Page 12 of Kiss Me Forever

"Very close. We've always done everything together: school, soccer, a short stint in gymnastics, until we both realized we were more likely to break something than win any awards."

Alex smiled. "It sounds like you're alike."

"Actually, we're very different, opposites in almost every way, but we're still super close, which has always amazed our friends. We went to college together, and we're part of a really tight group of girlfriends, who are all going to be bridesmaids in Laurel's wedding." She stopped abruptly, realizing she was rambling, but she was still rattled by her almost kiss with Alexander Donovan. "You don't want to hear all this."

"I'd rather talk about you than me."

"I'm not surprised, but we do need to keep talking about you."

"We will—tomorrow."

"It's still early," she protested.

"I have to meet someone," he said.

Of course he did. He probably had a real date waiting. "I understand."

"Maybe you can catch up with your friends."

"Maybe," she said lightly.

"Shall we go?"

"Lead the way."

* * *

Alex rolled down the window of his Mercedes as he drove away from the restaurant, feeling hot and a little off his game, and it was all because of Andrea. She was not what he'd expected. Not only was she a pretty blonde, but she was smart as hell, and he would not be able to pull his usual bullshit on her. He was both intrigued and annoyed by that realization. It had been a long time since he'd met a woman who challenged him in any way. But he needed to remember that Andrea had only one goal and that was to get him to spill his secrets. Her only interest in him was what he could do for her career.

Maybe it was good that her motives were in the open. He'd had women try to get ahead by getting involved with him. At least Andrea wasn't trying to hide anything.

But that didn't mean he was going to give her a good story. As far as he was concerned, by the end of this weekend she wouldn't know much more about him than she knew right now. And she would write an article like all the others he'd done.

"Where are we going tomorrow?" Andrea asked, as he pulled up in front of his office building, so she could get her car.

"You'll see."

"Really? You can't even give me a straight answer about that?" she asked dryly.

He grinned. "I like to be mysterious. But I will say that we're going to do something I enjoy very much." He gave her a quick glance. "Don't look so worried. It's not X-rated."

"I'm not worried. I can handle anything you have planned."

"That's probably true." He paused. "You didn't ask for this story, did you?"

"No," she admitted. "But it doesn't matter. I'm committed to doing a good job."

"What story would you rather be working on?"

"The one I've been researching the past six weeks."

"What's it about?"

"I can't get into details, but I have located a possible whistleblower in a company that makes something important to a lot of people. Something that if it isn't done right could be life-threatening."

He was intrigued by her words. "Now who's being mysterious?"

She shrugged. "I can't say more until I have more."

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