Page 52 of Secret Paths

“You did.”

“I paused.”

“Mmm.”

“That was a very judgemental noise.”

“It was a medical noise.”

“There are medical noises?”

“There are when a man kisses you into a wall and then suddenly forgets what his hands are doing.”

I look down.

One of my hands is still at her waist.

The other is resting against the wall beside her shoulder, doing absolutely nothing of any use to anyone.

“That hand is supervising,” I say.

“It is doing a terrible job.”

“I will speak to it later.”

“Peter.”

There it is again. My name without a joke attached to it.

I let my forehead rest against her shoulder for a second. Her perfume is there, warm from her skin, and underneath it the faint clean smell of her house. I should be able to lose myself in that. In her.

Instead, my mind is still picking at Hunter’s offer like a loose thread.

“I am sorry,” I say.

Mandy’s fingers relax against my chest. “You do not have to apologise.”

“I would prefer to be better company when I have been invited in for immoral purposes.”

“That does sound like a basic courtesy.”

“I am usually very courteous.”

Her mouth moves, but she does not quite smile. “Is this about Hunter’s offer?”

I push out a breath.

“Yes.”

She nods once, as if she already knew but wanted me to say it.

Of course she did.

“It is not that I do not want you,” I add, because apparently I am now a man who clarifies that sort of thing. “Just in case that was not clear from the enthusiastic start.”

“That part was clear.”

“Good.”