I walked across the room and wrapped my hands around her arms gently. She stopped talking but still wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“The window,” I said. “The curtains are open. I'm sure there are people who know where you live. I wouldn’t want to add more fuel to the media fire.”
“Oh.” The word was a whisper and she finally met my gaze, the tension leaving her body. “Thank you.”
I wanted to kiss her again, but the moment, the heat, was gone.
For now.
She bent to give Brontë a few pets, waking the old girl up, and then helped her to her unsteady feet and led her to the front door where she clipped her leash in place.
I pointed to the binder on the coffee table.
“Those are fantastic. Thoughtful. Smart… Insightful.”
“Thank you, Graham. That means a lot coming from you.”
I could see it now. The wall was back in place. But not fully. There was space for me now. A little cove of trust.
“I’m not done with them,” I said. “I’ll be back to read the rest.”
“Okay.”
I took the leash, my fingers brushing against hers.
“Do you think you might want to join Brontë and I for a walk again tomorrow?” I asked.
She hesitated for a moment, chewing her lower lip.
“Can we go to Joe’s again?” she asked, looking at me with those molten golden-brown eyes.
“We’d be stupid not to.”
Chapter 26
Lior
I didn’t call Addie like I normally would. For some reason I didn’t take what had happened between Graham and I as lightly as I’d pretended in my living room. I didn’t have the bandwidth to tell her all the details and giggle like we had a million times before because there was something between us. It was obvious. But I knew he was hurting still from his last relationship, and I still wasn’t sure I could trust myself to notice the red flags a man showed me, whether blatant or not. How did I know Graham, who had a book coming out early next year, wouldn’t use my celebrity to garner more attention for it?
He didn’t seem the type. But they never did.
And yet… that kiss.
“Fuck me,” I said, staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.
My body was still buzzing from the feel of his tongue in my mouth and his hard body against mine. How badly I’d wanted to run my hands over his chest and reach down the front of his joggers and get a handful of him. I pushed off the counter and shook my head, as if the action would remove the thoughts from my mind. How the hell was I supposed to take a leisurely walk with him tomorrow and not think about that kiss the entire time?
Instead of sitting down to do the research I’d planned for the afternoon, I took the subway into Manhattan and did my best to forget things with a shopping spree that required a cab ride home and the driver’s help getting everything inside. Afterwards, I changed back into my sweats and went for a jog, music blasting in my ears, eyes on the pavement ahead of me. I didn’t stop until my shirt was soaked, taking a seat on a bench to catch my breath and pulling my headphones off, the quiet of the park a much-needed respite.
“Lior?”
I looked up and found myself staring up at Graham, his own shirt damp with sweat.
His blue eyes were steady on mine, holding my gaze, a current passing between us and shooting straight through my center, making me squirm with want.
“Hey,” I said, my voice husky.
“Hey.”
