Page 56 of By A Thread
I pulled off my headphones. “Just catching up with work before I leave for more work.”
He eyed my outfit, and I felt the heat of his gaze like it was an actual physical touch.
I really needed to go on a date.Or at least get a hug.
“Let me guess,” he said, blue eyes lingering for a moment on the strip of exposed skin between the bottom of my shirt and the waistband of my pants. “Kickboxing?”
“Close,” I said. My work phone chimed out its reminder for me to get my butt in gear, and I rose. “Dance class,” I told him, pulling on my sweatshirt and tucking both phones into my backpack.
“Did your family emergency resolve itself?” he asked.
Surprised that he’d even given it another thought, I shot him a look. “Uh. Not yet, but it’s on the mend,” I told him. “Everything is under control.”
“Good.”
He waited, and I wondered if he was hoping I’d open up and tell him everything. More likely, he was hoping that I would shut up and leave.
“New phone?” he asked.
I looked up. His face was unreadable.
“Did you have something to do with the IT fairies raining gifts on me today?”
“Do I look like the type of person who would do that?” he challenged.
“No. But the paw prints do soften you up a bit.”
He glanced down at ruined cashmere. “Remind me to have Linus fire you.”
I clamped a hair tie between my lips and worked my hair into a short tail. “Nice try. But I think he likes me,” I said around the hair tie. “You should give it a shot. Maybe give your blinding hatred a rest.”
I wrapped the tie around my hair and gave it a tug.
“I don’t hate you, Ally.” His voice was quiet, gruff.
I wasn’t sure how it had happened, but suddenly we were standing too close. Nothing good would come of this odd attraction. Yet I couldn’t seem to help myself.
He was supposed to be cold. However, from where I stood, inches away, he seemed anything but.
“Good. Because frankly, I’m irresistible, and you might as well just give up the fight now.”
“I can’t afford to find you irresistible,” he said.
We weren’t touching. But it felt like the space between us was charged with something. It was acting like a defibrillator on my heart.
I didn’t like him, I reminded myself.But clearly that didn’t mean I didn’t want him.
Apparently I’d turned into a woman who would gladly rip her clothes off and jump a guy who didn’t like her just because he was scary hot.
That thought led to an unfortunate fantasy montage of just how Dominic Russo would look if he were fucking me. On top. Under. Bent over me. Against a wall. Tangled in sheets.
“What?” he demanded.
The question had the effect of a record scratch.
I could only imagine the show my face was putting on right now.
“Nothing,” I squeaked. “Gotta go.”Gotta go take a long walk in the frigid night air to cool the hell down and stop thinking dirty, dirty thoughts.
