Page 32 of Center of Gravity

“Oh. Yeah.” He lifted a hand to feel around his neck and jaw until my nod showed him the location and he wiped it clean. “Trying to get back in the habit of…anything creative, I guess. Look,” he said, stepping inside and shutting the door behind him. I let Winslow out of the chokehold I had him in and set him back on the floor. “Am I toeing the professional line too much?”

I gave him an appraising stare. There was open curiosity on his face and something else too, a kind of undercurrent of determination or defiance that seemed out of context. I didn’t understand it unless he was embarrassed about last night. But even if I thought he’d had part of his body over the line, nothing had happened between us that warranted me addressing it. It would just make things more awkward and with little more than a week left of working together, it didn’t seem worth it.

So I shrugged. “Nah. I’m just not keen on going back to the office tomorrow. I really needed this break.” It was a non-answer wrapped in a distraction which I topped with another, indicating the shoebox of letters that sat on the bottom stair. “My father was having an affair.Hadan affair. I’m not sure which.”

Alex’s expression twisted in a version of distant if discomfited sympathy.

“Oh wow, that must be a weird thing to find out now. Sorry.”

“It is.” My shoulders lifted in a shrug. “But I guess it makes no difference. I saw no sign of it, have no idea if my mom knew or not. Just one of those strange mind fucks.”

Alex blinked.

“What?” I asked.

“It always throws me for a loop when you curse, I guess.”

“Yeah?”

His turn to shrug. “It’s sort of like you’re walking down this nice grassy path in a big field and suddenly a shark comes out of nowhere and bites your leg.”

I must have appeared confused.

“Never mind. Bad analogy. It just always comes out of left field is what I’m saying.”

“My mind is nothing but curses and circling sharks,” I assured him.

He gave me a look that was at once teasing and serious, his smile a thing that threatened to swallow me whole. “That’s good to know. I’d never have guessed.”

In that moment, standing there in the foyer with the too bright lighting bleaching all the golden tones from his skin and making his eyes incandescent and glossy, I wanted him to a degree that sent a pang through my stomach like hunger left ignored for too long. As if there were actual stomach acid sloshing fruitlessly around in the emptiness.

In an act of self-preservation, I tossed him the box of Cracker Jack I’d forgotten to give him earlier.

“Another reward for work well done, huh?” His eyes were on me again, bright and assessing.

“Something like that,” I muttered, bending to scoop Winslow up. He nipped at me as if he had the foresight to know where he was going.

“This dog is so damn fickle he’s practically a cat.” I shook out my hand as Winslow squirmed.

“Takes after his master, I suppose,” Alex murmured, unsealing the paper from the box of Cracker Jack.

“I’m not fickle. I’m practical.”

“Practical. Hard to read, whatever.”

“You don’t have to read me, Alex, I tell you what you need to know.”

“Is that how this works?” He took a step closer as I bent to shove Winslow into the carrier. When I stood again, he was right there, just as he’d been last night. I got the idea he liked to do that, too. Test me, get in my space, see how I’d react.

“What do I need to know right now?” His smile taunted me as he slid a piece of Cracker Jack into his mouth.

I could smell the caramel, a faint hint of his shaving cream or shampoo. This close, his irises were pitted with what looked like chips of mica, these brilliant little bits of gold and blue. He held up a piece of the popcorn and when I shook my head, he gave it to Winslow.

I smiled back as charmingly as I could. “You need to know that Winslow eats twice a day. A half cupful of the food I stuck in that bag there. And he needs to go out at least three times a day. And if you keep feeding him Cracker Jack, I am not responsible for what happens to your floors.”

The flare of heat in Alex’s eyes extinguished, replaced by a devilish twinkle I liked just as much. “You got it, Captain.” He stooped to pick up the carrier. Winslow growled and Alex opened the door, backing through it and stopping at the threshold. “You know what I’m digging aboutPride and Prejudice? It reminds me of you.”

I blinked. “How’s that?”