Don't Say a Word - Barbara Freethy [62]
She didn't know when his opinion had become important to her, but it had, and she seemed to wait forever for him to respond. She licked her lips in nervous impatience and saw his gaze drop from her eyes to her mouth, and just like that the air between them became charged with electricity. "Alex?" she prodded. "You were going to say?" "I have no idea. You distracted me." She swallowed hard at the desire flaring in his eyes. "Maybe you should go back to your room."
"Just when things are getting interesting? Weren't you the one complaining that I always stop in the middle of a conversation?"
"Which you just did. I was telling you about my passion, and you didn't even respond."
"Oh, I responded all right," he said. "Believe me." She felt a warm flush wash over her cheeks. "That's not what I meant." "You want to know what I think, Julia?" She slowly nodded. "Yes."
"I think you're the most fascinating, beautiful woman I've run across in a long time. I like your passion for music. I like that your dreams are big and bold. And I like the way you lick your bottom lip when you feel things you shouldn't feel-the way you're doing now." He held out his hand to her. "Come here."
Her breath caught in her chest. She couldn't. It was tempting, but it was wrong. "I can't."
He swung his legs to the floor and moved so quickly she didn't realize his intention until his arms came around her shoulders and his face moved within inches of her own. "You know what an engagement period is for? To figure out if the person you're going to marry is the one you really want."
"I think it's just supposed to give you time to plan the wedding," she said somewhat desperately.
"I want you, Julia. I think you feel the same way, even though you're fighting it as hard as you can."
"Even if I did want you," she said breathlessly, as his mouth moved closer to hers, "it would be a fling for you, a one-night stand. You said yourself that's not what I'm about." But wasn't that exactly what she wanted right now? His hands were stroking her back, his breath hot on her face, his mouth so temptingly within reach. Every instinct she had was telling her to go for it.
Her cell phone rang, the sound hitting her like a splash of cold water in the face. She jumped back. Alex's hands fell to his sides.
"Saved by the bell," he mocked. "Are you going to answer it?"
She grabbed the phone out of her purse and saw it was Liz. "There's no way I can tell her where I am right now. She wouldn't understand.I don't understand." She stared at him, feeling as angry with him as she was with herself, because he was confusing her even more. "I'm supposed to be in love with Michael. I don't know why I want you so much," she said honestly, "but I think you need to go back to your room."
"What I need is you. One kiss."
"It won't stop there."
"It will- unless you don't want it to."
"You're the devil, you know that?"* "I've been called worse. Don't you want to be sure, Julia? If you're really supposed to marry your Michael, then this won't bother you at all."
Before she could answer, his mouth covered hers with a purpose and determination that cut through her 156 defenses. She might have been able to fight him, but she couldn't fight herself, too. She wasn't that strong. One kiss, she thought. Then she could get him out of her system.
"Julia still isn't picking up her phone," Liz complained. Michael didn't answer. He was busy scraping wallpaper off what would be the master bedroom in his new house. His shirt was unbuttoned, and there was a fine layer of perspiration across his chest. She drew in a deep breath and forced herself to look away and focus on the matter at hand. She'd been calling Julia off and on all day, but aside from one brief message from her sister stating that she was on to a new lead, there had been nothing but silence. "I need to talk to her about the newspaper article. And a man called our apartment earlier. He had a heavy accent, and he asked for Julia. His voice made my skin crawl." Which is why she'd come running to Michael's house.
Michael paused, wiping