Chapter Fifteen #2
He paused. She waited. And waited.
“Just say it!”
“I think we should have sex.”
She stared at him, confident she’d misunderstood him. Sex as in sex? Them?
“You seem surprised.”
She had no idea what her expression was but she knew for sure she wasn’t surprised. She was whatever was fourteen light-years
past surprised. She was two universes away from where surprised was and while she was on the topic, later she would figure
out why she was suddenly all into space metaphors.
“You want us to have sex?” she said, pleased she was able to speak. “I don’t understand. We’re friends. We’ve never been flirty
or anything like that.”
“Agreed. It’s not a conventional request.”
She blinked. “Thank you for the understatement.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. “You’re welcome. I can explain my reasons if you’d like.”
“I would.”
He leaned toward her and she noticed the nervousness seemed to have faded.
“I’m not ready for a real relationship. We’ve talked about that.”
“I remember. You said you were thinking you’d like to have sex though.” Apparently with her, which was a concept she couldn’t
wrap her mind around. Yes, Alex was good-looking and fit and she liked him, but as a friend. She’d never once thought of him
“that way.”
“I would. But as you pointed out at the time, that’s a more complicated proposition than just wanting to date. I’m not the
sort of guy who enjoys random sex with strangers. I want to like the person.”
“And you like me.”
“I do. Very much. I got to thinking how you’re getting over Dustin and how I want intimacy without commitment. Which made
me wonder about being your rebound guy.”
She thought about mentioning she was pretty sure she would have to have cared about Dustin a whole lot more than she had to
need a rebound guy, but decided to just let him keep talking.
“You’re thinking about moving,” he continued. “If you do, that puts a time frame on us being intimate. Neither of us has any
expectations romantically, so it’s not as if we’d fall in love. You understand that I’m still emotionally connected to Kim.
We’d stay friends and enjoy the added benefit of great sex.”
“How do you know it’ll be great?” she asked before she could stop herself.
Alex looked startled for a second, then gave her a slow, sexy smile. “I have mad skills.”
That made her laugh. “And an ego.” She drew in a breath. “You’re serious about this.”
“I am. If you’re interested.”
Interested? She was still having trouble understanding the concept. Sex with Alex?
“I’ve never thought about it,” she admitted.
“I get that. You were Kim’s friend. You’re part of the family. It would be a big change.” He met her gaze. “I don’t want to
lose what you and I have. That’s too important to me. But I also think we could be great together.”
“You’re speaking as a man who hasn’t gotten any in a long time. For all you know, there won’t be chemistry.”
“Maybe we should find out.”
Before she could figure out what that meant, he’d stood and circled his desk, then pulled her to her feet. One second she
was trying to grasp his unconventional proposal and the next his mouth settled on hers in a way it never had before. Mostly
because she and Alex had never kissed. They’d hugged, they’d wept together, they’d laughed and talked, they’d mourned, but
they’d never kissed.
She was still mulling all that over when her brain suddenly noticed there was some skin-on-skin action going on. Rational
thought fled as she became acutely aware of the feel of his lips moving against hers.
He went slow, as if learning new terrain. His hands were warm against her back and his body was solid against her front. And
the kiss . . . well, it went on and on—just them touching, not going deeper.
It was nice, she thought as she relaxed against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Nice-nice. She liked how he didn’t
push or demand and how at the very edges of her awareness she felt a tiny flicker of something very much like a tingle.
The sensation startled her so much, she took a step back and accidently blurted, “So it’s not just Jax.”
Alex tilted his head. “Excuse me?”
“Nothing. It’s too complicated to explain.” Plus she thought she might sound really strange if she told him about being happy
that both Weaver sisters had experienced tingles within a couple days of each other.
“About the kissing,” he began.
“It was nice.”
He frowned. “Nice? As in pleasant?”
“You don’t want it to be pleasant?”
“Not really.” He moved close again. “I was hoping for more.”
Before she could figure out what to say to that, she was in his arms again. But except for her position against his body,
there was little else that was the same as that first kiss. For one thing, his mouth pressed a whole lot harder on hers. For
another, he stroked her lower lip with his tongue, which made her gasp, which allowed him to slip inside and that was where
the trouble started.
For the first time in her life, Ryleigh found herself being thoroughly kissed by Alex. Kissed as if he meant it, kissed as
if he wanted her desperately and was determined she knew. She went from “well, this is nice” to “take me, take me now!” in
about six-point-two seconds. She had trouble catching her breath and her heart was pounding. A tingly, melty sensation started
deep in her belly and kept moving down. Her girl parts all took notice and clamored for a little lip action themselves. And
for the first time in her life, she wondered if she was actually going to faint.
Alex drew back and released her.
“Better?” he asked, watching her intently.
She had to inhale twice before she had enough air to speak and even then her voice cracked a little because she was shaking.
“It was good,” she murmured, not quite able to look him in the eye. “So I’m going to get Lucy and go home. I’ll think about
all this and we can talk later.”
“I’d like that.”
She glanced around, trying to orient herself in space and time. “The, ah, bedroom.”
His lips twitched as if he were trying not to smile. “It’s that way.”
“Thank you.”
Later, when she could think again, she would figure out what had happened. Later she would be sensible. For now her biggest
concern was whether or not she had the mental fitness to get her cat and actually drive home.