Page 67 of Unexpected Storms

He was almost against me, and I lifted my chin, staring up into his beautiful green eyes. “I don’t know. It’s just what I thought when I saw you.”

He lifted his hand, a finger tracing down my cheekbone before letting his hand fall back to his side. The feeling went straight to my chest. “Ali, you need to tell me to stop. You need to tell me to back up.”

“Why?” My fingers itched with the urge to touch his abdomen. I desperately wanted to run my palms up under his shirt.

“Because if you don’t, I can’t promise that I won’t do something you might regret.”

I blinked. “Why would I regret it, and you wouldn’t?”

He chuckled ever so slightly. “Because I’m not the one involved with someone.”

I straightened my back, bringing my chest closer to his, our mouths only two inches apart. “Try me.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Harvey

She did not just say try me. She was so close that all the scents on her clothing mixed with her unique scent spiraled around my head and made it hard to breathe. I should take her face in my hands and bring her lips to mine. I should lift her by the ass and set her on the counter. Ravish her from top to bottom.

My fingers quivered at my sides, and just as I started to reach for her, my cellphone vibrated and brought me back to reality. I stepped away from her quickly, turning my back on her as I pulled my phone out and read the message.

Sorry about taking off on you. Lexi is good—false alarm. Do you want me to come back and help you?

I frowned. Maybe Lexi hadn’t been feeling very well, or perhaps it was all part of this master plan to screw with my head. Either way, I wasn’t going to let him know that this bothered me. I quickly replied,No, stay with her. I got this. Glad she is alright. Kiss her for me.

Will do.

I inhaled sharply and then released it. “That was Alex. Lexi is doing alright.”

“How far along is she?”

“About seven months, I think,” I replied as I pulled out the last hard-wired camera and set it aside to get the ladder set up.

“And she is married to Alex?”

“Yeah. They got married a few months ago.”

“How does she feel about him traveling overseas to dangerous places?” I glanced back at her. If Ali and I were a couple, would she have a problem with that? Stupid question, of course she would, but who cared. It was never going to happen—even if she did dare me to kiss her.

Jesus, she had been so damn close. I should have kissed her again, one more time to see if it still felt the same. Maybe it would be nothing like it had been after that dance. Perhaps I’d made all of that up out of some fancy romantic notion.

I dismissed the thought and answered her questions instead. “He doesn’t travel anymore; neither does Trevor. Although both of them will go if they have to, now that they have families, they prefer not to travel. Lexi lost her brother to the war, and when she and Alex were first dating, Alex was held hostage for a while. It didn’t bode well for their future until Alex decided Lexi was more important than the job.”

“Are all the rest of the guys married? I guess that it would be hard to have someone you love travel to dangerous places all the time.”

“Well, Trevor isn’t married yet, he’s engaged, but he has a son who is about one. Greg and Maggie are together now, but Maggie travels with us.”

“Would she travel if she had kids?”

“I don’t see them having children,” I said, not wanting to share what Greg had told me in confidence. I was now up on the ladder and trying to keep my attention on what I was doing.

“Okay, that makes sense.” She paused. “Would you travel if you had kids?”

“Probably. I guess that would depend on the woman I was with and how much she wanted me to stop what I was doing. My career is pretty important to me.”

Ali crossed her arms and leaned back. “Yeah, mine is too.” She grew quiet and then slowly started to talk again. “Harvey, let me ask you a hypothetical question.”

I chuckled. “Okay, shoot.”

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