Page 92 of Dangerous Men
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re like a dog with a bone?” he asks.
“A few,” I answer, truthfully. Jade certainly has. And just like her, somehow Alec makes it sound like a compliment, not a complaint.
“It’s not a bad thing, believe me,” Alec assures me. “But tonight, I’d rather not talk about Viper.”
“I thought you didn’t want me to be surprised,” I accuse.
If I’m annoying him, he doesn’t show it.
“We can prepare you for meeting Viper,” Alec insists. “Another time, please.”
Fine. But only because this burger is so delicious, I don’t want to waste any more time talking when I could be eating it.
When I finish—setting my napkin on the table and leaning back with a contented sigh—Alec pulls my chair around the table, closer to him. He plucks one last fry from the pile, dipping it in something we’re both confident is a garlic aioli, before popping it into his mouth and settling back in his chair, cuddling closer to me.
“How do you usually relax after work?” he asks, wiping the salt from his fingers with a napkin. “Do you like to watch TV?”
I do. I like reality TV, mostly, letting the inane chatter fill the silence as I unwind after a long day. Turning my brain off and just letting myself relax.
“We could watch something together. Maybe a movie, if you would like?” He gestures vaguely toward a room, hidden somewhere deep in his penthouse suite. “I have a TV room up here. We could order anything you’d like to watch.”
I shake my head, grinning.
“I’d like to just sit with you,” I tell him. “If that’s okay?”
Alec smiles. “That’s more than okay, Red,” he tells me. He shifts, once again sitting so close that his leg presses against mine.
“Red?” I ask, tilting my head to look at him.
The corners of his mouth twitch. “You were wearing red the first time I saw you.”
“At my store?” I purse my lips, trying to remember what outfit I was wearing the first time I saw him. I don’t own a lot of clothing that’s red.
Alec makes a noncommittal sound in his throat, and stretches across the chair behind me, pulling me closer to him.
Leaning against him, I release a long breath and let myself relax. My eyes close, and I breathe in the smell of his cologne.
It’s not a surprise at all when I feel Alec’s hand settle on my knee again.
“You like touching, don’t you?” I ask, smiling, eyes still closed.
“Sometimes,” Alec admits, sounding almost embarrassed. “I enjoy touchingyou. I like it so much I feel like I’m addicted to it. I don’t think I can stop.”
“I don’t mind,” I say.
His hand moves up further, thumb stroking the skin on my inner thigh.
“I loved our video chat, darling, truly I did, but nothing,nothing, compares to this. To feeling your skin against mine.”
His hand moves higher.
I sigh again, relaxing even more against him, letting my legs part a little. A tacit invitation for him to go further.
Alec shifts next to me, moving closer, and I feel his lips hovering over my own before he speaks.
“I’d like to kiss you, Sydney. May I?”
I open my eyes, wanting to see him when I answer. His eyes are dark and beautiful.
