Page 34 of A Dark Fall

“You said another time, maybe. Did you mean that?” he asks, deep voice breaking the heavy silence. “I mean, were you ever actually gonna have dinner with me? The truth, Alex. No more games.” He doesn’t look around at me, just stares upward, head resting on the back of the sofa.

I resent him calling it a game again. It wasn’t a game because I wasn’t playing. Or if I was, I had no idea what the rules were.

“Yes,” I whisper. Though I’m not certain my brain wouldn’t have talked me out of it, I know I wanted to see him again. More than I’ve ever wanted anything. It’s only that Iwascertain it wasn’t a good idea.

“Because you wanted to, or because I blindsided you?” he asks, turning his head to look at me.

“Because after you blindsided me, I wanted to.” I smile.

He returns it before an instant later it melts away, his eyes darkening as if a shadow’s passed overhead. “So, how long have you been seeing him for?”

I shake my head. “I’m not seeing him. I wouldn’t have agreed to have dinner with you if I were. Tonight was the first time we’ve gone out. As I said, we work together.” I look down and brush a piece of imaginary fluff off my jeans.

“You planning on seeing him again?”

“Oh, you mean even though I don’t want him?”

“Even though you want me,” he says. Sexual arrogance.

I fix him with a narrow gaze and shake my head again. God, his eyes are a remarkable color, the irises moving like green liquid fire under certain light. Under this light.

Beneath my cool fingers, the ice pack melts slowly, which I’m glad about. I’m not ready for him to leave yet.

“He’s a nice guy, Jake,” I say, clearing my throat.

“Yeah, you said that before, Alex.” His voice is quiet. “Is that the kinda guy you want then?Nice.”

“As opposed to what?” I ask.

He holds my stare for a long stretch, and I manage not to look away this time. Then he sighs again. “You know, I never normally have to work this fucking hard with a girl. Never.”

“Yes, and you saidthatbefore. Any girl you want, you get her. It’s a done deal. I remember.” An image of womanizing Jake flits through my mind, and I see him fucking nameless, faceless women raw and hard over his desk, on the sofa, against the window. The heat curling in my belly shifts, transforming into something else—something with a sting to it.

When I look back at him, he’s biting the inside of his bottom lip in the way he does. His eyes are still intense and dark.

“But you’re not any girl, are you, Doctor Alex Marlowe? I knew that from the start. I knew you were ...” He stops himself from saying any more.

I can’t breathe again. “You knew I was what?”

He examines me as if he’s trying to decide something, then he blinks and shakes his head. “Never mind,” he says, tilting his head back away from me again.

I feel as if I’ve missed an opportunity to get inside his head. As though the bravado and sexual arrogance cracked just a smidge to reveal a glimmer of something else beneath.

“I mean, I have no fucking clue what’s going on here, Alex. You say you’ll go out with me, but then you stand me up for some guy in a pair of cords who you aren’t into? Help me out, will you?”

I sigh, irritated. I don’t want to talk about Sam anymore. “Jake, we’re going around in circles here. I explained why I did that ...” I meet his eye. “You told me yourself the reasons I had for staying away from you are entirely valid, so how can you be angry at me for doing so? You’re being unreasonable ...”

“Yeah, well, I’m an unreasonable sort of person, Alex.” His voice is heavy, his eyes too.

To lighten the mood, I raise an eyebrow. “Well, that’s good to know.”

His face is serious, but then the corner of it tugs into a smile. I feel mine do the same, and before I know it, I’m smiling back at him.

“I mean, you smacked me in the face for calling you gorgeous, so it looks like we can both be a bit unreasonable sometimes ...”

I frown. “That’s not why I smacked you in the face. I mean, that was an accident. A complete accident.”

He’s grinning now. An adorable grin that makes his eyes sparkle and his nose scrunch slightly. He has an incredible duality to him, I realize. One moment he can look adorable, almost sweet, and then the next, he looks as if he’s thinking the most obscene thoughts.