Page 29 of Midnight Wishes

His expression when he looked at her again was rapturous.

‘Was that so difficult?’

The pace he set then was brutal, as if he was as desperate for her to come as she was. And she did within minutes, releasing a scream as her vision whited out.

Alex followed her thirty seconds later, dropping her hips back to the bed before he collapsed on top of her. ‘Oh, your neighbours must love you,’ he said. ‘I’m going to remind you of the perks of having sex in a house, Princess. You can be as loud as you want.’

‘Sorry we aren’t all capitalist vultures who can afford Holland Park’s rent prices.’

His face pulled with disgust. ‘You wound me. My house is not arental.’

They lay in silence a few moments more, until Sarah mumbled, ‘I have a confession.’

‘Areyoudrunk?’

‘Only on dopamine.’ She laughed, still shocked that his presence in her bed, weight crushing her to the mattress, was…pleasant. ‘I don’t think I’ve come that hard, ever.’

Alex rolled effortlessly off her and pressed a kiss to the pulse point behind her ear, surely fluttering wildly under his lips. ‘Yeah,’ he said softly. ‘Me neither.’

Later, after Alexhad filled a bottle with ice water and placed it next to her bed—Sarah couldn’t think that anyone had ever done that for her either—and he was sliding back into hisshirt, she asked, ‘Do you even know who she was? She’s barely covered on most syllabi, if at all.’

He paused, and even with his hair neatly styled once more and his trousers somehow still pressed, standing there with only one arm through his shirt was the most dishevelled she’d seen him.

‘No. But my uni offered a short course on her. She was amazing. Feminist icon, consistently ignored in favour of men who weren’t nearly as talented as her? Plus the fact that people tend to perceive her best known piece as a takedown of men, when the overwhelming theme of her work is simply uplifting women? I’m not surprised you love her.’

Sarah sat up, stunned into silence, because in one fell swoop, he had nailed why she’d first become obsessed six years before.

‘What?’ Alex smiled. A full, genuine, slightly crooked smile, so different from the perfectly balanced slice of amusement she was used to. A dangerous smile, soft around the edges as it lifted his face and crinkled his bright eyes. ‘I know I’m full of shit most of the time, but I really do love art.’

‘How about you? Duchamp seems more your style,’ she teased, trying to deflect from the strange feelings bubbling in her stomach, brought to life by his unfailing ability to perceive her.

Alex rolled his eyes. ‘While I appreciate the absurdism there, do you see a urinal tattooed on this body?’

She didn’t. But she did see David on his right bicep. Had salivated a little over God and Adam’s hands stretched across his shoulders each time he turned his back to her.

Because it was excellent work.

Obviously.

‘Michelangelo?’

He inclined his head.

‘That’s why you hate Raphael,’ she said, smiling at the ridiculousness of him holding onto a centuries-old rivalry where both participants were long dead.

‘I know everyone thinks I have commitment issues,’ he said, finally slinging the second arm into his shirt and buttoning it, ‘but I’m pretty loyal when I want to be.’

Chapter 16

ALEX

This Side of Paradise | Coyote Theory

Maggie was worthevery penny, Alex mused, when he walked into his kitchen to find a plate with pieces of roast chicken and a pile of mashed potato in his fridge, a bowl of salad sitting beside it. While she always kept his freezer stocked with an array of delicious meals he could easily toss in the oven, on the two days a week she came in, he rejoiced in the opportunity to eat something that hadn’t been previously frozen.

He didn’t dislike cooking. It just felt likeso muchafter a full day at work took it out of him.

While his plate rotated in the microwave, he pulled out his phone.

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