39. TWENTY #2
With nine months left until the end of the season—ergo, our scheduled breakup—and how long it typically takes to close on a property, Macon will probably never even see the theater room, let alone play computer games in there.
“Yeah,” I answer anyway, the sound a little choked. “He’d love that.”
Imani, oblivious to the thoughts swirling in my head, clicks her heels around the dining table, and takes position by the door. “Would you like me to show you the rest of the property, or would you prefer to explore on your own?”
Alex looks down at me, his thumb shifting from my knuckle to stroke the tip of it over my wrist instead. Such a simple touch, but it has my skin breaking out in goosebumps and my breaths falling a little shorter.
“I think we’re good.” His gaze doesn’t leave mine.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was planning to fuck me on the counter the moment Imani leaves the room.
He has the adoring, bedroom-eyed expression down to a tee.
And it doesn’t help that I can picture him as the sort of man to enjoy spontaneous acts of passion, whenever and wherever the feeling takes him.
Not that I even know what passion looks like. Sebastian was many things, but passionate was not one of them. In the scattering of times we had sex, he had more of an in-and-out mentality. No making out, no foreplay—unless he was the recipient, of course—and definitely no fucking in public.
I don’t think he has a passionate bone in his entire body.
Alex, on the contrary, appears to have many—one quite generous one in particular, if my memory is to be believed.
“No problem.” Imani nods, the consummate professional. “I’ve got a few calls to catch up on anyway, so if you need me, I’ll be right outside.”
“Thank you.”
Alex doesn’t drop my hand in her absence. In fact, he tightens his grip. But what surprises me most is that I’m glad for it.
I don’t know if it’s being in this perfect house, the look he gave me just now, or knowing what he did to protect Macon from the media, but something has caused warmth to leak from my heart and spill through my entire body.
I swallow, and so does he, drawing my attention to the ripple of his Adam's apple. It’s unexpectedly erotic. As is the way he slicks his tongue along his bottom lip then follows it with a scrape of his teeth.
He watches me watch him, and only when my gaze has returned to his does he allow his own to explore. I can feel the heat of it stroking me as it travels down my face, over my dress, to my bare legs, where it lingers for a while.
What’s happening right now?
This isn’t exactly an opportune time to check each other out. We’re at a house viewing, for Christ’s sake. We shouldn’t be looking at each other like this at all, but definitely not here, in a house that we don’t own, with a realtor waiting outside.
I clear my throat to break the spell and pull my hand out of his. “We should check out the other rooms.”
His lips quirk, as if he has a sixth sense and can tell what’s happening inside of me.
I roll my eyes, though my irritation is directed more toward myself than him. I know better than to allow myself to get caught up in moments like this.
“Let’s see the first floor.” My voice is too loud, but at least the volume helps disguise the tremble in it. I don’t wait for him to respond, just march back into the hallway, where a spiral staircase leads up to the next story.
It takes everything in me not to take the steps two at a time. I need to put some space between us, need a little breathing room to get myself under control.
I don’t get it, though.
Within seconds, I can feel him behind me again, the heat of him warming my back. I take the stairs faster and growl at the low, breathy chuckle that whispers across the back of my neck.
“Are you okay?” he asks. “You seem flustered.”
“I’m fine.” I throw open the first door I find and bolt through it.
Naturally, Alex slips through the door before I have a chance to slam it behind me. And that’s when I realize my mistake.
Of all the many rooms on this level, of course I chose the laundry room. It can’t be more than seven feet long and four feet wide, with two washers and dryers flanked by shelving on the back wall.
There’s nowhere to hide.
My pulse spikes, the silence between us simmering with tension that glitters in the air like sun dust. My skin erupts in goosebumps, and there’s a steady beat between my legs that aches in its intensity.
If I don’t put at least ten yards between us in the next thirty seconds, I’m going to humiliate myself.
I’ve never felt such an all-consuming desire for a man before. And it’s a great tragedy that my body has selected Alex as its first target, a man that has a whole roster of women at his disposal should he choose to use it.
“What now?” He crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe, oozing confidence.
I don’t know.
I’m all out of options, and he knows it.
“I think I’m gonna check out the dryer while you make yourself busy in another room.” I release a ragged breath. “Preferably on the far end of the house.”
He pins me with a penetrating stare, tipping his head to one side. His pupils are blown, his gaze so hot on mine that I swear I start to perspire. “Why?”
Because I can’t think when you’re so close to me. Because I’m scared of what I’ll do if you touch me again.
“Because you keep looking at me like…”—I wave my hand in the direction of his face—“that.”
“Is it making you uncomfortable?”
“Yes.” I squeeze my thighs together in a bid to alleviate the ache.
“This house, our kisses, your flirting…none of it is real. You’re only looking at me like that because you haven’t had sex in a while, and you have no other option.
It isn’t because you actually want me, you know?
And I know that, and I’m fine with it. I don’t want you to want me.
” Lie. “My body just hasn’t quite gotten on board with it yet.
She’s quite a horny bitch, apparently. It’s highly inconvenient, but nothing I can’t control.
Just as long as you give me a minute to get the slut back in line. ”
My ears whoosh in embarrassment.
Fuck, I can’t believe I just admitted that all out loud.
He nods. “I see.”
I leave an extended pause, waiting for him to say something else. Anything else.
But he doesn’t, and the burning in my cheeks begins to sear. Shame turns to nausea, and there’s nothing else I want to do right now than run somewhere far, far away.
I can’t look at him. My chin falls to my chest to hide my face, my hair falling like a curtain around me. “Great, well, now that that’s sorted, I think we should—”
“But I do want you.”
The shock of his statement forces my gaze back up.
“At first, I thought the same as you, that I just needed to get laid. Maybe, then, I’d stop lusting after you like a teenager who’s just discovered porn.” He pushes off the door and stalks toward me.
Jealousy drops like a weight in my stomach, and I hope to God he can’t read it on my face. I’ve shown too many cards already.
“But I don’t want to fuck another woman.
” There’s an edge to his voice, as if the fact makes him angry.
“I haven’t even thought about it, not really.
When I pass a woman in the street, I don’t look twice.
When the waitress at the restaurant I went to with the boys this week slipped me her number on a napkin, I didn’t even glance at it.
I haven’t looked at another woman in weeks, and yet, I can’t stop fucking looking at you. ”
With every step he takes toward me, I take a step back, until my legs hit the washer, and there’s nothing to do but hold my breath as he reaches me.
He looms over me, bringing his nose just a millimeter from mine. “You have no fucking idea what you’re doing to me, do you?”
I gasp, the sound drawing his gaze to my lips.
Between us, our heartbeats drum a matching rhythm to the pulse between my legs. His breath, warm and soft, shivers against my skin. My fingers twitch at my sides, tingling with the need to touch him.
“What am I doing to you?” I breathe.
“Let me show you.” It’s barely a whisper. It’s a plea, if anything. Rough and desperate. “Please.”
It’s the last word that has me.
The minimal control I had left snaps like a twig underfoot. The reasons why we shouldn’t do this dissolve into the air, mixing with the swirling mist of our shaky breaths, drowned out by the humming of our desire.
“Yes,” I beg. “Show me.”