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I put on a show of laughing him off. “My liver has to recover from the weekend. Maybe another time.”
“I’ll text you.” He gave me a look I recognized all too well. It saidI’ll text you for a booty call, no drinks required,and ugh. We’d never even come close to hooking up, but I guess I’d flirted with him enough to leave him with the impression I’d be into it. I was mortified Alex had to witness this and there was nothing I could do.
Fortunately, Jimmy dropped it, allowing me to chat with Maeve and June a bit more before it was time for her to go back for Simone and for me to get back to work. I said goodbye to everyone, ignoring the fight my muscles were putting up to run and jump on Alex instead of walking out of the room. If we were going to keepuson the down low for a while, I’d have to start avoiding recording sessions. Too much awkward and not nearly enough touching.
I rode down on the elevator with Simone snuggled on my hip as she stared longingly at June by my side.
“What did you think?” I asked.
Her cheeks pinkened and lips parted in surprise. “Of what?”
“The band. Were they what you expected? Are you a fan?”
She adjusted her glasses, which were a touch too big for her heart-shaped face and kept sliding down her nose. “I love music, and I do love Unrequited. I’ve never been to a concert—”
My hand shot out to grip hers. “Hold up. You’ve never been toaconcert, or one of Unrequited’s?”
She shook her head, her pretty mouth pressing into a smile. “One of theirs. Live music is my thing.”
My hand fell away in relief. “We’ll have to get you to an Unrequited concert then. There’s nothing like it. You never did say what you thought of them?”
She giggled softly. “They were...bigger than I thought. At least the guys.”
That made me laugh, which caused Simone to join in too, blowing spit bubbles and drooling all over my sweater.
Worth it.
“One in particular?” I asked.
“The Garza brothers. They’re gigantic.” June seemed ready to melt into the floor. Fortunately for her, the doors opened to the lobby and I couldn’t question if a certain former member of Unrequited had especially caught her eye.
I gave Simone a few squeezes, then handed her off to June, ignoring the way my niece sighed with contentment to be back in June’s arms.Baby traitor.
Once I helped load the two of them into a car and they drove off, I turned around to look up at the building, wishing there was a way I could go back in. Obviously, Alex and I underestimated how difficult it would be to be in the same room but not together. I guess we’d done it for so long, we hadn’t blinked at the thought.
But it hurt and I just didn’t like it.
As I started down the sidewalk, footsteps pounded behind me. A second later, an arm banded around my stomach. Before I could faint, Alex purred my name in my ear.
“Alex,” I sighed, melting into him the way Simone had done to June a few moments ago. “Did I forget something?”
“Yep.” He maneuvered us from the center of the sidewalk to an alcove in the building and turned me around by my shoulders. “This.”
His mouth covered mine as his hands held my face. The second we touched, my balance was restored, and another second later, my feet were swept right back out from under me.
“I don’t like this,” he murmured against my lips. “Let’s go Fingering again. It was better there.”
“We could tell Mo…” But I knew what Alex would say, which was probably why I suggested it. I wasn’t quite ready to face up to my brother’s disapproval.
“We will, Boo.” He kissed me again, this time slower, wrapping me up so well, we could have been back in our rowboat, cocooned by fog, the only ones around for miles. Except that had been an illusion, just like this. We were in the middle of the city and could be caught at any time.
I swiped my thumb over his reddened bottom lip. “Not yet?”
Nodding, he kissed my forehead. “Not yet. Do we need to talk about Jimmy?”
“Nope.” I wrinkled my nose. “He’s far too tattooed and scruffy to ever turn my head. That was all wishful thinking on his part.”
Alex barked a laugh, then nibbled my chin until the entire surface of my skin was covered in goosebumps. “And I’m exactly your type.”
“You are. You set the standard for me, remember?”
“I never forget your sweet talk.” He let me go, and with a raised eyebrow, started walking backward toward the door. “I’ll see you later.”
I fell back into the brick wall, letting my head clunk against it a few times while my heart rate got under control. I’d always known Alex Murray would be the death of me, but I’d suspected the cause would be from my brain exploding in frustration. Now, it felt a lot more like my heart would explode with...well, something I wasn’t quite ready to name.
