Page 121 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

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It had been a week.

A whole week since Zoe had last seen Alex at the ferry car park, and she missed him so much more than she’d anticipated. She’d missed him when she’d gone spectacularly wrong in one of her pieces. She missed him when she’d crushed her first assignment back in university lectures. She missed him when she entered the empty house every night, and when she woke up alone in the morning.

Especially when she woke up aroused after a dream including Alex.

And even more so on the day she’d gotten weird mail. The letter had rather ominously said, I know where you live, Zoe. Red crayon, childish handwriting on white paper, pushed through the letterbox. No envelope. She’d visited the local police station who had said it wasn’t much to go off or to do anything with and was probably nothing to worry about. Probably a school kid prank, they’d said.

But today the band were back for a short stay.

All of them.

So, Zoe had decided to clean the house and make a meal for Alex, Cerys, and Jase. A proper Sunday roast now the kitchen was finally repaired. The scent of lamb and rosemary cooking in the oven made her mouth water. The potatoes sizzled in duck fat. Carrots and peas steamed as the piece de resistance, the Yorkshire puddings, were rising nicely. They didn’t usually go with lamb, but Nan had told her Alex loved them.

She looked down at her watch.

Ten minutes.

They knew dinner would be waiting for them and that Jase and Alex were to come over to hers and Cerys’s house. But that wasn’t what had her hot and bothered.

It wasn’t even the dessert she’d made. A pavlova with berries and passion fruit seeds all over it. The meringue had cooked beautifully, the cream whipped to perfection that would be offset by the tart fruit.

It was her underwear. And it was the stupidest, hottest, amazing revelation ever. The bra was nothing more than a series of criss-crossed straps that covered the most vital bits. It barely had any support, not a problem for her small boobs. The straps joined at her sternum around a silver O-ring which made her think of her author’s books.

The panties had matching O-rings on the side.

More harness than lingerie.

It was shocking just how much sexier she felt as a person. Even though the underwear was buried beneath the grey fitted jeans she wore and the silky black shirt she’d tied as Alex had shown her on the tour bus. And yes, red lipstick.

There was much about the psychology of feeling sexy that was less about the other person and more about yourself.

Alex had joked about tying her up, again. Tonight, she secretly hoped he would. And taking a hint from the heroines in the book, she decided to help Alex make up his mind to do it with some teasing.

The blast of cool air into the living room told her they were here, and she hurried to greet them as they piled cases and bags into the hallway.

“Hey,” Cerys signed. “Something smells great.”

She signed the circular horns and small body shape of a lamb. “Your favourite.”

Jase came through the door next and kissed her on the cheek. “Hey, Zoe. Thanks for dinner,” he signed.

“You practised,” she said.

Jase grinned. “I did, for the whole cab ride home. I’m not a natural.”

Jase followed Cerys into the living room.

“Hey,” she signed to Alex.

“I missed you,” he signed. “You look hot, Rocky.” He reached for her hand and pressed his lips to hers softly. “I’m not going to ruin that lipstick right now,” he said. “But I’m going to destroy it when I get you on my own later.” In complete contradiction to his words, he tapped her on the nose.

“I really missed you. Do you think we could skip dinner and go straight to the destroying?”

Alex looked in the direction of the living room and laughed. “Jase just yelled that there’s to be no destroying until dinner is devoured and we’re on our own.”

Zoe grinned. “Let’s go eat, then.”

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