He quirks an eyebrow at me.
My lips quirk. “Yes?”
He spreads out on the couch and shrugs. “Nothing.”
I narrow my eyes. “I know you too well for that. What is it?”
He takes his time sipping his wine before he answers. “I was just wondering what it would be like if we lived very different lives.”
I tilt my head. “In an alternate universe? We wouldn’t know each other, probably.” “Maybe. But I was more thinking of a world where we knew each other. I wonder what would have happened if we had just met in our twenties.”
My brows rise. “Oh?”
“Ja. Imagine if we had not been largely ignored by our respective families growing up. If we were both just normal, well adjusted adults when we met.”
I wrinkle my nose. “I can’t picture it, honestly. We wouldn’t have any history.”
He chuckles a little. “No. I wonder if we wouldn’t just date each other.”
My heartbeat instantly speeds up. I lick my lips. “You think we would be an item?”
He shrugs a shoulder, picking up my feet and putting them in his lap. I bury my toes under his thigh, enjoying his warmth. He shoots me a secretive smile.
“Maybe. I mean, you are definitely not my type. But maybe in this alternate world, you would be.”
Oh god. I blush a little bit.
“I’ve seen your blonde supermodels come and go like a revolving door,” I answer crisply. “I’m really not interested in being your type, I think.”
That’s a lie. It feels false even as I say it.
He finishes his glass of wine and sets it aside, rubbing one of my bare feet with both of his thumbs. He goes right to a spot that feels so good, digging into the pad of my foot.
“Oh, little witch,” he sighs. “There is no denying that we have both found each other attractive.”
My brow descends. “Ja. It’s all the other pieces about you that I find problematic. For instance, the fact that you’ve slept with half the pretty, blonde young girls in the city.”
He smirks. “What if I was well-behaved? Hmm? Would that make you happy?”
One corner of my mouth bends downward. “Hypothetically?”
He pins with his sapphire gaze. “I don’t know, Pippa. Do you want us to be discussing things hypothetically?”
No.
God, the way he is looking at me just now. The way he is smirking at me. The way he touches my feet.
My hormones want him to stop talking and kiss me. Hell, they wouldn’t mind if I jumped him.
I lick my lips again, taking in the expression on his face. “Are you actually suggesting that we sleep together, Lars?”
He pauses, pushing his cheek out with his tongue. “I could be. I mean, you think I’m hot. I think you’re hot. We could just… take it to the next level.”
I frown. While I obviously want him more than anything, I don’t want to destroy what we already have.
“I… I don’t know, Lars. We are best friends. And to me, that is more important than some little fling.”
He bites his lower lip. “So we’ll just… keep it casual.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
Lars narrows his eyes on my face. “Kiss me.”
I shoot him a look. “What?”
“Kiss me,” he says, moving closer. “Just one time. Kiss me for real. And then if you still feel like it’s a risk to our friendship…” He reaches up to my face, brushing back a curl. “Then we can pretend it never happened.”
I swallow. My eyes are on his, trying to gauge how serious he is. I suck in sips of air and notice how his eyes slip down to my neckline. My nipples pebble at the very thought of his lips touching my overheated skin.
God, my heartbeat is so loud in my own ears that I am afraid he will hear it.
He puts my feet down, moving so he’s only a few inches from my face. He licks his lower lip, reaching out slowly to cup my jaw with his elegant fingers.
“Pippa?” he murmurs.
I can barely breathe. “Yes, Lars?”
He brings his face closer, feathering a kiss over the corner of my mouth. I open my mouth, sighing silently. I can feel a storm gathering inside me.
Lars kisses my cheek, grazes his lips over my earlobe. “All you have to say is yes,” he whispers.
A dam breaks in me. I move my head, catching his lips with my own. He is surprised for a split second. Then he takes control of the kiss, cupping my jaw and teasing my