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It felt as if he was offering her the world on a platter. The inherent danger of the feeling was lost to her excitement. The cube had stopped moving. She stopped breathing. All at once the glass went clear, and everything was lit with the last rays of golden sunshine.
‘Alexander...’ she breathed. It was breathtaking. She wanted to take it all in at once, but there was so much to see.
‘You wanted a view.’
And he had given it to her. Then she looked down through the glass floor and swayed. It was a daunting thing to look hundreds of metres straight down to the city below.
His arms wrapped tighter around her. ‘I’ve got you.’
Emma leaned into his embrace, her eyes never once leaving the view. And that was how they stood, bodies pressed together, with nothing needing to be said as the sun sank below the horizon.
As the sky became inky, more and more lights began to twinkle below them. Suddenly the barely discernible streets became snaking paths of gold. The steel and glass structures around them weren’t glowing but glittering, as a sea of lights reflected on their surfaces. Everywhere she looked, it was as if a new sequin came to life.
From up here everything seemed so small. Inconsequential. Her job, her family—none of it mattered. They were all just a blip in the tapestry of this city. Well, almost all of them.
Emma hazarded a glance behind her and saw Alex’s gaze fixed on the distance. She had called him a master of the universe, and he had never looked more like it than right now. The world was his to do with as he pleased.
‘Thank you, Alexander.’
In that moment, standing high above the dazzling city she loved so much, she felt every bit of the hurt and disappointment of earlier fade away as if it had never existed. All there was, was her and Alex and this amazing sight. A gift that only he could give her.
Turning in his arms, she held the lapels of his jacket, raised herself up and kissed him. He kissed her back. Claiming her just as much as she was claiming him. With all the fierceness she had in her...alight with passion and daring. Bold as she could be when she didn’t have to hide.
Her fingers moved up to his dark hair, tangling in the soft strands as his hand travelled up to her neck. He kissed her deeper, making her burn before he broke the connection of their lips.
‘Are you ready to go back?’
She took one last look behind her and nodded. Alex kept his eyes on her as he twirled his finger in the air and the cube began to slide back inside the building. When they walked back in, there was an attendant holding a tray with two glasses of champagne. Alex handed one to her, took the other in his hand.
She drew up to the large window with him beside her. ‘This was perfect.’
She clinked her glass against his and took a sip of the cool bubbly, her eyes catching his, and she knew that he was reminded of the very first drink they’d shared, just as she was.
CHAPTER NINE
EMMAHADBEENto her fair share of fancy dinners. Every manner of restaurant openings and A-list events. It came with the territory. Brown Hughs was a large, well-respected PR and marketing company, and Emma’s surname meant she was inevitably taken along for the ride. But even though she’d had all those experiences, none of them compared to sitting across the table from Alex, with the city far, far below them, admiring it through the floor-to-ceiling windows next to her with not another soul in the restaurant.
Somehow Alex had managed to book the entire place. An award-winning kitchen was at work just for them.
They didn’t even bother with menus. They were enjoying a seven-course dinner of the chef’s finest food.
Alex sat back in his chair as the server cleared away their empty plates. His eyes were intense in the dimly lit restaurant. Light and shadow engaged in a battle over his sculpted face, making him look even more predatory than usual. Emma was fighting the urge to crawl over the table onto his lap, and almost as if he could read her mind he smiled at her.
A cheeseboard and the most artistic dessert Emma had ever seen were placed before them. Before she could even thank their server she was gone. Still, Alex didn’t take his eyes off her.
Emma shook herself free of the spell he had placed her under. Despite what their relationship was meant to be, she wanted to know so much more about him. What he had done for her tonight was something she would treasure always. But there was still so little she knew of him, and it didn’t feel right to scour the internet for answers now that she knew him. She had a feeling that what she found wouldn’t accurately reflect the man in any case. Every time he avoided saying something she would see the shutters falling in his eyes, and it made her want to know more.
‘So tell me...in this arrangement of ours, am I permitted to get to know you better?’ she asked.
Alex chuckled. ‘What do you want to know?’
His eyes followed the movement of her lifting her spoon to her mouth, closing her lips around the silver, and for just a moment it looked as if his pupils had blown wide, and his throat bobbed.
‘You mentioned that you don’t often go to your family manor. Why is that?’ Emma asked.
Alex kept silent. The heated look in his eyes cooled. She could see a muscle flicker in his jaw.
‘Alexander? Am I not allowed to know the answer to that question?’ she asked lightly, trying to keep the atmosphere between them upbeat.
