Push the Envelope (4 page)

“Alexa, babe. Didn’t mean to set you off. I jumped
to a conclusion when we met. One that was clearly as wrong as thinking you were
the flight attendant when I got on the plane today. I don’t often find myself
in this position, but will you please accept my apology? Again?” His finger
rubbed the skin on my palm as he looked into my eyes. “I’d really like it if
you would come with me to my parents’ house. I want the chance to explain.”

“That’s not necessary. I’m sure my dad booked a
hotel for us.” I shook my head and tried to pull my hand away.

“Alexa, don’t be hasty,” my dad said from behind
me. His eyes were glued to Drake’s hand over mine. “I thought I taught you
better than that. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides, it will give
me a chance to get to know Drake here.”

“Yeah, Alexa. Don’t you want your dad to get to
know me?” Drake asked. He didn’t let go of my hand. Instead, he pulled me
towards the limousine waiting outside the hangar. A guest house, a charter
flight for the weekend, and a limousine. Who was this guy?

My dad followed behind with our bags. Crap. I just
couldn’t see any easy way out of this. And now I could expect a million
questions from my dad about Drake, too.

chapter
5

Luckily, the car ride from the airport to Drake’s
parents’ house was only supposed to be twenty minutes. He and my dad seemed to
get along very well. They mostly talked about sports, and I learned that Drake
was attending Blythe College mainly due to the rugby team. Drake explained that
most colleges offered rugby as a club sport, but he’d transferred this year
when his dad learned that Blythe had decided to go the varsity sport route.
He’d thought it would improve Drake’s odds for making the Eagles, the US
national rugby union sevens team. The Eagles were going to represent the US in
the Summer Olympics in 2016, and his dad had high hopes that he would have the
chance at a gold medal.

He kept possession of my hand all the way there as
he argued the merits of adding new Olympic sports. My dad was old-school and
didn’t think that activities like trampoline should be recognized as a sport.
The conversation didn’t get too heated since he supported the idea of rugby as
an Olympic sport, saying it was a real sport unlike badminton. But my body was
burning up as Drake continued to rub his thumb across my palm and entwine my
fingers with his. Every once in a while, his thumb would stroke between my fingers.
Goose bumps pebbled across my skin each time his thumb moved. I struggled not
to visibly shiver in reaction as I didn’t want him to know how much his touch
affected me.

I stared out the window the whole time, wondering
what was happening. Why the sudden interest in me after being so cold earlier?
Was he bipolar or something? Our chemistry might have been through the roof,
but I wasn’t sure it was worth the bother. I couldn’t really trust a guy who
didn’t seem to know what he wanted, especially when girls must chase after him
all the time. The last thing I needed was a repeat experience of the cheating
boyfriend scenario, not that I thought we’d end up as boyfriend and girlfriend
or anything. My mind just kept going around and around in circles.

I could feel Drake’s gaze on me, practically
burning a hole in the back of my head. My dad was accustomed to my occasional
brain-dead moments when I would daydream and left me to my thoughts without
thinking twice. Drake’s hand squeezed mine as he tried to get my attention. We
had turned onto a winding drive, lined by tall trees.

“Alexa, we’re here,” Drake said as we pulled up to
a palatial farmhouse. This wasn’t a house—it was a country estate. And I hadn’t
packed to see anything other than the inside of a hotel room, a couple local
eateries with my dad, and the hotel swimming pool. Great. Another chance for me
to look as unappealing as possible in front of Drake.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that one out myself when we
pulled up to the house. Anything you forgot to mention about your parents,
Drake?” I asked. Even though he could make me melt with the mere stroke of a
finger against my skin, I was still pissed about what he had said earlier and
wasn’t looking forward to meeting his parents while feeling woefully unprepared.

“We didn’t really have time to discuss much of
anything. Did we, Alexa? I promise, you will love them. My mom will be excited
to meet someone from school, and my sister will be thrilled to have another
girl around the place for the day. You’ll be like a surprise present for them.”

