Page 26 of Loving a Billionaire

“Shh, don’t say that,” he whispered as he lowered his mouth to hers. She didn’t pull away, but allowed him to kiss her. The kiss was soft, and sweet.Sweet?No, he didn’t want sweet. As he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss, she pushed him away.

“Kurt, this isn’t right.”

“Yes, it is. I can make it right.” He tried to bring her back, but she rose from the couch, shaking her head.

“Kurt, when I kiss you, I don’t want to taste alcohol. Sorry, but it’s not the right time to kiss you.”

Relief flooded through him, knowing it was just the beer that repelled her. “All right. Then, um... I’ll see you tomorrow?”

She smiled at him before moving to the door. “Well, if you can see through that headache, sure, I’ll see you tomorrow at work.”

He chuckled and relaxed into the couch as she walked out and shut the door. His heart soared with happiness. Perhaps there was a chance to make Talia love him for more than a partner.

ELEVEN

Talia’s headache wasprobably just as bad as she figured Kurt’s would be today. But for different reasons, of course.

She hesitated before walking into the police station. Her emotions were all over the place. When she’d left Kurt’s place last night, she was floating on air. She couldn’t believe he would feel the same way about her, and yet now it almost seemed like it was too late. Did she still have feelings for him, or were they being blocked because of her attraction to Austin Reeder?

Frowning, she rubbed her forehead. When she’d kissed Kurt last night, the strong beer taste in his mouth turned her off. For a brief moment before she was disgusted by that, an image of Austin popped into her head.

She hadn’t lied to Kurt about what she and Austin had done after she took out her earpiece. She’d actually enjoyed herself with him. They laughed. They talked about anything, and she was finally starting to feel like she was on a real date. When he walked her to the elevator, he did kiss her. It was very brief, but oh, so memorable.

Proceeding into the building, she held herself strong. She and Kurt needed to talk about last night. Things would be awkward between them if they didn’t. When she reached the section of the building that held her precinct, her attention zoomed toward Kurt’s desk. Empty. He wouldn’t have called in sick. He’d had hangover headaches before and still showed up to work the next day. Maybe he was embarrassed about admitting his feelings.

Groaning, she rubbed her forehead again. Now she felt like an idiot. Why had she told him about her infatuation? She should have known he’d been drinking too much, and he wasn’t thinking straight—

“Russell?”

She froze when she heard the harsh tone of Sergeant Feakes’ voice. Slowly, she turned to look in the man’s direction. He was a powerfully tall man, but in his mid-forties, he still had a full head of curly black hair without a hint of gray.

“Yes, sir,” she answered.

“I need to speak with you and Hamill ASAP.” His gaze moved around the room. “Where is he?”

“Um, I don’t know sir. I’m sure he’ll be in at any moment.”