Page 49 of Midnight Wishes

And then she did roll her eyes, because even if her feelings were softening more than she’d care to admit, he really was an idiot sometimes. ‘You’ve kissed me like a thousand times. Have I stopped you recently?’

‘That’s different.’ His voice flattened. ‘That’s foreplay. Or heat of the moment stuff.’

Right.

Apart from at the pub and those times at Neon, they’d never kissed outside the bounds of sex. They might make out before. They’d certainly kiss during. A week before, a few kisses while they were still naked in bed together had led to Alex going down on her again. But once one of them left the bed, that spell broke. A kiss now, with him at her door, ready to leave—agoodbyekiss—was more tenderness than they’d allowed into their arrangement.

‘You can,’ Sarah said quietly.

Alex’s bag dropped with a thump that made her wince, and within four large steps, her face was in his hands and his lips were on hers. It was less frantic than the way he usually kissed her. One hand moved to tangle in her hair, but didn’t tug. The other planted itself in the small of her back and pulled her into him.

It was the kind of kiss that graced the cover of one of Abby’s historical romances. And Sarah was melting into the dizzying intimacy of it.

When Alex eventually pulled back, her mouth chased his for half a second. She’d never heard him even slightly winded before, even after his most athletic performances, but his breath was laboured as he said, ‘Have dinner with me tomorrow night.’ Her eyes must have flared with the same panic that slammed through her chest, because he quickly added, ‘As friends. Food could be considered a benefit, couldn’t it?’

‘You’re still trying to be my friend?’

‘I like a challenge.’

She was still crushed against his chest, eyes tilted up towards his, so she had a front row seat when his face fell. ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea.’ Even as she spoke, she regretted the words.

The warmth that had been growing between them all night fizzled away instantly as Alex drew his hands back sharply. ‘Right. Sure.’

He was back to cool, crisp sounds, that lush depth that had filled his voice as he whispered to her gone too. Crossing back to the door, he said, ‘Let me know when the painting’s ready,’ before disappearing into the hall.

Chapter 24

ALEX

The Prophecy | Taylor Swift

Erik: We need to talk.

Alex: So ominous, little brother.

Alex: I’m in back to back meetings today, and I don’t know what time I’ll be home, but I have half an hour at 12 if you want to come to my office for lunch.

Alex: PS bring lunch

Most of theday passed in a blur of faces and numbers, so Alex had forgotten about Erik’s visit until he appeared at his office door holding two paper bags that smelled deliciously like Mexican food.

‘If there are enchiladas in there, you’ll be my favourite brother forever.’

His brother’s new office being walking distance from his own meant they had occasional lunches when Alex was on a run of too many late nights to commit to dinners. And since he’d secretly been giving what little of his nights remained to Sarah, most meetings with Erik had been relegated to daylight hours.But in contrast to his usually cheerful demeanour, Erik tossed a bag onto Alex’s desk and sat down looking stony-faced.

With his unique lack of preamble, the first words Erik said to him were, ‘Are you fucking Sarah?’

Alex almost choked on his mouthful of chicken and tortilla. When he’d swallowed, he said, the picture of calm, ‘What would make you ask that?’

‘Gee, was it the fact that your dog—who trusts pretty much no one except the two of us—looks at her like she’s the second coming, the way you two were eye-fucking each other all of Sunday night, the fact that apparently you call herPrincess, or the fact that when I left for work this morning, she was wearing a charcoal jumper that looked an awful lot like one of yours?’

Well, shit.

Thatwas where he’d forgotten it. She’d scrambled his brain so spectacularly he hadn’t even noticed it falling out his bag when he picked it up to leave.

‘Alex.’ Erik, who had an almost eerie ability to mask his emotions, either had no interest in doing it in that moment, or had lost control. He looked furious.

‘It’s a jumper, Erik. She could have bought the same one.’

---