Page 34 of Release
“Just dance, Lex,” Wilkes said. He exhaled shakily, lips close to her ear. His lips glided down the side of her neck, and he inhaled with a faint moan. “I want you.”
That was it. She took a step away from him. “It’s time for you to take me home,” she announced as calmly as possible.
Breaking out of his grasp, she quickly walked over to their table and grabbed her purse. Wilkes threw a few bills on the table and hurried after her. They surged through the doors into the warm, dark night, and she paced a short distance back and forth in front of the restaurant while waiting for his driver to bring the car around. Meanwhile, Wilkes looked a little embarrassed. Somehow, she knew this was bound to happen.
She didn’t need this. Right now all she wanted was to get home and get some rest. She had a full day of work in the morning negotiating with the Purple Blaze travel coordinator and Rick about details of the tour. To make matters worse, that little interlude on the dance floor had her feeling guilty, as if she had invited it, which she did not. Immediately, her mind turned to Bash. She belonged to him. There was no doubt in her mind.
I’m his.
Bash is who I want standing beside me. Holding me on a dance floor, kissing my neck, pressing every part of his body on me.
The last fifteen minutes with Wilkes should not have happened. She dropped her face in her hands and struggled to get some control.
“I just want to wake up in Arizona.” The words came out muffled and distorted, broken.
“I’m sorry,” Wilkes said quietly.
The car pulled curbside, and his driver came around to open the passenger door. Alexandra climbed in and scooted as far away from Wilkes as possible, hearing his sigh of disappointment before an uncomfortable silence descended and the car moved off.
“Contrary to what you might think, I do believe in fidelity. I didn’t mean to compromise your relationship with…your friend.”
“Sebastian. His name is Sebastian.” She wiped the last of the tears from her face and sat up straighter, pulling herself together. She didn’t come out with him to sob about what they left behind. Wilkes shouldn’t have seen her like this.
“You miss him, don’t you?”
He moved closer and dropped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him to comfort her. She relaxed. The tension was gone. The sense of Wilkes waiting to pounce on her was gone again. Lulled by the quiet hiss of the tires on the road and the warmth of his body, before she realized it, she was dozing off. It had been a long few days with little sleep. Maybe that exhaustion brought on all these emotions. Wilkes stroked the curls at the nape of her neck. His lips brushed her forehead. He whispered words of comfort she barely registered, and then she was out. The next thing she knew, he was gently nudging her on the shoulder.
“Wake up, love,” he murmured. “You’re home.”
Straightening up, she arched her back in a stretch. A yawn escaped her, and she covered her mouth. She was relieved to look out and see the familiar front door of her house. It was a welcome sight. She wanted to say good night and curl up in her bed and dream about Bash.
“Should I walk you up?”
She shook her head sleepily. “I’m sure I know the way.”
Wilkes stepped out of the car when the driver opened the door. He held out his hand for hers, which she accepted just so he could help her out. She didn’t say anything when Wilkes walked her to her front door, but when he waited on the top step after she opened the front door, she paused to look over at him.
“What is it, Wilkes?”
It took her by surprise when he stepped forward and in one move, slipped his hands to the side of her face and pressed his warm mouth on hers. A misplaced spark of arousal fired up within her when he deepened into the kiss with a passion Alexandra had never experienced from Wilkes before. His tongue slipped past her lips to war languidly with hers. She let out a moan, and her body tingled and throbbed against his as he stepped up through the doorway and backed Alexandra up into her foyer, pushing the door closed.
