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He thought for the moment. ‘Although I’m not sure I can sustain that level of busy for more than a couple of hours. I guess we’ll just have to wing it.’
He took the cup from her hand, putting it down on the table.
‘Alex! Not again!’
‘We have time. You could be half an hour late for work, couldn’t you?’
‘No, I couldn’t. And neither could you. What kind of example is that?’
He chuckled. ‘It’s a dreadful example. We shouldn’t do it...’ His eyes flashed with boyish mischief as he raised her hand to his lips.
‘There you go, then.’
She really wanted to stay...just for another fifteen minutes. But temptation was there to be resisted.
Marie pushed him away, and he flopped back onto the pillows, laughing.
‘Can I at least watch you dress? Crumbs to a starving man...?’ She was picking her clothes up from the floor.
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‘You are not starving, Alex.’
He couldn’t possibly be—not after last night. She pulled on her underwear, and then his jeans, belting them tight around her waist. Then she crawled onto the bed, keeping the crumpled duvet between his body and hers.
‘One kiss.’
‘Just a kiss?’ He grinned at her.
‘Yes. No cheating, Alex...’
He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. Those hands were his most potent weapon. She dipped down, planting one kiss on his lips, thrilling at his sigh of disappointment as she left him, hurrying into the sitting room to find her top and shoes.
She drove home in the clinic’s electric car, with the radio playing and Alex’s scent still on her body. Even after she’d showered it felt like she was still his. He’d claimed her, and she couldn’t escape by merely being apart from him.
She dressed, drying her hair in front of the mirror. There was something different...something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Her expression made her look like the cat that had got the cream, and try as she might she couldn’t persuade her face to assume her usual smile.
But Marie need not have worried. When she saw Alex at the clinic, he smiled his usual greeting. He made the Monday morning meeting easy, not seeking out her gaze but not afraid to meet it. He acted as if last night had never happened. If anyone should divine that something earth-shaking had happened to her over the weekend, they never would have connected Alex with it.
It was slightly unnerving. Marie didn’t want anyone to know any more than he did, but her vanity felt he might have made this appear a little more difficult.
But it was just the way Alex was. He was protecting his privacy and hers. He’d grown up learning to maintain a face for the world that didn’t show any of his true feelings, and it had become a matter of habit for him. She shouldn’t confuse that with the real Alex. The one who’d made love to her last night, who’d listened to her heart calling him, and whose heart had replied so eloquently.
Alex had phoned the hospital and the news was good. Charlie’s leg had been operated on yesterday afternoon and he was recovering well. Zack was eager to visit him, and Alex had said he’d go too. Marie had decided that three around his bed might be a little too much for Charlie, so she contented herself with packing a bag full of things he might need, along with a few treats, and had given it to Zack to take in.
‘So how is he?’ When Alex walked into her office later, she breathed a sigh of relief that she no longer had to pretend to work while she waited for them to get back.
‘He’s okay.’ Alex closed the door behind him and sat down. ‘He’s pretty sore and he’s got a real shiner. But I spoke to his surgeon and he’ll mend.’
‘Great. That’s good.’
Marie wondered if she was supposed to keep the pretence up now that they were alone. Perhaps the rule was that they only referred to last night when they were off clinic premises.
‘I saw his mother as well. I told her we’ll provide whatever Charlie needs in the way of rehab and that either you or I will personally oversee his case.’
‘Good. Thanks. She’s happy with that?’
Knowing what to do with her hands was a problem. She’d known exactly what to do with them last night, but that wasn’t appropriate here.
