Page 11 of Midnight Wishes

The thought of her last text made him smile, even as Pete continued to wheeze his way through his proposal to secure thebusiness of a company looking to go public. It was a wonder anyone let this clown deal with clients. He had all the charm of an oil spill oozing into the ocean, poisoning the happiness of everyone he encountered. In theory, Alex was part of a group intended to give him feedback that would hone his pitch. To Alex’s mind, there was no saving it. Pete was unlikely to take their advice anyway. Despite being the least productive member of their team in the previous quarter, he still somehow thought the place would fall apart without him.

After what felt like an eternity, they were free, and Alex groaned when he saw that the inbox he had cleared before the meeting was back to over seventy unread emails. At least half of them probably didn’t require any response from him, but about a tenth would almost certainly demand immediate action. He’d have to sift through them to figure out which.

The watch on his wrist beeped, reminding him it was lunch time, and he considered running out to his favourite sushi place. If he called his order in, it would be ready by the time he got there. Twenty minutes out of the office, max. But at a glance, he could see five emails bearing the name of the company in the States he was working with in their pursuit of a major UK pharmacy chain. Lunch could wait another hour.

Lunch did notwait another hour.

Emails bled into research, which paused when he was pulled into a second presentation, and after the next round of emails and a long, unplanned phone call with a start-up who wanted to raise yet another round of capital, it was past eight, and he was beat. He wanted to go to the gym, wanted to work out the stressand kinks of the day, but it had been twelve hours since he’d put anything more solid than coffee into his body, and he’d long since burned through the benefits of that protein shake.

Maybe just an after-dinner walk with Celine to take the edge off.

***

The rest ofhis week passed similarly, and by the time Friday came, the last thing Alex felt like was thirty people traipsing through his house.

He was normally up for a good time—even more so in his own environment, where he could control things—but the acquisition he was currently advising on was worth upwards of a billion pounds, and after a full day of analysing assets and turning on the charm in meetings, he was beat.

But even if he hadn’t been hosting, he couldn’t exactly miss his only brother’s engagement party. To his credit, Erik would understand. He had his own aversion to social gatherings. Abby might never let him hear the end of it though.

Besides.

There were perks.

Said perk stood on his top step when he wrenched the front door open, and his mouth went dry at the sight of her, her body encased in the same dress she’d been wearing that night, the deep purple satin clinging to every soft curve. Her perfume drifted towards him, a spicy, woodsy mix that had haunted him since that night. Images of his hands pushing at the smooth fabric flashed through his mind. Her eyes were slits when hereturned to them, her full lips pinched at the corners, and even like that, she was astonishing.

She pushed past him without a word, tensing as her bare arm brushed against his shirt. By contrast, the small contact ignited some long-forgotten part of him.

Alex knew what women saw when they looked at him. Money. A pretty face. A good body. That was enough to sway most of them. And for a good portion of his adult life, if he’d met them in a bar or a club, they’d got some introduction to what he could do with that body. It had been a long time since someone had made him work for it. And Sarah, who knew exactly how good he could make her feel, was doing exactly that.

Things were going to be so muchfunwith her.

The first words she said to him, dripping with disdain, were, ‘Where do you want me?’ He heard the innuendo a second before she did, and as the beginnings of a smirk appeared on his face, she rushed to add, ‘For party prep.’

‘Freudian slip, Princess?’

‘I told you to stop calling me that.’ Her mouth pulled into a flat line.

‘And I told you that wasn’t going to happen.’ He leaned against the doorframe to the living room, crossing his arms to make his biceps pop. Her eyes lingered there for a moment before flicking away.

‘How doesCelinefeel about you giving me a cute pet name and flirting with people incessantly?’

What the fuck did his dog have to do with this?

‘I’m sure she’d be fine with it. She’s wary of new women, but she’ll probably like you once she gets to know you. As long as Igive her plenty of attention, I can’t imagine she cares who I sleep with.’

Her lips thinned. ‘Right. No judgement, but polyamory is like, super not my thing, so if you could stop—’

That made him pause.Polyamory?Was that why she’d been so off with him? She thought he had a girlfriend? ‘Princess.’ He uncrossed his arms, stepping towards her. ‘Who exactly do you think Celine is?’

Sarah crossed her arms and took a step back towards the sofa, arching an eyebrow. ‘Your girlfriend?’

A full, loud laugh, so different to the contained chuckles he normally allowed, broke free, causing Sarah’s face to pinch further in annoyance. When he’d finished wheezing, he took one more step towards her. This time, she didn’t retreat. ‘Would you like to meet her?’ He didn’t bother to hide the amusement in his voice as he cocked his head back towards the stairs. ‘Follow me.’

‘If this is just an excuse to get me into your bedroom—’ Sarah began, as they neared his office.

‘Will you calm down?’ He opened the door to reveal Celine sleeping soundly on her bed. She stirred when he walked in, sleepy face lifting then flopping back onto her paws. ‘This is Celine.’

Sarah’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. ‘That’s a stupid fucking name for a Rottweiler.’

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