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“It’s a long story,” Alex said shortly, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as he beat it toward the kitchen. “I gotta go. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“I can’t wait to hear it.” His partner’s voice dripped with amusement. “Enjoy yourself, buddy.”
He disconnected the call, arriving in the kitchen just in time to see Isabel standing on top of the counter, her hands pressed against a row of wineglasses that had toppled over and threatened to crash to the floor.
“What are you doing?” He hoisted himself up beside her and grabbed a handful of the glasses.
She pushed the rest back onto the shelf. “I’m sorry. I—I just thought we’d want the wineglasses. You had that bottle of wine on the counter and then I got a little dizzy and knocked one over and there was this chain reaction and—”
Visions of an exhausted Isabel falling and cracking her head open on the hard tile let loose a string of curses from Alex. He jumped down to the floor, reached up, wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her down, setting her bottom on the counter. “Did you really think this was a good idea?”
She pushed some stray curls out of her face, her cheeks turning a bright red. “I didn’t feel dizzy before I went up there.”
He shook his head. “You need to eat.” And if he were a smart man he would back away right now. Back away from the eye-level temptation staring back at him.
“Alex...?” She sank her teeth into her lower lip and gave him one of those wide-eyed looks.
“What?” he asked roughly.
“Am I a total idiot or do you want to kiss me?”
He blinked. Closed his eyes. He never lied. Ever. But right about now it seemed like a good idea. “Can I pass on that one?”
“Alex.”
He opened his eyes.
“My friend Jo told me I never engage.” She bit down harder into her lip. “With men, I mean. Which is why I’m asking the question. To see if I’m seriously deluded or not.”
He bit out a curse he hadn’t uttered since his college days. “I’m not the right guy for you, Isabel.”
She gave him a determined look. “I’m talking about a kiss. Not the rest of our lives.”
He shook his head. “Same answer.”
She hesitated, swallowed hard. “You said in the elevator that it’s better to face the unknown than fear it. What if you’re my modern-day Steven Thompson?”
“This time you should walk away,” he muttered.
“Please answer the question,” she pleaded. “Otherwise I’m going to feel like a total idiot. Good or bad, I can take it.”
He pressed his hands to his temples. It’d taken a lot of nerve to ask that question. And it had been his mistake in ever admitting he found her attractive. “Yes,” he conceded finally, “I want to kiss you but—”
“Alex.” The tension in her face slid away. “Get on with it, will you?”
“This is an insanely bad idea,” he groaned. But he was already stepping into her and lowering his mouth to the lush temptation in front of him. Because really, how much would one kiss hurt? “You just about passed out up there,” he murmured against her lips.
“I’m fine,” she said, tilting her chin up so their lips touched more firmly. Then the insanity of the day took over and he brought his mouth down on hers in a sensual tasting that explored every centimeter of her undeniably sweet lips.
His brain told him this was a bad idea even as he reached up and cupped the back of her head to change the angle of the kiss. Deeper, harder it went until she sighed and melted into him, curling her hands into his shirt. He was not unaware of how easy it would be to slip her panties off, wrap her legs around his waist, release himself and take her right there, right now. Exactly as he’d imagined it a few minutes ago...
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