Chapter 8

**G RA C E**
“Follow me, Grace Millers, you'll stay in my beach house.”

“Excuse me?” I say a little too loud, making him scowl at me. His green eyes turning darker with his mood. It’s an amazing thing to see.

“Alex!” Sophia says at the same time.

He turns to answer her, “She cannot stay here with you, can she? There is hardly any space for you to walk around with your misplaced gym.” The way he talks about me in third person like I’m not standing right behind him doesn’t feel very nice, but I try to ignore it.

“First, don’t say anything about my gym, and second, yes, she isn’t staying with me, she is moving out.” Sophia walks up to him and pulls my bags out of his big hands, or tries to. She fails when he doesn’t even budge and that says a lot about his strength given how Sophia despite being 5’1 deadlifts more than most men in our class at Oxford.

Alex jerks his hand back, and Sophia’s hands fly off him. “Well, then she can stay in my house.”

My frown becomes bigger and denser, and I widen my eyes, sending an unspoken question to Sophia. I did not consent to sharing a house with a man I do not know, (though every time I think of him as a stranger, I know it is a lie even though it doesn’t make any sense.)

“Are you okay?” Sophia voices my exact thoughts, “why would she stay at your house. Alex that is literally the opposite of-”

“Sophia.” He speaks in a firm voice, and it silences Sophia. Something passes between those two that I don’t understand, but the moment ends quickly, and he speaks again, back to his calmer, emotionless voice. “Where else are you planning to move her? Guest houses? At the other side of the beach?”

“Of course-”

“Where our *business partners* will be staying? Where *Matt* will be staying?” There is an unusual focus on Matt that I don’t understand among all the other things. “Don’t you think that will be a little inconvenient, for Miss Millers?” He turns and says the last part, looking straight at me, his gaze making me uncomfortable in unexplainable ways.

That shuts Sophia up. I look at her, hoping for her to help me understand what is happening, but her eyes are empty, like she is trying her best to not let anything show. She turns her gaze back to Alex. “Right, yeah. That could be weird.” She looks at me and smiles warmly, though it is not her usual smile. “He’s right, that’s too far, I wouldn’t want you to stay so far from me. But she can’t stay with you, that’s stupid, she’s my friend, he’s my brother.” She talks turning to both of us one after the other.

“I know that,” I say when I feel she is talking to me. Alex says the same thing at the same time, just with a deeper scowl and a disinterested voice, making me feel unnecessarily inferior. I don’t shy away from showing him how I feel about that with a scowl of my own.

He levels me with a blank gaze, before turning back to his sister. “She won’t stay with me,” he says, then adds more matter-of-factly, “I’m not going to stay with her.”

I’m starting to hate the way he keeps making it more than clear how not interested he is in me, ‘cause I don’t remember asking.
He starts moving towards the door with my luggage. “I’m moving into my room at the mansion, today. I won’t be at the house.”



He leads me into the house I was peeking into just minutes ago, and as he carries all of my luggage in one and a half hands, I definitely do not stare at the way his biceps move, or the way his back contracts when he raises the hand with the duffle bag and a small suitcase to unlock his door. I would if he were anyone else, but he is my best friend's sister.

I certainly do not follow the line of sweat that drips down his neck into his tank top, or the way his wavy hair bounces when he is goes up the few stairs right before opening the door.
The porch leads to a living space that is mostly white and dead. The furniture is all covered in white sheets, which are then covered in dust.

“Looks like you-”

“You can set yourself up in the room upstairs. My stuff is still there, but it’ll be gone soon.” Not only does he cut me off, but he talks with his back to me, is hands showing me around as he speaks. “Bathroom is attached to the room, kitchen is down here, to your left. Behind that door is the swimming pool and the backyard.” I try to walk towards the supposed door, but he turns towards me, startling me in my place. I look at him, stopping just a step before we collide, and he swallows then glares at me till I step back. When I do, he beelines past me and moves to the door again. I almost think he is leaving when he turns around near the door.

“What else?” I say, looking at him. The distance and the light coming into the house from behind him, turns his frame into a dark silhouette, making him look exactly like he did when I was looking up at his window. Shoulders, arms, hair– all of it.

“If you need anything, you press this button with a blue phone icon. There is one in my-” he stops then corrects himself, “your bedroom, and in the kitchen.”

“Room service?” I ask, only to make polite conversation.

“Mhm,” he says without looking at me. Clearly, he is not one for polite conversation. I smile to let him know I got it.

“I got it then, you can go. Thanks.” I say when he doesn’t leave and turn to carry my luggage up the stairs. When I hear the door close behind me, I let out a sigh of relief. The man has an uncomfortable aura around him that just doesn’t let me relax.

*Or perhaps it is the fact that he saw me swimming naked on the beach and every time he looks at me, he probably has a replay of the scene.* Suddenly I hate my choice of outfit even with him not in the house anymore, I feel his heavy eyes on me and as weird as that is I don't feel like turning around and checking. As if I did he would actually appear, and I have had enough Alex Moretti for a day.

I say that, but for some reason I can't stop replaying his instructions in my head in his deep rough voice, the one I have noticed he only uses when we are alone. And his accent.
*His Godly italian accent.*

He is Sophia's brother so he might be off limits but I can definitely find another italian while I am here. I wonder if they all sound like him. Look like him?