Christian’s words fell like sexy-as-hell anvils and crushed the argument poised on the tip of Emily’s tongue. His mouthsmiled, but his eyes didn’t. In fact, she’d go so far as to say his gaze was downright predatory.
A million reasons why what he was proposing was a terrible idea tumbled through her head. But none of them outweighed his offer.
Maybe because shewantedhim more than she’d ever wanted another man. Or maybe it was simply because her self-destruct button was bigger than most people’s and shehad this annoying habit of pushing it. Regardless of the reason, she found herself saying two words that were likely to come back to haunt her. “Okay, Christian.”
Victory blazed in his eyes, making his irises shoot green fire. Then he was kissing her.
No. Wait. Calling it a kiss was misleading. It was so much more than a mere kiss. It was a claiming. A warning. A dark promise of unspeakablepleasures to come.
She had just twined her arms around his neck, ready to settle in and get the show on the road—once she made a decision she didn’t see the point in dillydallying—when the sound of someone clearing his throat came from the open doorway.
Christian broke the seal of their lips enough to bark, “Go away!”
Emily chuckled at the fierceness of his tone.
“I hate to interrupt,”Angel said.
“Thendon’t!” Christian snarled.
“But Rusty and Ace are tearing into each other downstairs, and I think Emily should intercede before they kill one another.”
Christian let his forehead fall against Emily’s. “To be continued?”
“You betcha” was what she told him, but she had a sneaking suspicion that if she had time to think about what she’d agreed to, she might waffleon her decision.
Christian sat back, taking his lovely mouth, sweet-smelling breath, and delicious heat with him. He dropped his hands from her face, and her cheeks stung at the cool kiss of the air.
“What in the world could Rusty and Ace have to fight about?” He turned to Angel.
By way of answer, Angel simply shrugged.
“I think—” Emily had to clear her throat. Passion had thickenedit, making her words no more than a hoarse whisper. “I think it has something to do with Ace being out of the closet and Rusty beingin,” she managed. “It’s caused tension.”
Christian frowned at her before posing a question to Angel. “And what, precisely, isEmilymeant to do about that?”
Again Angel shrugged. This time he added a set of splayed hands to the gesture.
Christian sighedand stood from the sofa. Emily took the opportunity to suck in a deep breath and will some feeling back into her limbs. Christian’s kiss had caused all her blood to rush to her core. It was still tingling.
When he glanced down at her, he caught the look on her face and smiled. Or smirked rather. As if he knew the effect he had on her.
The arrogant SOB.
When she stood, she hoped hecouldn’t tell how rubbery her legs were. His ego was big enough as it was.
“Not that I think it’s any of our business, but let’s go stop the bloodshed, shall we?” He offered his hand.
She hesitated to take it. Number one, because Angel was watching, a spark of curiosity in his hell-black eyes. And number two, fuck buddies didn’t hold hands. Fuck buddies just…well…you know.
“No useclosing the barn door after the horse has bolted, Emily.” Christian tilted his head toward Angel. “He’s caught us kissing.Twice.”
“Right.” She took his hand, doing her best to ignore thezingshe felt when his rough palm rubbed against her much softer one. “It’s casual,” she told Angel. “We’re keeping it casual.”
Instead of answering, Angel simply raised a brow. Which infuriated her.Because that cocked brow saidwhatever you have to tell yourselflouder than words ever could.
“Are you going to announce that to everyone we meet?” Christian asked as they walked past the mahogany end table parked beside the chair where he had previously sat. With her. In. His.Lap.
“I think it’s best to disabuse our coworkers of any ideas to the contrary, don’t you? Put everything outthere so there’s no confusion. I mean, living and working with them day in and day out will mean they’re hip to what’s happening. No keepingthatcat in the bag. But they might not be hip to what we’rethinking, and then they might assume…um…things.” It was only when she ran out of steam that she realized she’d said all that without taking a breath.
