Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security #1) - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,39

up my computer and went to the bench. “What do you feel like?”

“I asked you first.”

I nodded and I pushed my glasses up. “Yes, then I asked you second.”

He huffed a rough laugh. “I feel like starting with a beer.”

I smiled up at him as I did a search for Romana Pizza. “Then we’d best start with a beer.”

He grinned before turning to the fridge.

I pulled up the ordering system for the pizza and we leant across the bench to meet in the middle and decide what we wanted. There was a lot of laughing and quite a few shared smiles. As we headed to the lounge to pick a movie, I felt the most at ease I’d ever felt with Kit. Sure, I was still apparently mush on the inside around him, but it was like all the tension had left our relationship and all we were left with were two people who’d known each other forever.

“What is it with you and Pat having uncomfortable couches?” I grumbled as I tried to get comfortable.

He paused in his movie search to look at me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what is your obsession with looking like a homemaker catalogue?”

Kit looked around the living room. “I’ve never thought about it. We just got a decorator in.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Of course, you did.”

He looked at me and there went that full smile. “What?”

My eyes scanned the room. “It’s so…unliveable…”

“All right,” he chuckled. “You can have re-decorating power, then.”

“First thing that’s going is this God-awful couch.”

“You know, no one has ever complained about my couch before.”

“Has anyone ever sat on your couch before?”

“Yes.”

“Other than the team?”

He paused, then nodded. “Yes.”

“They were probably too busy thinking about your cock,” I heard myself say, then looked at him in what felt like a combination of shock and panic. “Uh…” I started, not sure where I was going with that or how I was going to backpedal. “Not that I’m thinking…” I winced. “Have thought…about…your…” Shut up, Amber! I cleared my throat and nodded, refusing to look at him. “Yep.”

Kit snorted. “Okay. Good to know.”

I looked at him sideways and felt myself fighting a smile. Completely unable to help myself, my eyes dropped to his crotch. Not that I could see much because he was leaning forward on his knees. I could imagine with the best of them, though. By the time my eyes slid back to his face, he was smirking around the top of his beer bottle.

“What?” I asked, feeling my cheeks heat.

He shrugged as he swallowed, sat back and dropped his hand with the beer bottle into his lap. “Just wondering how that not thinking about…it thing is going for you.”

Well that new pose wasn’t helping.

I laughed as I looked away. “Virgin is not synonymous with prude, Christopher,” I told him.

“Oh, really? Colour me intrigued.”

I shot him a quick smile, then dropped back onto the couch and leant towards him. “A girl can still daydream without having first-hand experience.”

“Can she?”

“What?” I scoffed. “Like you can’t?”

His eyes scanned my body like a hot caress. He looked around for a moment then leant towards me like he was going to share a secret with me. I tilted closer to him. “I’ve always been more a jump first, ask questions later kind of guy.” His voice slid over me tantalisingly and I firmly believed that had been his intention.

If the intercom hadn’t buzzed, I totally would have told him he could go right on and jump me. But, when we sat back down with the pizza, it was like we both knew we’d come close to crossing a line and we kept to our sides of the couch. Mostly.

10

Kit

Ugh. I had to be more fucking careful. I’d lost count of the times I’d almost kissed her now.

The whole night before had been one near miss after another. I just hadn’t been able to stop myself reaching for her. I wanted to hold her, to touch her, to kiss her. And I was having a hard – pun intended – time telling myself to leave off because she didn’t feel the same. It was getting more difficult to stoically believe that her eyes didn’t linger on me, that desire didn’t cross her face as she’d unsubtly looked at my crotch, or that the fact she was my best mate’s little sister was a strong enough excuse to behave.

We’d stayed up late, eating and drinking and watching movies. We’d laughed and flirted like teenagers dating.