Page 80 of Alex

I don’t bother looking in my bathroom. There’s no point. Everything is gone. Burned away forever.

Making my way back out to the living room, I walk over to the outlet where the fire had started.

Alex’s voice is loud and demanding. “Don’t touch the outlet.”

I wasn’t planning on touching the outlet, but a part of me wants to hear his reasoning. I turn and smile at him before asking, “Why? The firefighters have already turned off the power. It should be a dead outlet.”

His blue eyes darken as he stalks closer to me. “Well, because this fire was clearly arson and if itstarted at that outlet, the police should be able to get evidence and hopefully find the culprits.”

When we are nearly chest to chest, I tilt my head up and look into his eyes. “Is that the only reason?”

Alex shakes his head. “No, there’s more.”

His hands find my hips. Gripping them hard, he pulls me tighter against his body. “Two, I don’t want you to risk getting shocked. Yes, they turned off the power, but electricity can still be there. If anyone or anything is going to shock you, it’s going to be me.”

I moan as he rolls his hips against mine, pressing his growing erection into my lower belly.

“Mmm. Can we just skip all of this and head straight to your room?”

Alex pulls back to stare at my face. “Are you sure? After everything that’s happened today, you want to come home with me?”

He looks unsure, like this is all a trick that I’m creating.

I stand on my tiptoes and press my breasts into his firm chest. “What else can we do here? Look around at the burned remains of my life? Cry and let emotions ruin the rest of my day?”

Alex’s gaze darts around at the destruction before returning to mine.

I continue. “Look, I know this is tragic, and I’m sure I’ll be sentimental and sad about it for a while, but why dwell on it? Especially when there’s literally nothing we can do about it.”

I don’t have insurance, so they won’t replace my stuff, and Alex already said I can stay with him.

Do we need to run this by Mr. Strickland?

Alex gives me one last worried glance before crashing his lips to mine. His kiss is slow, thorough, and hot. He teases my bottom lip between his teeth before sucking it into his mouth.

I whimper with need as pleasure shoots straight to my core.

“Alex.” I moan as his large hand finds my hardened nipple.

He circles my nipple with his nail, giving it a light tug as he thrusts his tongue into my mouth.

I reach down to palm his erection before giving it a squeeze. A smile forms on my face as he pulls away and groans.

“Fuck, Elise. We need to get out of here or else I’m going to haul your ass to my car and take you against the hood for the entire apartment complex to see.”

“Let’s go. I’ll lock up and deal with this tomorrow.”

Alex leans down and presses a chaste kiss to my lips right as a gasp sounds from behind me. I push away from Alex and turn around to see Kate standing in the doorway.

Oops. Guess we forgot to close the door.

Not like it really matters. There isn’t anything here for someone to steal.

Kate’s face pales as she looks around the open room. “Oh my god, Elise! What happened?”

I take a deep breath and try to get my words right. I want to fill Kate in on what happened without telling her who did it.

“Well, to be honest, we don’t really know what happened. Alex drove me here from the airport a little while ago and when we arrived, the building was already engulfed in flames.”

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