Stoking the Fire (Salus Security #1) - Teodora Kostova Page 0,70
sweat-slicked back as he…
“So, you’ll just sit there? Not even pretend to help?” Alec asks, shaking me out of my daydream. But the problem is, now his sweat-slicked torso is right there, and I can’t help but stare as a drop of sweat slides from his neck to his collarbone and down his chest.
“You’re hot. I mean…” I close my eyes and bite my lip. “I mean it’s hot. The weather. And I didn’t pack any sunscreen so—” I raise my shoulders in a shrug.
Alec’s mouth curves. “Is that so?”
I hum. He walks closer, stopping right in front of me, his body towering above me. I crane my neck to meet his gaze. Slowly, Alec bends down, forcing me to lean back on my elbows. I smirk when his face comes an inch away from mine, his lips so close…
“Here,” he says, pulling back and handing me a broom.
Dazed, I blink a few times to anchor myself. “What?”
“This is called a broom,” he says with a smirk. “I know spoiled rich boys are not familiar with the term…”
“Fuck you,” I say without much inflection. I get up and yank the broom handle from his grip.
“Do you know how to use it?”
I glare at him.
He smacks my ass. “Get to work, pretty boy.”
His smile is so brilliant that I can’t even pretend to be annoyed.
“I thought I was spoiled and rich?”
“And pretty.” He winks at me.
I grin despite myself and start sweeping the porch.
Tidying up the front yard takes all damn day. By the time the sun starts to lower behind the tree tops, I’m exhausted. And filthy.
While I shower, Alec starts the grill on the shore. The mouth-watering smell of grilled meat fills the air, and my stomach rumbles when I walk out of the house and toward him.
Stopping behind him, I wrap my arms around his middle and kiss his neck. He still smells faintly of sweat, but it mixes with the sun on his skin and the shampoo he used this morning. “I can take over if you want to shower?”
“It’s nearly done.” He turns in my arms and kisses me, long and lingering. When we part, he takes a moment to stare into my eyes before he says, “Will you help me with the bandage?”
Butterflies flutter in my stomach at his words. When he told me he was working through his issues, I believed him, but asking for help? I never thought I’d hear Alec actually say those words.
I hook a hand behind his neck and tug him down, kissing him as sweetly as he kissed me. I feel him smile against my lips, making the butterflies flutter even more wildly.
I’m so lost in this man, so fucking lost, that I have no hope of ever finding my way back.
After dinner, Alec lets me call Evie. It’s a complicated process—he hooks a device to my burner phone, then has to program it, and then tells me I have fifteen minutes at the most. I have absolutely no idea what he’s doing, and I’m very dedicated to my disinterest. As long as I can hear Evie’s voice, even for a little bit, I’m fine with the Bond-like gadgets.
“Hey,” I say when Evie picks up.
“Zach!”
I laugh at the excitement in her voice. My family has been notified we’ve arrived safely, and Alec’s keeping in touch with his team through another secure phone, but hearing Evie’s voice makes a weight lift off my chest.
“Are you all right?” is the first thing she asks me. And then, “Felix told me everything’s fine, but I really needed you to tell me so yourself.”
“Everything’s fine, Evie. More than fine.”
She must hear the smirk in my voice because she giggles. “Whatever do you mean?” she says in a mock British accent.
“Well…” I drag the word out. “Alec and I… hooked up?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“Telling you.”
We laugh.
I miss my sister.
“I’m happy for you,” she says, her voice growing more serious. “Did you also talk? Or was it just hot, sweaty sex?”
“We talked.”
“Now, that is surprising.”
“But the hot, sweaty sex part isn’t?”
Evie snorts. “Anyone could see you’d jump each other’s bones the moment you got a chance. The lingering looks, the tension, the angst!”
I chuckle, my ears turning pink. Were we that obvious?
“So?” she prompts.
I sigh. “We talked it out, I promise. But I’d rather not talk about it right now. It still feels too personal, and a bit too raw.” I close my eyes. Images of earlier today when Alec put his