Roman-2(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(156)

Her heart skipped a beat, and she almost choked on her mouthful. He’d called her Sasha, not intern, and it felt more intimate than anything that had happened in the Honeymoon suite of the Hilton.

“You actually want to get to know me?” she said.

He laughed and threw his arms wide. “Yes! Why is that so hard to understand?”

“I don’t know,” she said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ears. “I thought this was just about sex.”

He stuck his bottom lip out in contemplation. “Can’t it be about both?”

She shrugged. “Can it? How much did you bother getting to know Alicia?”

Thomas sucked air between his teeth. “Ah.”

“I’m sorry,” Sasha said quickly. “I’m bad at this, this whole casual thing.”

Thomas leaned forward and ran his index finger along her arm. The flesh turned goose pimpled beneath his touch. “Alicia is nothing compared to you,” he murmured.

Suddenly, there was a commotion from the entrance of the restaurant. They looked up to see a crowd of people being held back by waiters. Lights flashed.

“That will be the paparazzi,” Thomas said. He stood and threw down his napkin.

“You’re leaving?” Sasha said, alarmed. “Just like that?”

“We both are,” he replied. He held his hand out to her, palm up. Sasha couldn’t help but see it as an invitation. Such a simple gesture but, like a butterfly’s wings causing a tornado a thousand miles away, taking his hand could change everything.

“Come on,” Thomas barked. “Unless you want to be the talk of the internet?”

Sasha clasped his hand and stood. Thomas pulled her after him, and together, they wound their way through the tables of gossiping diners.

“This way,” he called behind him.

They headed for the back of the restaurant and into the steaming kitchens. Smells and heat assaulted Sasha. She couldn’t help but laugh from the exhilaration of it all. It felt so theatrical, to be running from the paps with a dashing action hero.

“Mr. Lloyd,”—a man in a crisp white suit said, startled by the appearance of the actor in his kitchen—“is everything okay?”

Sasha noticed his name tag: Hunter Hill. Manager.

Thomas narrowed his eyes. “There are paps here.”

Hunter Hill blanched. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Lloyd,” he said. “One of the diners must have alerted them.”

“It’s not your patrons who are the problem,” Thomas replied. “It’s your staff.” He pointed to the waiter who’d served them, the one who hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Thomas. “I’d question him first. All it takes is one picture uploaded to Instagram.”

And with that Thomas shoved open the double doors at the back of the kitchen and pulled Sasha after him, leaving the manager standing there flabbergasted.

She emerged, breathless and laughing, into the cold evening air. Thomas, on the other hand, was agitated.

“These bloody kids with their phones,” he said. “My every movement is documented. One tweet here, another picture uploaded there, and the world and his dog are chasing me down the streets.” He began punching numbers into his cell phone. “Pick us up from the back entrance,” Thomas said, and Sasha assumed he was talking to his driver.

They were in an alleyway at the back of the restaurants and shops. It was lined with dumpsters, a far cry from the glamour of a moment earlier.

“I’m sorry about this,” Thomas said.

Sasha leaned against the wall to catch her breath. “Don’t be. I’m having fun.”

“You might not be so jovial when your face makes it into the magazines.”

She reached out a hand and set it on his arm. “I can handle it, Thomas,” she said. “I’m not as fragile as you think I am.”

He looked at her hand then drew his face up level with hers. He moved forward at lightning speed and planted a deep, hungry kiss on her lips. Sasha’s mouth opened, inviting him in instantly. She arched her back against the bricks as ripples of excitement washed through her. She pulled him closer and closer, reveling in the sensation of his strong body against hers. Her fingers explored his back, his broad shoulders, before winding into his hair.

Thomas ran his hand down from her hip to her thigh then hitched her leg up in one fluid movement. Sasha let her legs open for him and breathed heavily as his body moved into the space between them.

Thomas reciprocated her intensifying passion by widening her mouth with his, deepening their kiss. His hand moved from her thigh to her ass, his fingers squeezing the flesh and causing spasms of excitement to course through her. She couldn’t help but let a small moan escape from her throat. She was rewarded by the sensation of Thomas’s erection hardening between her legs.