Page 36 of The Holy Grail
His gaze hot on hers, he then leaned forward until only a few inches separated their faces. “So am I,” he murmured, before eliminating the distance between them and pressing his lips to hers.
It had been a while since she’d been kissed, and a long time since she was kissed with such … attention. Malcom’s lips on hers were exploratory, hungry, but also a little shy, as if he was afraid she might pull away.
To disavow him of that notion, she kissed him back with a fair amount of heat, to make it clear she was on board and when she teased his tongue with hers, he became more aggressive, showing her a fair amount of heat, too.
With his initial bout of shyness gone, he put a hand to her neck, holding her in place as they explored each other, their lips meeting, then retreating and finding another angle, and meeting again, over and over.
“That just became the best part of the evening,” she said, after they pulled apart.
“Oh?” He cocked his head. “And what was the previous best part?”
“The salad, of course.”
They shared a smile, one filled withWow, that was nice,We’ll have to do that again, andThis could lead to something.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay, because she had to work, and it pained her to break the news to him.
“You have to work tonight?” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s 9:30 p.m.”
“I know, but I can only work certain hours at this particular job, and unfortunately, those hours are usually late at night.”
“Where is this particular job at?”
“A bar called Three Amigos. It’s a temporary, side job I took on for a friend,” she explained. “I’m looking over the books to see why the business isn’t making as much money as it should be.”
“Oh. So, how much longer will you be working there?”
“Only a few more weeks, I think.”
Reluctantly, he walked her down to the entryway, and helped her on with her coat, which wasn’t something that happened to her very often, and felt slightly awkward at first. However, she found herself appreciating the polite attention, especially when he went the extra mile and lifted her hair from where it got trapped under her coat, his fingers brushing the back of her neck as he did so, giving her a little shiver.
“Fuck it,” he muttered. “I’ll be right back.”
He dashed back to the kitchen and reappeared with a single chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting on it.
“I didn’t make this for you,” he said as he handed it to her. “A co-worker brought a bunch of cupcakes in to work today, for some random reason, and I spontaneously grabbed one for you and brought it home.”
“What’s this co-worker’s name?”
He obviously wasn’t expecting the question, and he blinked at her a few times before saying, “Sharon.”
She didn’t believe him for one nanosecond (mainly because the name sounded like he’d pulled it out of his ass, and also because the coincidence of this co-worker bringing cupcakes to work on Jules’ birthday was too much). However, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting were her favorite, so she pretended his story was legit. “Well, be sure and thank Sharon for me. It looks delicious.”
“I will.”
“You know, I actually wish you’d grabbed two, because these are my favorite, and I’ll have this one eaten by the time I get home.”
“Hold on.”
He dashed back to the kitchen and returned with a second cupcake, and a plastic container. “I actually did grab two, but I didn’t want to seem like I was going overboard,” he explained, as he put both cupcakes in the container.
For a second, she thought about saying she wished he’d grabbedthree, just to see what he’d do, since she figured he probably had a dozen somewhere in his kitchen that he’d baked, but she didn’t. Still, she couldn’t resist asking if he didn’t want the ‘extra’ one.
He sighed. “You obviously know my story is bullshit.”
She chuckled. “I was trying to let you get away with it.”
Smiling, he walked her out to her car, and after she unlocked and opened the driver’s side door, she turned to him and said, “I had a really good time tonight.”
