His phone rang, cutting him off.
I smiled, almost relieved to be interrupted. We were getting into dangerously personal territory. ‘Derek, right?’
Patrick swore under his breath. ‘It’s like he’s got us bugged.’
‘Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past him,’ I joked.
Making a face, Patrick picked up the call. ‘Hello, my favourite person.’
I couldn’t hear the convo – not properly. All I had was Patrick’s side of it, but I was pretty certain I could guess the rest.
‘Yeah we – already online? Oh right … yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I guess we could – uh-huh. Whatever you say.’ Patrick’s smile was wry as he ended the call. ‘So, that was Derek.’
I laughed. ‘Obviously. What did he want?’ He hadn’t needed to stage an intervention or force us to get along for a while now. We’d been perfectly obedient, matter of fact.
Patrick’s smile softened as he stepped forward confidently, cupping my cheek with his hand and gazing deep into my eyes. ‘I’ll be honest, I’ve wanted to do this since we got coffee.’
My lips parted but no words came out. What the hell had his publicist said to him?
‘And I’m tired of us pretending we don’t want to do this,’ Patrick said quietly, brushing my cheek with his thumb.
I gaped. ‘Wh-What?’
He couldn’t mean what I thought he meant.
Right?
Patrick just cocked his head to the side. ‘You know, for your sister’s app. For my reputation. Everyone’s got to believe this. We’ve got to trick them. Trick the world into thinking this is real.’
‘Y-Yeah, I guess,’ I stammered, his thumb still swiping my cheek. I tried not to lean into the warmth of his hand, but utterly failed.
Patrick chuckled under his breath. ‘I’m going to tell you what Derek told me, but to be clear, this is not why I want to kiss you, OK?’ I could barely hear his words over the sound of my pulse roaring in my ears. ‘Some pap is following us right now, and Derek wants us to give them a show. But that doesn’t matter to me. I want to kiss you because you’re gorgeous and because not having you in my arms is literally killing me. And I think it’s killing you too.’
I swallowed. The desperation in his voice awakened something deep within me.
Something no one had ever awakened before. Not like this.
Furiously hating that I could feel the flush travelling down to my chest, I sighed out a breathless ‘Yeah.’
‘Yeah?’ Patrick’s murmur was low, suggestive, and it made my knees tremble.
Did he even realize he was doing this? Did he know the fire he was igniting in me?
‘Just fucking do it already,’ I said, voice just as low and soft.
Once I’d given him permission, he didn’t hang around. Patrick leaned forward and closed the miniscule gap between us, his lips crushing mine with a fervour that set me alight.
I gasped into the kiss, welcoming him deeper as his tongue trailed along my parted lips. My hands reached out andgrabbed his T-shirt, whether to pull him closer or to steady my own feet, I didn’t know.
Patrick’s nose nuzzled my face as he tilted his head, deepening the kiss, and I knew then: I was fucked.
He was delicious, and he made me feel like the most beautiful and alluring woman in the world.
Being kissed by him was the most electrifying, earth-shattering thing I had ever experienced.
And I never wanted to stop.
Somehow the kiss got away from me, away from us, out of control: he was biting and sucking on my lip while my fingers scraped and pulled at the hair at his nape. When his hand left my face to grasp my waist, his thumb swept under my top and left a teasing burning path, and all I wanted was for those fingers to trail lower.
