Page 12 of Spark of Attraction

There was a long pause because Josh replied, “Are you sure you’re ready for a relationship? That you’re done grieving Gareth?”

Gareth’s death had been a relief, but the only people I’d admitted that to so far were my therapist and my mom. The latter of whom may have told Josh but I wasn’t sure. “He’s been dead nearly two years. And I have been on a couple dates already.” Disasters both but I wasn’t about to admit that.

“Are you sure about this?” Josh asked.

Josh is not Gareth. He’s not controlling you, I repeated to myself when I found it hard to breathe. Josh was simply trying to look out for me like he had all my life, like a big brother should. “No. But it’s Malcolm. Not a stranger who would be even more of a risk. I’ve known him all my life. You’re his best friend. Doesn’t that give him a seal of approval?”

Not that Josh’s approval mattered to me. He’d liked Gareth. Everybody had liked Gareth. Only I saw what he was really like behind closed doors. Well, maybe his lovers on the side had an inkling, not that it stopped them from sleeping with my husband.

Josh blew out a breath and I could picture him running his hands through his hair, making it stick up in all directions. “All right. I’ll try not to interfere. But if Malcolm hurts you, I’m going to pound his face in, you hear me?”

Which was as good as I’d get, I decided.

Two hours after I’d hung up on Josh, and after I’d finished a video call with a client, I found myself wandering around the house, returning again and again to stare at the kitchen outlet that had brought Malcolm back into my life. I was standing there, remembering the kiss I’d given him, the way he’d responded, when the doorbell rang.

I opened the door, expecting to find the roofer. Instead, Malcolm stared back at me, wearing another set of workpants liberally spattered with something that looked like drywall spackle, and a black t-shirt that said “Electricians Do It in the Dark.” He also had a peace lily tucked under one arm.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted out, then realized it sounded rude. “Is there something wrong? Do you need an answer about your quote already?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

MALCOLM

I opened my mouth to answer her, but my tongue got all tangled up on an answer. She was in a different outfit this afternoon. She’d pulled her hair into some fancy do, had done her makeup so her eyes looked bigger than normal, and wore a white professional-looking button-up blouse with the top two buttons undone, revealing a chunky necklace of some shiny black stone that would be fit for working an office. But from waist down she wore red-and-black plaid pajama-style pants, and those adorable pink bunny slippers.

Maybe she’d been on one of the video conferences where she only had to look businesslike from the waist up?

But the way she stared at me, eyes wide, those lush lips parted, waiting for my response, made me want to kiss her senseless. To take her in my arms, carry her up the stairs, strip us both naked and have wild, uninhibited sex.

“Nope, nothing’s wrong.” I gestured with my chin toward the front door. “Can I come in?”

She nodded and led the way. I stepped inside, dumped the plant on the side table beside the dish where she kept her keys.

“As for why I’m here, I’ve been thinking about doing this since last time I saw you.”

Then, mirroring what she’d done with me, I took her face in my hands and brushed my lips against hers. She tilted her head and returned the kiss with a moan of desire that made my dick uncomfortably hard. She wrapped her arms around me, her fingers digging into my ass, pulling me closer as she ground against me. A coconut scent wafted off her, and she tasted of it too, though maybe that was her lip gloss? Another quiet sound escaped her, not of pain or complaint, but like a cat’s purr.

Without breaking our kiss, I kicked the door closed with my heel. The ticktock of the ancient grandfather clock in the hallway stood as a slow counterpoint to my racing heart.

We were both breathing hard by the time we broke the kiss. It took all my effort not to make good on my fantasy of hauling her upstairs.

To distract myself from my fantasies of stripping her naked and taking her right there on the stairs, I nodded toward the plant I’d brought her. “Mom asked me to give this to you as a housewarming gift,” I lied. I’d bought it myself fully intending to use it as an icebreaker, a way to see her again. “It’s supposed to help clean the air.”

“Thanks.” She grabbed the potted plan and placed it on the mantel in the living room. Then stood there, staring at it.

She finally lifted her eyes to meet mine. Her eyes weren’t shiny like she’d been fighting tears, but there was a bruised air about her, like she was haunted. “We need to talk.”

Shit. That was exactly what Natalie had said when she’d announced she was leaving me. Even if Ellie was about to say, “I don’t want to see you again,” at least I’d know there was no future with her.

Bracing for the worst, I nodded. “Okay.”

I waited for her to start. Except she didn’t. She simply stood there, staring at the floor between us.

“Ell? Do you want me to leave?”

With a shake of her head, she closed her eyes. “No. I’m being stupid, that’s all.”

What happened to the confident Ellie from high school? “You’re the least stupid person I know. So what’s going on?”

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