Chapter 40
SARAH
Someone To You | BANNERS
‘I missed you so much.’ Alex’s voice was muffled, his head cradled to Sarah’s chest while she stroked his hair.
‘Are you talking to me or my tits?’
Alex laughed. ‘Do I have to choose?’
‘I missed you too.’ They’d said it already, but it bore repeating. And the soft joy it left on Alex’s face had her doubling down. She was ready to lavish adoration on him, to make him feel wanted and welcome in the ways he never had. ‘Nothing’s ever been this good.’ She traced a dark golden eyebrow, and his eyes fluttered closed, that dimple popping next to his upturned lips.
Next to her, Alex’s fingers found his discarded bow tie. The soft silk brushed her skin as he danced it through his fingers. ‘I’ve never asked anyone to do that, you know? Never trusted anyone enough. But with you…’
‘Why do you like it?’ Sarah asked, wriggling down the bed until they were face to face, eyes close. She laced their fingers together, trapping the tie between them.
Alex sighed. Looked away. Focussed back on her. ‘You know what my job’s like. It’s completely taken over my life in the last few years. The hours are a killer, sure, but it’s the stress more than anything else. I handle insane amounts of money every day. And if I slip up, if I forget a deadline, if I miss an email…it could be a million-pound mistake. I have to be a hundred percent on top of things, in control, all the time. That’s a lot for someone who would forget to feed themselves if it wasn’t made as easy as humanly possible. And this week. Wanting you, missing you, reconciling how much I love you with how much I wanted to hate you. It’s been an emotional avalanche. So letting you take charge, getting out of my head, not having to think beyond how beautiful you are and how good you feel? I needed it.’
‘Are you telling me we’re using the handcuffs every time we have a fight? Because I worry that sets a dangerous precedent.’
‘I can handle a few more fights if that’s how we make up.’
Sarah wove her legs through his, wound her arm around his waist, and pulled him closer, breathing in the cologne and soap and sweat of his skin. ‘You know I’ll gladly be your stress relief, Aleksander, but I wish you didn’t need it.’
He’d been putting on a brave face for the wedding—it was Alex’s special skill, after all—buthis eyes this weekend had been even more tired than the last time she’d seen him. Part of that was probably her fault, she reasoned, but she found it unlikely that his job had suddenly started allowing him to leave at a reasonable hour. Of course she could see how his schedule would make a relationship difficult, but if he didn’t mind her borderline gremlin-state when she was on a deadline, she could live with his stretches of late nights. If they could coordinate busy periods, their schedules might end up aligning anyway. She could put down her paintbrush to have a glass of wine with him and hear about his day while he ate his reheated dinner. She just wanted him close, feeling safe and loved. Knowing that it didn’t matter how busy he was, they would find a way to work with each other’s lives, and Sarah would never do to him what his ex had.
‘It’s just a few more weeks.’ Alex interrupted her mental vision of candles and foil trays, hands clasped across his breakfast nook.
‘I know, but after this project, there’ll be another and—’
‘There won’t. I quit.’
Sarah sat up, barely registering the pain emanating from the hair stuck under Alex’s arm. ‘You what ?’
Alex shrugged.
‘What are you going to do?’
‘Nothing.’ He looked surprisingly relaxed. ‘I have savings and investments. I reckon I can keep myself afloat for at least a year if I need to.’
‘No more finance?’ Sarah asked.
‘No more finance. At least, not somewhere that intense. My last relationship ended because I worked too much. I’m not making that mistake again.’
His last relationship had ended because his girlfriend had been an idiot who couldn’t see how amazing she’d had it. ‘You know you don’t have to worry about that with me, right?’
‘I know.’ The stormy blue sea of his eyes softened, calming. ‘I know. I did it for me. It was when we were— Anyway, I want to have a life.’ With you , his eyes said. ‘What’s the point of the money and the nice house and the travelling if I don’t get to enjoy it? I have a beautiful kitchen I can’t cook in. My fireplace hasn’t seen a fire since December. I spent five weeks in different countries last year, and maybe two days exploring. In total. Now there’s you.’ His voice was tender for a moment. Then, ‘As you pointed out, I barely have time for sex, and I’m definitely not planning on us cutting back on that, so if I want to include time to actually talk to you and take you on dates, something else is going to have to give.’
Sarah sighed, falling back onto his chest. ‘You were so close to being romantic.’
***
Sarah’s eyes flew open.
‘Alex,’ she whispered into the darkness. The large lump beside her didn’t stir. ‘Alex,’ she said again, touching his arm. His eyelids flickered, long lashes fluttering. ‘Aaaaaleeeeeeex,’ she crooned, twisting her head around his arm so she could lick his cheek.
‘Sarah, I made you come like five times. If you want to go again, you’re doing all the work.’ His voice was croaky and sleep-filled.
Even his unfiltered words warmed her chest. Apparently being hopelessly gone for him wasn’t going to change anything between them.
She waited until his head lifted from his pillow, eyes bleary, before she said, ‘Have you ever thought about becoming an art agent?’
Alex rose onto his elbows, blinking rapidly. She hadn’t realised what a deep sleeper he was. The last time they’d shared a bed, she’d woken only once during the night and been too scared to break the comforting spell cast by his arms wrapping tight around her. She did remember being surprised he was a cuddler. So she’d lain there for a moment, stiff as a board to ensure she didn’t jostle him, before drifting off again.
But allowing herself to relax into his arms tonight, she’d never felt safer or more content. She wanted this all the time.
‘You have the eye for art. You know people on the scene who can help you find new artists, but you also have a whole network of people with a fuckton of money, just looking for the next big thing to invest in. You’re the perfect package.’
‘I think you mean I have a perfect package.’
‘Not too tired to make a dick joke, I see.’ Sarah rolled her eyes in the gloom, even if he wasn’t wrong. ‘I’m serious, Aleksander. You could work for yourself. Set your own hours. No heinous co-workers who stare at my ass.’
Alex rubbed a hand over his jaw. ‘I like it. It’s something I care about. I’d enjoy it. I might even be good at it. I think it’s perfect. If you’re going to be my first client though, I should probably stop buying up all your art before other people even have the chance to see it.’
‘You bought one painting, Aleksander. I think my collection will survive.’
‘Two,’ he corrected, lying back again, pulling her with him so their heads lay side by side on the pillow. ‘You didn’t think it was suspicious that you made a sale the night you came for dinner at my house and showed me your work?’
She could have been offended, if she hadn’t lamented her dusty sales dashboard to him late one night. Their pillowtalk had always been…special. To Alex’s credit, he’d offered up three orgasms in response, ‘to cheer you up.’
‘Yeah, but that was to some guy called Kev…’ Sarah trailed off as it dawned on her why Alex’s work address had seemed familiar. Remembered the name tag his building’s security guard had been wearing that night.
Alex’s smile was slow, sleepy, against the pillow. ‘Kevin’s always happy to do me a favour. I was sure I’d be caught when I sent the location, but you never said anything.’
‘I tend to forget the fancy addresses of all my customers as soon as I sign the collection pad for the courier,’ Sarah admitted.
‘At least I won’t have to hide it in my office anymore. It…it brings me a lot of peace. Like you saw inside my mind and made sense of the chaos there, before you even knew me. I think I was half in love from the moment you showed me your Instagram.’
Her stomach, already buzzing from his reveal, exploded into flutters as she rolled him onto her again.
When Alex eventually pulled back—breathless, flushed, grinning—his tiredness looked to have melted away. ‘If I’m your agent, do I still get to stare at your ass?’