Page 62 of Where We Fall

"It wasn't ideal. I'm sure he just feels blindsided. He'll calm down."

"You think so? We shouldn't have been so cavalier. Kissing in the office without any concern about getting caught is irresponsible."

I close the distance between us and run my fingers along her soft cheeks. She leans into my touch, which makes my heart flutter in my chest.

"Don't worry about it, Lex. Trust me. Gabe and Luke have fucked their wives in their offices on more than one occasion. They're not innocent at all."

"Really?" she asks hopefully.

I lean in and kiss her forehead. I don't want her to feel an ounce of fear or guilt. I've never worried about someone else's feelings so much. She's changed me. I'm sure my siblings will think differently once they know that.

"Well," I start, "the good news is I'm no longer distracted by my need to touch you."

She laughs. "Yeah, that was definitely like a bucket of ice."

My eyes meet hers. "But just so you know, it'll likely not last long. Like right now, I'm already starting to picture you naked again."

"Oh my gosh!" She starts toward the door. "I'm going to get back to work before we end up in an even more compromising position."

"Good idea, babe. Take that sexy ass out of here."

She giggles on the way out of my office. I find myself smiling all the way back to my desk. I'm definitely falling for her. Shit, maybe I've already fallen. It's not as scary as I once thought it would be.

I guess when you trust the person, itshouldn'tbe scary.

I do my best to get back to work when a sudden knock on the door pulls me out of my thoughts. I glance down at the clock. Wow, I got lost in my work. It's been an hour.

"You free for lunch?" Gabe asks casually.

"Uh, I guess so."

I wanted to take Lexi out, but I suppose I owe it to him to have a discussion.

"Cool. Mia and Luke are gonna join us."

Great. A sibling's lunch an hour after he caught me making out with Lexi. I lock my computer screen and push off my desk.

"Where are we going?" I ask as I grab my jacket.

"Just down the street to Michael's."

Well, at least I'll get some good food out of this. Our office is in downtown Shaker Heights. It's a historical location with old buildings and great restaurants nearby. My favorite part of Shaker Heights is the trees. They are old and hang over the streets like a tunnel of greenery.

Once we are all seated at the restaurant and have placed our orders, an awkward silence falls upon the table. Hell if I'm gonna be the one to break it. I'll play the Michael Scott game of power and decline to speak first.

"Marcus. I'm guessing you know why I wanted all of us to get together," Gabe states directly.

He's always been the leader of the group, being the oldest. I know he takes a lot of the burden on him to make sure everybody is happy. Though, I'm thinking right now his worrying is for nothing,

"I have an idea," I reply.

"Mia informed me she already knew," he continues. "Surprised as I am, we all know she'll keep a secret for anyone. Luke, on the other hand, was as surprised as I was. As I am."

"That's because you two are idiots. After the kiss they shared at the event, anybody could see there was something there," Mia says bluntly. I fight to hide the smirk that wants to break free. "I'll admit I wasn't sure if either of them had admitted the obvious sparks that were flying, but in the end, it wasn'tthatsurprising."

"Okay, we can argue about how obvious it was or not," Luke intervenes. “The real reason we’re here is to talk about the fact that you decided to have sex with the one woman who I would likely consider off-limits, aside from our wives.”

Well, that’s unexpected. Off-limits?