Page 64 of From London, With Love

The sound of her voice is spiced honey personified; it rolls off her tongue so effortlessly and swirls around me like liquid, yet sleep has given it the smallest of rough edges. It’s glorious. I’d listen to it all day if I could.

“Good at what?”

She wiggles her shoulder. “That, the back tickles.”

“I wasn’t aware it was something you could be bad at, but thank you.” Humour laces my tone as I smile to myself.

I don’t dare let my hand still now, continuing the circles despite the slow developing cramp in my wrist.

Chapter 29

Lara

‘Faster.’

‘Harder.’

‘That’s it Lara.’

The sound of Carter clearing his throat pulls me out of my dirty daydream. Although, is it still a daydream if it really happened??

“So I’ve been thinking . . .” he begins. Carter’s gaze slides to mine out the corner of his eye, assessing. I haven’t the slightest idea where this is going, but if his thoughts have been anything like mine, it’s nowhere good.?

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

Is it possible to regret something as deeply as you are satisfied by it? That’s how I feel about the three words I uttered. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about Carter that causes any level of eloquence I possess to completely disappear. It’s certainly no way to be around my boss, but in my defence, he’s had this effect on me since the day I first met him.

“I offer to stop for coffee, twice, you insist we don’t need to, twice, andthisis how you repay me?”

He mumbles something, sounding oddly like, ‘god, if I could put you over my knee right now’, which sends an unexpected thrill through me. I’m tempted to ask him to repeat himself, but I decide it’s far wiser to pretend I heard nothing.

“Please, elaborate on what you’ve been thinking.”

Carter feigns a dramatic eye roll at my aversion to bite.

“Hear me out; last night should be repeated on a regular basis. Or, at the very least, a couple more times.”

On instinct, I scoff. The second the sound leaves my mouth, I regret it. It wasn’t intentional.

Dragging my gaze from the window, I turn to find Carter watching me. Thankfully we’re stopped at a set of lights on the outskirts of London’s city centre, so I can forgive the fact he’s not looking at the road right now.

“Are you propositioning me?”

“Yes.”

Now I really want to scoff, but I refrain.

“Really? While I’m stuck in a vehicle with you?”

“I can rectify that if you’d like?”

Before I’m able to form a response, we’re going through the now-green intersection. Carter moves to the furthest left lane, turns down a side street, and comes to a stop.?

“There.” Carter gestures to our surroundings, arms spread wide. “Now you can flee if that’s what you want to do.” He turns toward me in his seat, his hand brushing against mine over the console and causing my heart rate to spike. He leans in ever so slightly, eyes bright. “But I don’t think you want to flee, not really.”

“No?” I hate the breathiness of my voice.

“No, not at all. Want to know how I know?” He looks so devilishly handsome right now. There’s the ghost of a smirk on his lips, taunting me, and he’s got the two-day stubble and bed hair combination nailed. There’s no real reason as to why thatcombination is hot—in all honesty, it shouldn’t be—but the mancannotlook bad.?

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