Page 40 of Be My Compass

“Because of the angles. I think we should start with something else.”

I shake my head. “A photoshoot?”

“When are you off work?”

“You need me now?”

She narrows her eyes. “You’d clear your schedule if I said yes?”

“I’m insulted that you’d ask me like you don’t know the answer.”

Her hand finds my chest. “Are you feeling okay?”

I wrap my fingers around her wrist and pull her hand down, resting our arm on the pillow over my lap. “Don’t ask me to jump off a cliff. Apart from that, everything’s fair game.”

“Even murder?”

“You got a target?”

She snorts. “Dangerous man.”

“The woman he’d kill for is even more lethal.” I lift her hand to my lips and press a kiss on her soft wrist.

Because I have to.

Because I can’t stop myself.

She shivers a little.

I barely touched her, but she looks like she’s about to combust.

Raking my finger gently over the underside of her wrist, I whisper, “You’re my best friend, Kae. I’d do anything for you. Don’t insult me by acting like you’re surprised by that.”

Her eyes turn hazy with some emotion I can’t name. She stares at me like she wants me to see something. To piece her back together.

I don’t get it.

What she wants.

What she expects from me.

With a sigh, she breaks her gaze. “You’re too good at this.”

“What?”

She shakes her head. Pastes a smile on her face that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Let’s go to the beach.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

I check my watch. Mentally shift things around. “Okay.”

“Really?”

“You asked like you were certain I’d say yes.”

“A front.”

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