.

I came to his side. “No, my nephew was over on Monday and wanted to play. I have a picture of our game, and I wrote out where our pieces were.”

Chess was one of the things Alex and I had in common. Almost since the first day of him visiting we had been playing. We were equally matched, and our skills grew with each game. We’d played countless games, some of them lasting weeks.

“You’re lucky I trust you.”

I scoffed. “Like you don’t take a picture of the board before you leave.”

“That’s so I can study it in my free time.”

“And so you can be sure I don’t cheat.”

Alex eyes narrowed as he gazed at the board. It was his thinking face, and I was intensely familiar with it. He grabbed a pad of paper and scribbled out a note. “You’re nephew is the black pieces, right?”

I nodded.

He tucked the piece of paper under the board on the black side so that just the corner was peeking out.

“Make sure he gets that.”

I crossed my arms. “That’s not fair. Why don’t I get advice?”

“How do you know it’s advice?” He smirked. His focus was no longer on the board and was entirely on me. A shiver went down my spine.

“I know you too well.” I knew what the heat in his eyes meant right then also. I had been anticipating it.

He tossed his jacket over the chair. “What time is the reservation?”

“Seven.”

“And the place is within walking distance, right? Why did you ask me to get here so early?”

I waggled my eyebrows, stepping in closer and pressing a kiss to his lips. He softened for me immediately. Alex was unapologetic in his grumpy ways, and I loved that about him. I doubt that he knew just how much and how deeply I felt for him. He showed me how he felt in little ways. I hoped someday those little ways would come out verbally, but until then I would make do.

“Well, I figured since our reservation was late, we could have some pre-dinner festivities.”

He looked at my hair. “We’re going to mess that up.”

“Promise?” I asked with a raised brow.

His hand slid behind me and gripped my ass. “I guarantee it,” he said.