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“I was just playing around.” He stood close behind her as she stared at the sketch.
It seemed ridiculous now that she’d found Hugh’s architecture talk boring when they’d first met. Standing in front of his intricate drawing made her view his work entirely differently. It struck her how much her opinion of him had altered too. When they’d first met she’d thought him a little dull, when in reality he was sweet and kind and slightly awkward. But also focused and talented. And good looking to boot, she thought.
A pang of desire hit her core as she turned to look at him square on.
He shifted his weight. “Is this weird?”
“How do you mean?”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d think it odd, me taking so much interest in your hobbies. That’s why I was nervous about showing you.”
“I don’t find it weird,” she said, tilting her head as it hit her just how quickly she was falling for him. “I think it’s amazing.”
“It made a pleasant change from loft conversions.”
“Don’t you enjoy that?”
He pursed his lips. “It pays the bills, and it’s actually not as boring as it sounds.”
“It doesn’t sound boring.” She reached for his hand, lightly curling her fingers around his in an action that made him inch closer to her. “I’m not convinced loft conversions would truly fulfil your potential, but I wouldn’t call it boring.”
“Leo and Damian are always telling me I should broaden my horizons, but with Emmy I always needed to play it safe career-wise.”
She nodded, but struggled to fully concentrate on his words while the feel of his fingers stroking hers caused another tug of desire to shoot through her. “You’re kind of amazing, you know?”
His shoulders bunched up and his whole body seemed to reject her words as he took an almost imperceptible step away from her.
“You are,” she said, tightening her grip on his hand. “It’s amazing that you sacrificed so much for Emmy, an—”
“I didn’t sacrifice anything for Emmy,” he said firmly.
She smiled. “That’s a lie. But not only that, you’re brilliant at what you do …” Her gaze swept to the computer and then to the sketch on the desk. “This is really brilliant.”
“It looks impressive,” he said, eyes darting all around. “But …”
“No buts!” She cut him off and positioned herself squarely in his personal space. “Stop playing it down. You’re amazing. Why is it so difficult for you to take a compliment?”
“It’s not,” he said awkwardly.
She laughed. “You look as though you want to crawl out of your skin and slither away.”
“That’s not true.” He gave a quick, decisive shake of the head as his hands went to her hips. “I definitely don’t want to get away from you.”
“Glad to hear it.”
She slid her hands up his arms and hooked them around his neck, her fingers creeping up into the short hair at the back of his head. When she kissed him, the intensity of it was immediate. He let out a hum of a moan, then moved against her, pushing her back until she connected with the desk. The kisses were rushed and greedy, sending delicious waves of desire crashing through Allie’s whole body.
Feeling light-headed, she put a hand beside her on the desk. The rustle of paper made Hugh stop. In unison, they looked down at the now slightly crinkled corner of the paper with his sketch.
“Sorry,” Allie said without a lot of conviction.
“It’s fine,” Hugh muttered right before their lips met again. He broke the kiss almost immediately and his hand went to smooth out the crinkle in the paper.
“Not fine?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
“It’s fine … but it took me several hours so perhaps we could …” He moved her gently to the side, then walked her back against the wall. “I don’t think we’ll damage anything here,” he murmured, his breath sweeping tantalisingly over her lips. He looked her right in the eyes before he covered her mouth with his. When his tongue swept into her mouth, she pressed her body against his and got lost in an overwhelming rush of lust.
The ache for him was so strong that she had to restrain herself from tugging off his clothes. They should probably move out of his office if they were going to take things further.
