fingers trailed down the side of her cheek, sending a shiver of desire through her.
‘Now would you like to come up to my apartment?’
She hesitated. The kiss was magical but it couldn’t lead anywhere. Hadn’t he made it clear at dinner he wasn’t looking for commitment? It would be a one-night stand. That wasn’t what she wanted.
She pulled back, breaking their connection. ‘I can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s a bad idea.’
‘It was just a kiss.’
Just a kiss! Maybe to him, but it had set her world on fire and she knew she couldn’t be trusted if she followed him to his apartment. No, this was definitely a bad idea. ‘You’re a colleague. You’re off limits.’
‘Are you sure?’
She nodded. She couldn’t speak.
‘Okay. But let me know if you change your mind. No strings attached.’
No strings attached. It wasn’t her style but it was tempting.
If he could play it cool, so could she. She smiled, striving for a casual tone, and said, ‘I’ll get back to you,’ as she pushed the remote on her car keys and unlocked the door.
He bent his head and kissed her softly on her mouth, a brief brush of his lips, a gentle goodbye kiss, but her reaction was every bit as strong as when he’d kissed her more thoroughly. She used every ounce of willpower to make herself get into her car and drive away. But she watched him in her rearview mirror as he stood in the street and she knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid him or pretend he didn’t exist. She knew she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t attracted to him and she suspected he would become her forbidden apple, a temptation too strong to resist. One way or another she would need to get him out of her system.
* * *
Josh had got to work early and was chatting to Louise when they saw Georgie struggling through the door, carrying two large baking trays. She pushed the door open with her hip and nodded in their direction as she headed for the QMERT kitchen.
Louise watched her go before she turned to Josh and said, ‘Something’s bothering her.’
Josh wondered how on earth Louise had figured that out. Georgie had seemed perfectly okay to him. In fact, she’d seemed perfectly okay for the past few days, ever since he’d kissed her. He, on the other hand, had been completely rattled. Despite what he’d told Georgie, their kiss had rocked his world. It hadn’t been ‘just a kiss’. It had shocked him, surprised him, to his core. The moment he’d kissed her he’d had the sensation that he’d been waiting all his life to find her, all his life to have that kiss, and ever since then he’d been wondering how to persuade her to date him. What was the difference between him and any of the blind dates she was prepared to go on? The only difference he could see was that they already knew they had chemistry. But she refused to date a colleague and she’d refused to discuss it any further and he had no idea what he could do about that.
But why did Louise think something was wrong? What had he missed? What did Louise see that he didn’t?
‘How do you know something’s wrong?’ he asked.
‘She’s been cooking.’
Josh frowned. As far as he could tell, Georgie was always cooking. ‘Don’t forget we’re all going to her place this weekend for Pat’s birthday. Maybe she’s run out of room in her fridge.’ To his ears that sounded like a perfectly reasonable explanation.
‘I’m telling you, something’s bothering her. Go and find out what’s wrong.’ Lou glared at him and he half expected her to shove him out the door.
‘Okay, okay, I’m going,’ he said, fighting the urge to laugh. With a sharp salute in Lou’s direction he followed Georgie into the kitchen.
Her back was to him as she slid the baking trays into the fridge. He dragged his eyes off her rounded backside as she stood up and turned around.
‘Hi. Is everything okay?’ he asked.
‘I guess.’
Josh felt his heart drop to his stomach. She wasn’t sounding like her normal chirpy self. Something was wrong. He wondered if he could fix it.
He crossed the room and put his hand on her arm, connecting them. ‘What is it?’
‘My parents arrive tomorrow.’
‘I thought that would be good news.’ In the time he’d known her she’d only had nice things to say about her parents and she seemed more than happy to have visitors.
She nodded. ‘But they’re meeting up with