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Muscle for Hire(65)

By:Lexxie Couper


He walked over to her, his gaze locked on her face. “I don’t believe you. Tell me what’s wrong.”

The laugh she gave him was brittle. She knew it, and by the way Aslin’s eyes narrowed, he knew it as well. “Seriously. I’m okay. I wished I’d packed a pair of flip-flops though. Lacing these up—” she lifted a foot off the ground and pointed her Chuck-encased foot to show him what she was talking about, “—was a bitch.”

He crouched before her, his hands smoothing up her legs to come to rest on her thighs, a slight pressure on her elevated leg returning her foot to the floor. “I don’t believe you.”

“Of course you don’t.” She grinned at him, wishing to hell her heart would slow the fuck down. “It’s your nature to be suspicious. Now shut up and kiss me. My lip is almost better and you owe me one for taking off this morning while I was still asleep. How is Chris by the way? I thought you were guarding him while he surfed. Is he finished?”

Aslin didn’t reply, his inspection inscrutable as he studied her face, his palms warm on her bare thighs.

She resisted the urge to fidget. “What about lunch?” she asked, trying to distract him. The last thing she wanted was him knowing she was too freaking pathetic and scared to open the door. “Aren’t you going to follow him to the restaurant?”

“What restaurant?”

“The revolving one on top of some tower.”

Aslin’s inescapable scrutiny turned into a frown. “Chris is not having lunch at 360 Bar and Dining. Jeff just dropped him back at his suite. He’s planning on spending the rest of the day preparing for the scene being shot when filming recommences.”

A tingling pressure slid up Rowan’s spine. “Tilly said he’d booked out the entire restaurant. He and the guys were eating then climbing the Harbour Bridge after. And then there was a party tonight at some club.”

“Guys?”

“McCreedy and Jeff.”

Aslin shook his head. “No. No lunch. No bridge climb. Just a quick surf this morning before the normal Bondi crowd arrived. And your brother is too worried about you to go to a party. Warren mentioned one, but Chris said he wasn’t interested.”

Rowan chewed on her bottom lip and then flinched when her teeth pressed on the tiny split there.

“That hurt?”

Aslin’s voice—deep and laced with gentle humour—played with Rowan’s senses. She met his gaze, her belly twisting at the love she saw in his eyes. Everything else may be a confused mess at the moment, but she could not doubt what he felt for her. What she felt for him.

“Tilly had it right,” he suddenly said, his hands skimming over her hips in a caress that made Rowan’s heart quicken. “I think lunch somewhere special is a perfect idea. Especially when you are wearing the sexiest bloody outfit I’ve ever seen. There’s this quirky little café in Paddington I’d love to take you to. The locals guard it like a national secret from the tourists and, unless they’ve changed the chef since Nick ate there last, they make the best macadamia-crusted swordfish. How’s that sound? Do you think your beat-up, broken body can take it?”

She nodded, willing the butterflies in the pit of her belly away. “That would be lovely.” She’d call Tilly later. Ask why the young woman had implied Chris was falling back into his old ways. There had to be a reason. Whatever it was, it better be a goddamn good one or Rowan would give her a piece of her mind.

For a moment, Aslin didn’t move, studying her from his crouch between her thighs with an unwavering inspection. To Rowan, it felt like he was seeking something deep within her soul. And then, before she could confess everything—how angry she was at feeling so weak, how confused she was by Tilly’s words—he dipped his head and brushed his lips over hers in a kiss so light she barely experienced its physical touch.

But her heart, already beating too fast, leapt into a rapid pace and her breath caught in her throat.

She watched him rise to his feet and hold out his hand to her. Just one. “C’mon,” he murmured. “Let’s go pretend we’re normal people for a while.”

“As opposed to what?”

He grinned. “As opposed to the number-two trending topic on Perez Hilton’s blog. Have you seen the images of us making out on my bike posted there?”

She laughed and allowed him to help her to her feet. She even let him see the slight wince that escaped her when her ribs protested at her shift in position. With another kiss even more tender than the first, he crossed to the door, his fingers threaded through hers.