Innocent 'til Proven Otherwise

‘Ah, no, thanks,’ she said, pushing the offered drink aside. She risked a brief glance at Max, who nodded slightly and she stood. ‘I’m done in. I’m going to go home.’

‘Oh no!’ Kat implored, standing also. ‘Just a little longer.’

‘It’s okay, you stay. I’ll get a taxi home.’

‘No, Ali, I can’t let you get a cab home by yourself.’

Max, taking his cue, rose to his feet as well. ‘It’s okay, I’ll see she gets home safely. We can share a cab.’

Ali looked at him, surprised. This, she hadn’t expected. Didn’t need. ‘No, really, it’s okay. I’m a big girl—I can get a taxi all by myself.’

Max smiled. ‘I don’t mind. Really.’

His dimples, appearing suddenly again, were her undoing. She knew he wanted out of this mating ritual as much as she did and she felt like a co-conspirator. She just hoped they weren’t being too obvious in their rush to get away.

‘Okay … sure.’ They could always part ways once they were out of sight.

‘Well, I suppose, if you really think it would be all right …’ Kat murmured, looking at Pete and then back at her friend, hope and gratitude blazing in her eyes.

Ali nodded. ‘Can I have a word first?’

Kat grinned, knowing what was coming. ‘Yes, Mother.’

Ali dragged her friend to the side slightly. It was pointless telling Kat not to sleep with Pete. Blind Freddy could see that was where the night was heading. But she couldn’t walk away without knowing that her best friend was going to be safe.

‘Have you got condoms?’ she asked Kat.

‘Yes. Would you like some?’ Kat teased.

‘Some? Bloody hell, how many have you got?’

Kat shrugged. ‘It’s a big bag. I like to be prepared. I can spare a few.’

A few? Ali blinked. Of course. Regular Girl Scout was her Kat. ‘I’m catching a taxi with him, Katarina.’ Or pretending to anyway. ‘I am not sleeping with him.’

Kat shook her head in dismay. ‘He really is very attractive, you know.’

Ali didn’t need her friend to tell her that. Everyone in the bar could see that. But even worse than his good looks was his wounded air. Somehow that appealed even more. She knew, without it ever being spoken, he understood how deeply relationships could wound. And that was way more dangerous.

She pursed her lips about to say something then Kat whispered, ‘Moving-on sex,’ before squeezing Ali’s hand and walking back to Pete.

‘Are you ready?’ Max asked.

Ali flicked her gaze to Kat who winked at her. ‘Sure.’

A minute later they were heading out of the doors.

‘They didn’t exactly protest too much,’ Max said, his hand still at her elbow. She was wearing a floaty black skirt and he liked how it swung around her legs and seemed to skim in all the right places.

Ali laughed, feeling lighter now her escape was at hand. Or maybe it was the way her whole arm was warm from his touch or that her side tingled from the accidental contact of their bodies as the crowded confines of the bar had forced them closer.

He released her arm once they were outside in the comparably empty street. Ali stuck out her hand. ‘It was nice meeting you, Max. Thanks for making that whole friend set-up thing less awkward.’

Max shrugged and ignored her hand. ‘There’s a taxi rank just around the corner?’

‘Oh no,’ she said quickly, dropping her hand. ‘You don’t have to do that. It’s okay, really. They can’t see us now,’ she joked.

He shrugged again. ‘I have to get a taxi home. You have to get a taxi home. It makes sense.’

Their gazes caught and locked for a moment. His was all serious again, grey and solemn, his brow furrowed. She longed to see his dimples one more time and was surprised by the urge to lift her finger and trace the indentations either side of his mouth.

‘Okay,’ she acquiesced before she did something really dumb like follow through on that impulse.

Unfortunately the queue was staggeringly long for so early in the night and Ali almost groaned. Yes, they’d had a bit of banter going at the bar, but now, with their friends nowhere in sight and no real need to talk to each other, would it be horrendously awkward?

They joined the queue and stood silently for the first minute. Ali felt each second tick by like a bloody great doomsday clock. The movement of the crowd jostled her against him and her nose brushed against a cotton clad pectoral. She apologised and pulled away. But not before she’d inhaled a goodly dose of him.

Boy, oh, boy! He smelled like pheromone-laced chocolate. ‘Sorry about the fish thing,’ she said, her scrambled brain snatching at the first disjointed thought that passed by.

Max bestowed her with a half-smile as he cupped her elbow to steady her. ‘I’m sure my ego can stand it.’

Ali returned his smile. He didn’t look like a man whose ego was easily dented. ‘So what is your sign? Really?’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Sagittarius.’

Ali bit her lip as the image from earlier returned with full force, enhanced further by his intoxicating scent. Despite the suit she had no trouble imagining him as the famed archer. Half beast, half man.

All animal.

Max watched her eyes darken again and his gaze was drawn to where her teeth dug into the fullness of her lip. His stomach clenched and his hand tightened on her arm a fraction. ‘What?’

Ali shook her head, trying to dispel the image. ‘Nothing … it’s nothing,’ she said and dropped her gaze to the hollow in his throat.

Hair sprung from her head as he looked down on her crown but she hadn’t been fast enough to hide the rise of colour in her cheeks. ‘You blush easily,’ he murmured.

Ali clamped her eyes shut as more heat suffused her face. ‘Yes,’ she said, then risked a glance at him. ‘Sorry.’

Max shook his head. It was refreshing to meet anyone who could still blush these days. It didn’t happen often in his line of work and it did tend to colour his world view.

‘Don’t be,’ he said. ‘It’s …’ he made a show of searching for the right word, then smiled at her ‘… cute.’

Cute? She was never going to hear the end of that one, was she?

She opened her mouth to say so but he was looking at her with those solemn, sad eyes, his smile not quite reaching them. And the heat at her elbow was radiating to her fingers. And the jostle of the line kept pressing them together, creating more heat wherever they touched. And his scent filled her nostrils. Invaded her brain.

And she felt more like a woman right now than she’d felt for an entire year. Maybe ever felt.

Ali could feel herself melting on the inside.