Page 61 of Center of Gravity

“This lady has an armoire the size of Texas,” he huffed.

“So you actuallydomove things.”

“Oh, you just thought I was eye-candy? Are you forgetting I’m the one who lifted that fucking bank vault of a couch off your foot? Or moved all your furniture back into place?”

“Fair point.”

“So did you take a look at those loans? What do you think?”

I pushed some papers around my desk and flicked a glance down the hall. Sean’s door was closed. Almost everyone had left for the day.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet. But it’s supposed to be really nice this weekend. I was thinking about coming out to the island for a night. We could go over them together if you’d like.”

Alex was quiet for a few seconds, then I heard him adjust the phone before he replied. “Yeah, sure, that sounds great. Thanks, man.”

This was a mistake. It was definitely a mistake.

It wasn’t a mistake.Nothing was going to happen. I could offer him some friendly advice without trying to get in his pants like I’d been thinking about all week, right? Right.

Winslow and I got in around 6:30. Alex was on my porch at seven.

His gaze raked over me as I stood in the doorway, then he quirked a smile.

“So this is what businessman at leisure looks like. You do it well.”

I glanced down at myself. He’d seen me casually dressed before when I’d come to his house in the same jeans and button-down I wore now. Except the button-down in this case was light blue. And I also had a glass of Scotch in my hand, so maybe that was it. I chuckled and looked him over, as well. He was the same golden-bronze paragon of sexiness and youthful charm he always was, knocking a few strands of hair from his forehead as he adjusted the stack of papers in his arms in order to present them to me.

“I think I can swing it so I keep working on the side but can finish out school, too. Best of both worlds?”

I took the papers and ushered him inside. “We need to look at interest rates and a few other factors, see which one’s going to make the most sense with your current financials.”

“That’s what I was counting on,” he said.

“Step into my office, in that case.”

We settled in the kitchen with my scotch and a beer for him. I flipped through his papers, scrutinizing the fine print, my forehead on my fist as I read. Realizing he hadn’t moved in some time, I looked up to find him watching me.

“What?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Nothing. It’s just kind of sexy watching you in your natural habitat.”

“This is hardly my natural habitat.”

“I know, but I can see a glimpse of it. I’ll bet you’re very serious at work, too.” He gave me a rakish smile that burned like liquid fire through my veins. And just like that, I was back to this being a mistake.

“I am.” I took another swallow of scotch, ordered my thoughts from the chaos they were trying to descend into that involved a lot of Alex’s body parts and my mouth upon them. Then I pushed all but one of the forms aside. “This one’s your best bet.”

Alex picked up the form and read over it. “All right,” he said, “Great, thanks.”

We sat in silence for a few moments. Alex finished off his beer, crinkling his can as he watched me, then inhaled and stood, collecting his papers. I followed him up.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Nah. I’m good. I’ll get out of here. Supposed to meet up with some friends, anyway.”

A tendril of jealousy wound around my throat and forced a mute nod out of me.

I took his beer can, tossed it in the trash, and followed him into the hallway where he turned and stood in front of me. “I really appreciate it, Rob. Seriously.”