“Trivia host was an idiot, though.”
“I mean, technically—”
“No, nottechnically. It was a poorly worded question open to interpretation. That was his fault.”
She laughs, throwing her head back. “Oh my God, let itgo.”
He laughs with her. The sound of his voice vibrates straight through her, low and mesmerizing. “Do you think I did alright?” he asks. “With the others, I mean.”
“You were great. Peter even said to me that you weren’t as bad as he thought. Don’t tell him I told you that, though. He swore me to secrecy.”
He chuckles. “My lips are sealed.”
When they finally arrive outside her apartment building, Eden suddenly doesn’t want to go. She’s about to ask Alexander if he’d like to walk her in, just so she can spend a few more minutes with him, but he’s already getting out of the car and circling around front to open the passenger-side door for her. He offers her his hand. She doesn’t think twice and takes it.
They walk together, taking their sweet time venturing down the hall. Her shoulder brushes up against his arm, but he doesn’t move away. In fact, he leans into the touch. His fingers ghost past hers, too many times to be considered an accident.
Something inside her is excited and bright, and Eden knows for a fact that it isn’t the last remnants of prosecco. She gets to the door of her apartment and opens it, turning to look up at Alexander. He’s inches away. Eden wonders when he’d grown comfortable enough to be so close.
She’s not complaining.
“Do you feel like coming in for a cup of coffee?” she asks, doing her best to keep calm and appropriate, but fuck it’s hard to do when he’s so damn close and smells so good.
In all fairness, Alexander really looks like he wants to kiss her. Lord knows Eden really wants to kisshim.
He doesn’t, though, and Eden’s never been more disappointed.
“I should... I should probably get going,” he says slowly, low and restrained. “It’s getting late. And I need you sharp tomorrow.”
Ah, damn it.
“Right. Totally understandable.”
“Goodnight, Eden.”
“Goodnight.”
She closes the door softly, exhaling as quietly as she can. Her heart’s pounding loudly in her chest, pulse so powerful that she can feel it in the tips of her fingers and toes. She supposes it’s just as well. Alexander’s just being responsible, and she can hardly fault him for that.
Eden turns to hang up her jacket and purse, toeing off her shoes. She’s just about ready to head to the bathroom to take a shower when...
There’s a knock at the door.
She whips it open.
“By ‘coffee,’ did you mean—”
Eden grabs him by the collar and drags him inside. Their lips come crashing together.
Glorious. That’s the only word he can come up with to describe kissing her.
Alexander picks her up like she weighs nothing and relishes the way Eden gasps in surprise. She instinctively wraps her legs around his hips, arms circling around his neck and shoulders for support. Their lips slot together, a perfect fit, breathing each other in like their lives depend on it.
It certainlyfeelslike their lives depend on it.
He pins her back against the nearest wall, suddenly winded when she rolls her hips against him, grinding against his stiffening erection. The languid moan he draws from her lips is downright sinful. Just the sound of her voice is enough to make him hard, so much so that it actually hurts not to take her then and there in the hall.
Alexander’s never felt this out of control before. He strains against the throbbing stiffness in his pants, desperately trying to hold back out of fear of hurting her. With Bea, he was used to fucking hard and fast. That’s how she liked it, and how he preferred it. But with Eden?
