“Finally,” Julia cried with sincere exasperation as she got up to kiss our newest arrival hello. Alba was smiling but something wasn’t quite right. She was also looking at everyone except me.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” She threw her hands in the air, before bending down to kiss everyone on the cheek. “Today was a shit show of massive proportions, but I am mostly done with that makeover. Hey, Theo.” She sounded breezy enough, but when she turned to me her eyes were guarded, like she expected me to be mad at her.

“Hey, yourself,” I said and smiled up at her. Then to really drive home the fact that we were cool, I stood up and kissed her on the cheek. She seemed surprised, but a little pleased too. When she looked up at me, I could still see that little bit of wariness, and all I wanted was to kiss it away. I wanted more than anything to be the resting place for this woman. To be the person she went to when the world outside just got to be too much.

“Thanks for holding down the fort.” She was in what I’d come to learn was her usual working-for-Bookish-Boudoir attire. Jeans, long-sleeved T-shirt, work boots and her curls pulled back with a headband. She licked her bottom lip nervously and a wave of pure lust almost leveled me.

“You look adorable in Timberlands.” She blushed so sweetly and it was all I could do not to maul her right there and then. “That ass still on point too.” That part was whispered, and she inhaled sharply. Today I was ready to push her buttons a little. This taking it slow thing was coming to a head, and I didn’t know how much longer I could wait before I made my move. I wanted her too fucking much. I needed to know if all those heated glances I’d been getting meant what I thought they did.

“Go get your swimsuit on.” I had to close my hand into a fist not to slap her ass. Her breaths were coming all short like she was thinking about the same thing I was.

“I’ll have a glass of rosé and a plate for you when you come back down.”

She eyed me suspiciously, as she popped a grape from the charcuterie board into her mouth. “Why are you being nice to me after I left you to deal with my friends for two hours?”

“Because now you owe me, Alba Encarnacion, and I plan to collect my debt later.”

“Is that a threat, Theo Ganas?” she asked with a hitch in her voice that told me I wasn’t the only one still thinking about that night on the couch.

“That’s a promise, culona.”

Chapter Thirteen

Alba