My dad cleared his throat from behind us, reminding
me that I kept forgetting he was here whenever Drake looked at me. Not a good
sign at all. “Well, then I hope they think my dad’s a present, too.”

“Alexa, don’t be so worried. Drake’s father had
offered to let me stay here when he booked the flight. I told him it would
depend upon if I flew Drake up by myself or not. So we’ve both been invited to
stay.”

“Dad! You never said anything about staying here
when you asked me to come with you on the trip.” I glared at my dad since I
probably would have packed a little differently if I had known that we would be
around people while we waited for the return flight home. Not that my dad would
understand—his packing would be the same no matter where we went or what we
did.

“Sorry, honey. Didn’t think I’d take him up on the
offer if you were with me. Figured you’d want to stay closer to town and
explore a bit. But since you and Drake know each other, this makes more sense.
Don’t you think?” His tone of voice let me know that I shouldn’t argue and
reminded me that my dad was going to have lots of questions for me when we were
alone.

“See. Nothing to worry about, babe. My dad already
invited you, and you didn’t even know it! I’m sure my mom has prepped the pool
house just in case it was needed.” Drake started walking around to the back of
the house. “Let me get you settled in, and then I’ll go find my parents to let
them know you are here.”

I gawked a bit at the Olympic-sized pool that was
surrounded by slate tiles. The pool house was a two-story white structure that
was a good three to four times bigger than the size of my suite at school.

“There are two bedrooms upstairs, so you’ll have
plenty of space. There’s one bathroom upstairs and a bathroom with a walk-in
shower downstairs.” Drake opened the door to the pool house. We walked inside,
straight into a living area with a big-screen television and a small kitchen
off to the side. The decor was very masculine, and the place smelled like
Drake, a woodsy scent with a hint of leather.

“Does anyone usually stay here?” I asked.

“Me. I like a little bit of privacy if I’m going to
be here for any length of time, but I’ll just use my rooms in the main house
while we’re here tonight.”

“Sorry to displace you,” my dad responded.

“No problem, sir. I’m glad you decided to stay with
us instead of at a hotel in town. It will give me a chance to hang out with
Alexa.”

“Yes, I’m clear on the fact that you’d like to
spend some time with my daughter. But how about you let go of her hand for now,
son. I’m sure your parents are excited to see you. You should probably head on
up and let them know you’re here. We’ll get ourselves settled.” My dad glanced
at Drake’s hand, making it clear that he hadn’t missed anything that had
happened over the last half hour.

“Right. I’ll try to come back before the party
starts. I’m sure my mom will want both of you to join us tonight if you’d
like,” Drake offered.

“I think I’ll be fine down here. I brought my book
with me, and I can probably catch some college football on the big-screen down
here. Alexa, you want to hang out with your good ol’ dad?”

“Yes, yes I do! Thank you very much for the
invitation, Drake, but I wouldn’t feel right crashing your mom’s birthday
party. Besides, I didn’t pack anything that would be appropriate anyway. Go
spend some time with your family, and you can find me in the morning so we can
finish that conversation from earlier.”

Drake leaned over and lightly kissed my cheek,
whispering in my ear. “We’ll just see about that.”

As Drake left us alone, my dad turned to me. “I
thought you said Drake was just one of Jackson’s frat brothers. Looked to me
like he’s something more than that.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Dad. I met him last
night while I was at a party with Jackson. Saw him again this morning at the
grocery store, too. I barely know the guy.”

“It certainly seems like he wants to get to know
you. He seems nice enough, but be careful, sweetie. I’d hate to have to hurt
him and lose his dad’s business if he breaks your heart. But a dad’s gotta do
what a dad’s gotta do, right?”

“Geesh, Dad! You’re already threatening to beat him
up if he hurts me?” I walked over to my dad to give him a big hug. “You really
are the best dad ever, so you don’t need to run around threatening guys who
seem the least bit interested in your daughter just to prove yourself to me.”

“You’re fooling yourself if you think that boy is
only a little bit interested, Alexa Marie.”

