Page 41 of The Alice Equation (The Laws of Love 1)

By the time they’d tumbled onto the street, still making jokes about the many ridiculous things Aaron could spend his newfound wealth on that would drive his dad and Oliver to despair, Alice’s sides ached from laughing. But wasn’t that part of the problem? The fact that despite everything, Aaron always made her laugh?

As they stood on the pavement, it seemed to Alice that they’d spent an inordinate amount of time facing each other in public places lately and pretending that the eye-contact thing between them wasn’t indicative of anything unusual.

Eyes are the windows to the soul.And clearly, to another place south of her waist. Why hadn’t she ever realised before that there was an eyes-to-vagina superhighway? She’d never felt anything like this when Jeremy had looked at her. Or Quentin, who hadn’t really looked at her at all; he’d had this disconcerting way of staring at a freckle above her eyebrow that did nothing at all for their sex life.

But now,thatplace between her thighs was begging for attention.

She shuffled her feet.

Aaron popped a mint in his mouth and rocked on his heels.

It was all so… strange and… kind ofcute, but for the imminent risk of her melting in a puddle on the pavement.

“So, I call you at work, is that the plan?” she asked, trying to sound vague and disinterested.

“Yeah, I’ll message you the best time to phone. Maybe at the end of the day when I’m walking past the partners’ offices. Wouldn’t look great if I took too many calls while I’m in full-on billing mode.”

“Okay, I’ll be on stand-by.” A pause, more internal firecrackers. “Well, thanks for brunch.”

“Thanks for coming, I feel a lot better now.” He gave an exaggerated pat to his stomach and she cast a quick glance down. Was that an inordinately large bulge in the front of his jeans?

Alice jerked her head up, heat winging into her cheeks.

Aaron’s mouth twisted into a grin, the one that carved the dimple into his left cheek.

Do it, do it, do it… a devilish little voice chanted in her head.

As if in slow motion, Alice saw her hand come up, felt her fingers curl around his forearm, registered the miniscule twitch in his muscles.

She went up on tippy-toes and arched her neck.

The kiss was meant for his cheek but somehow—maybe in surprise—Aaron jerked his head and her lips landed softly on the corner of his mouth. Coffee mingled with mint and the sharp graze of stubble. His response was almost imperceptible, a tremor in his lips, a shifting of his energy towards her, even though if you were watching you wouldn’t have noticed a thing.

A surge of feminine power shot through her as she drew back and dropped her hand. Drawing in a breath, she dared to take a peep at his face. He looked completely stunned; his pupils drowning out the bright blue of his eyes.

Quickly, Alice stepped away and said, “Today’s flirting practice.” Hoisting her bag strap up her arm, she tossed her head, enjoying the swing of her hair around her neck. “Hope I did okay. Bye, Aaron.”

As she walked away, she felt his gaze drumming into her back.

It was impossible not to smile. A real, genuine smile using all the right muscles.

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