LITMIR.BIZ

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grateful she’d gone with the mid-calf pencil skirt and not her favourite above-the-knee mini which she always slipped into after work.

      ‘I’m a little intrigued,’ she admitted.

      Taking a seat next to her, he rested his arm across the back and leaned towards her.

      ‘With me or my place?’

      Overwhelmed by his nearness, she took a deep breath, his aftershave filtering through her senses, the intoxicating scent of pure Blane encouraging her to bridge the short gap between them and bury her nose in the crook of his neck. Right on the tempting spot where his collar rested against his neck, where his impressive tan dipped away to broad shoulders covered in cotton, the sensitive spot she knew for a fact would drive him wild if she nipped it.

      She could lie, pretend there was nothing between them, act as if he didn’t affect her one little bit. But that wouldn’t be fair to either of them, and they’d been through too much to start playing games now.

      ‘Both,’ she said, tilting her chin up to meet his gaze head on, challenging him to…what?

      Say she intrigued him, too? That was a given considering he wanted them to have a second chance.

      Tell her she was crazy for contemplating giving him what he wanted? That went without saying, for no matter how many times she evaluated this logically, her emotional side would creep up and give her a big whack over the head, urging her to go for it.

      Kiss her senseless? Personally, the last option was her preferred choice, but for now she’d settle for a healthy dose of honesty, starting with how he came to afford a place like this.

      Cupping her chin, he brushed a thumb along her jaw, sending shivers of longing through her.

      ‘Careful. Your new flatmate might go getting ideas if you say he intrigues you.’

      Disconcerted by his unwavering stare, she aimed for light-hearted, anything to quell the urge to shove his hand away before she did something crazy like hang on to it for dear life.

      ‘So, tell me how you got this place. Let me guess. You’ve given up building to be a drug lord.’

      ‘No.’

      ‘You’ve discovered you’re the secret love child of Bill Gates?’

      His mouth twitched. ‘No.’

      ‘Well, come on then, spill it.’

      With a slow, sexy grin that did wicked things to her heart rate, he said, ‘We didn’t exactly get around to discussing my job the other night or earlier this evening, did we?’

      ‘That would be because you were too busy playing the burly builder.’

      She smiled, wondering if he’d remember how she used to call him that, how she’d teased him mercilessly.

      His eyes narrowed, losing none of their sparkle. ‘Playing, huh? Just for the record, we’re all grown up now, in case you haven’t noticed.’

      Oh, she’d noticed all right; as her belly dropped in a frightening free fall, her core temperature ratcheted up by about a hundred degrees, and she itched to bridge the gap between them and clamber onto his lap.

      See, she knew this cohabiting thing was a bad idea.

      She’d barely made it through the front door, and already her imagination was overreacting while her body…well, needless to say, her body needed some attention, something she would definitely not be getting from Blane if she knew what was good for her.

      ‘Okay, so tell me about this building job of yours,’ she said, opting for a nice, safe answer, something that wouldn’t give him the opportunity to flirt considering she desperately needed a few moments to compose herself and stop thinking about exactly how he’d grown up.

      ‘Ever heard of BA Constructions?’

      She shook her head, the name vaguely familiar, the type of thing she might have seen on billboards or scaffolding around the city. ‘Not sure.’

      ‘That’s my company.’

      He pronounced it with the kind of unaffected casualness she’d come to associate with him from the first minute he’d bowled into her parents’ old-fashioned coffee shop and swept her off her feet, the quiet confidence of a guy who knew what he wanted and how to get it.

      ‘Tell me about it.’

      ‘The Melbourne Cricket Ground renovation? We were contracted to do it.’

      Just like that, the proverbial penny dropped. BA Constructions wasn’t just any company; they’d made headlines for securing the megadeal to renovate Melbourne’s biggest sports stadium ahead of larger, more established construction companies. And there’d been something about making a financial magazine’s rich list, too…

      ‘BA Constructions, huh? Blane Andrews, CEO extraordinaire by the sounds of things.’

      He shrugged, his self-deprecating smile adorable. ‘You know I’m basically a builder at heart. I worked hard, got the right contacts, put in the hard yards and it paid off.’

      And how, if this swanky penthouse was any indication.

      ‘I’m happy for you,’ she said, instinctively reaching out to touch his hand, proud beyond belief he’d achieved so much.

      ‘Thanks. I did it for us.’

      Heat infused his gaze, instant and smouldering, burning her with its intensity, drawing her to him like a moth to a scorching flame: hypnotic, inevitable, despite the struggle to escape.

      ‘Because I wanted to come back to you with something we can build a future on. A strong foundation for what I hope we can achieve together. You know that, right?’

      She nodded reluctantly, wishing she could leap off the sofa and put some much-needed distance between them, but unable to move, caught up in something bigger and more powerful than the both of them.

      Capturing her hand, he brushed his thumb across the back of it, soft, gentle caresses which sent heat spiralling out of control through her.

      ‘I know I said no pressure, and, believe me, I intend to stick to it, but I need you to tell me exactly what you’re thinking about all of this. About us.’

      There is no us popped into her head, though thankfully she had the foresight not to blurt it out despite her befuddled brain as his thumb continued to do its thing.

      She’d already waged an inner battle for the last few hours, dreaming up ways to pull out of staying here while secretly looking forward to it, devising ways to ditch their dinner date while ensuring she paid her debt.

      He had her confused, bamboozled and hotter than she’d ever been. And she was tired of pretending this all meant nothing, that he could breeze into her life without affecting her.

      Sighing, she turned her hand over, sliding her fingers between his, the intertwining sending a feeling of simple joy through her.

      This was some of the stuff she’d missed about being part of a couple: the hand-holding, the shared moments, the in-jokes.

      Maybe she could get to know him a little better, get reacquainted, see where it led. What did she have to lose, when she’d lost the most important thing—him—years earlier?

      ‘You want to know what I think? I think you’re crazy for waltzing back into my life and thinking we can pick up where we left off.’

      A slight frown appeared between his brows, and she raised a finger to it, tenderly smoothing it away. ‘But I also think you’re interesting, funny and pretty cute. After all this time, go figure.’

      His eyes sparked with delight, and she laughed. ‘I also think seeing as you’ve been kind enough to let me crash here for a bit, it’s only fair I cut you some slack.’

      His answering smile could have lit up the whole of Melbourne. ‘I like the

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