“If you say so. Now I’m gonna head upstairs to get
settled in and maybe get some studying done.”

I was able to get one of my papers done before I
heard a knock on the door downstairs. I hadn’t heard a peep out of my dad in
hours. Odds were that he’d fallen asleep watching football. I ran down the
steps so I could answer the door before he woke up.

“Hello,” said the gorgeous brunette at the door in
greeting. Her baby face led me to believe that she was a couple years younger
than I was, but her clothing made me reconsider her age. Her outfit consisted
of skintight, dark blue jeans that looked like they had been custom made for
her tucked into knee-high brown leather boots and an oversized, dark green
cable-knit sweater that slipped slightly off her shoulder. She was carrying a
dry cleaner’s bag in one hand and a Louboutin shoe box in the other. “You must
be Alexa. I’m Drake’s sister, Drea. But you can call me your fairy godmother!”

“Would that make me Cinderella? If so, I’m missing
the wicked stepmother and sisters.”

“Ah, yes, but wouldn’t my brother make a perfect
Prince Charming?” Drea giggled, and her eyes twinkled with laughter. I could
definitely see the resemblance with her brother. Her parents had passed along
very good genes to their children.

“I’m not sure that I’d use the word charming to
describe your brother. He hasn’t lived up to the title with me yet.”

“Darn! Maybe you’ll change your mind when I tell
you that he let me know that you didn’t know about the party when you flew up
here with him. He’s so bad like that, never remembers to tell me anything.
Anyway, he asked if I could find you a few things so you would feel more
comfortable joining us tonight.”

“There wasn’t any reason for me to know about the
party, so Drake didn’t forget to tell me.” I spoke quickly, trying to get a
word in edgewise while Drea took a breath.

“No reason? You don’t need a reason to come to my
mom’s party. You’re Drake’s friend from school. That’s enough. I’d be
absolutely crushed thinking of you stuck in the pool house while we’re all
having fun. Besides, I’d love to show you off to everyone. Nobody will believe
me for a second if I say that Drake has a girlfriend here with him from
school.”

“I am not his girlfriend! I hardly even know your
brother. We just met last night,” I disagreed.

“Really? Interesting. My brother isn’t exactly
known for going out of his way for girls. He met you last night and brought you
here today? And he had me find you an outfit for mom’s party. Lucky for him he
thought we were about the same size. And one of my friends is your shoe size,
so I didn’t have to work too hard on the outfit. Anyway, big bro is smitten! I
cannot wait to get to know you better.”

Drake strolled up the sidewalk and rested his hand
on his sister’s shoulder. “Don’t give away all of my secrets at once, Drea.
Alexa is bound to keep me on my toes without any help from you.” He reached
around her to take the garment bag and shoes away from her. “I thought I asked
you to bring these to me? How did you end up with Alexa instead?”

Drea let her brother take the items from her hands.
“Like you didn’t know that I would try to deliver them myself? You know me
better than that. Now you’d better talk Alexa into coming to the party—or else.
I will be very disappointed if you can’t work your legendary charm on her.”
Drea grinned and waved at me and headed back towards the house.

“I thought we agreed that you and I would catch up
with each other tomorrow, Drake.”

“No, you told me to find you in the morning. I
never agreed to anything. I decided that plan doesn’t really work for me. Come
to the party tonight.” Drake’s eyes drilled into mine as though he could glare
me into accepting his invitation.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. We barely know
each other. You still have some explaining to do, and everyone is going to get
the wrong idea about us. Look at your sister. She seems to think that I am your
girlfriend. We’ve barely even spoken to each other! And how the heck does your
sister know what size shoe I wear?”

Drake’s eyes turn even darker in color, glinting
with humor, as he shook his head at me. “No can do, babe. I don’t care if
anyone thinks you’re my girlfriend because you’re going to be. I told Drea your
shoe size. I asked your dad in the car while you were zoned out. Take this
stuff and go get ready. I’ll be back for you in an hour. We can talk before the
party starts.”

“But—” I shook my head in denial, and Drake didn’t
even let me continue.