“Which part, babe?”

“Every part. And stop ‘babe-ing’ me. I’m not your babe.”

“A second ago you felt like you were,” Lee murmured darkly before moving across the room. My back hit the wall when his chest met my chest. Then his mouth was at my ear. “You wanted it,” he whispered.

I was staring at the hardwood floor, my fluster getting the better of me when I replied shyly, “I just don’t get how that’s your first port of call.”

His eyes searched mine for a second, his brows furrowing, and then he burst out laughing. His hands cupped my cheeks before he pulled me into a hug. “God, you’re cute.”

 In spite of myself, I sank into his hold. He took a deep breath, like he was smelling me, and there was something about it that made my stomach do a flip-flop. The whole situation was just ridiculous. And I was drunk. Yes, that’s why I was bringing up anal play like a flippin’ weirdo. Levelling my hands on his chest, I pushed him back and stepped away to put some distance between us.

“Look, you can quit the nice-guy act. It’s fooling no one.”

He regarded me tenderly. The affection in his voice was making me feel things I didn’t want to feel. “There’s no act.”

 “You, me…us, it would never work, you know that, right?”

“Not sure I agree.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not the one with a reputation to uphold.”

“Oh, really? What do you think my boys would say if they knew I was sleeping with a cop?”

I cocked my head and put a hand on my hip. “I don’t know, Lee. According to you, they wouldn’t have a reason to say anything.”

He stared at me for a long hard moment, not speaking, the stoniness in his eyes giving me chills. I felt like our conversation had come full circle, rounding back to the argument we’d been having before he kissed me. Thankfully, the tension was broken when the door opened and Alexis stepped inside. Her hair was wild and her makeup smudged. In fact, she was still putting her clothes back to rights and looked like she was fleeing the scene of a crime.

“Lee, can you give us a lift home?” she asked in a rush.

He shot her a perplexed expression. “Sure.”

I frowned and shook my head at him. “Don’t put yourself out. We’ll get a cab.”

“We don’t have time to call for a cab. We need to leave now,” Alexis insisted.

“Why?”

I didn’t have to wait for an answer, because Stu stormed into the room.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he demanded.

He wasn’t wearing a top, and the fly of his jeans was still open, which meant I was copping quite the eyeful. Stu was ripped, and honestly, I totally got why Alexis sought him out for company. I mean, if you were going to have meaningless sex, you might as well do it right. I tried to keep my eyes fixed at twelve o’clock, rather than veering toward six. Okay, so maybe I took a quick peek at five. Oh, who was I kidding? My gaze was headed straight for six, and I didn’t even feel guilty about it.

Hello.

Aaand, back to the matter at hand. Judging from the angry look on Stu’s face, I thought that maybe he wasn’t as great at keeping his emotions out of his sex life as Lee said he was.

“I told you this was just sex,” Alexis muttered, her slumped posture showing me she was disappointed in herself.

“But why? That prick left you, Lex. I’m here. I want you. Give us another chance.”

Oh, wow. I never thought I’d see the day that Stu Cross showed his emotional side.

“You don’t get it,” she replied, turning away. Stu reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

“What don’t I get?”

“Hey, don’t be rough with her like that, she’s….” I stopped myself right before I finished the sentence. It didn’t matter anyway, because a second later Alexis let the cat out of the bag.

“I’m knocked up, okay? And before you ask, no, the baby isn’t yours. Now will you just let me leave?”

Stu stared at her, frozen in place. Alexis turned and walked out the door. Lee shot his brother a stern look that told him not to follow her. Then he touched his hand softly to my lower back and led me out of the house. A minute later, both Alexis and I were in the back seat of his car as he drove us home. It was quiet until Lee announced sarcastically.

“Well, Clarky, that’s some stunt you just pulled. You should be real proud of yourself.”

“Don’t talk to her like that,” I warned him.

His eyes caught mine in the overhead mirror, and I was the first to turn away. I couldn’t look at him right then, not when I could still taste him in my mouth, still feel his hands on my body. What had happened lingered between us, heavy and unspoken.

“No, Karla. He’s right. What I just did to Stu was shitty. And I’m not proud of myself, not at all.”

“I’ll tell him you said that,” Lee responded, looking slightly appeased.

“I thought you said that Stu was emotionally uninvolved when it comes to women,” I said. “He didn’t seem that way tonight.”

Alexis pulled a face. “Oh, my God, Lee, you corny bastard. I didn’t know you were dealing in clichés now.”

He suppressed a smirk. “What? It’s the truth, though he’s always had a soft spot for you. Maybe you’ll be the one he finally decides to turn over a new leaf for.”

“Yeah, because I’m such a special snowflake. That shit only happens in rom-coms, and my shit stinks the same as everybody else’s.”

“Ugh, you had to go and make it gross,” I complained.

“Hey, you’d better get used to it. I’m going to be a single mother, and I’ve decided you’ll be godmother. That means lots and lots of nappy changes.”

Even though we were joking around, what she said made me emotional, and my voice got a little scratchy. “You want me to be godmother, seriously?”

“Who the hell else would I ask?! Of course I do.”

I reached over and grabbed her hand, forgetting for a second that Lee was in the car with us. “You know that means a lot to me, right? I’ll never take it for granted.”

We shared a meaningful look, and I squeezed her hand before letting go. The car fell silent, and when I looked up, I found Lee watching me again. I swallowed and glanced away, staring intently out the window. A few minutes later, we’d reached my and Lexie’s building. She got out first and hurried toward the door entry system. I hovered, looking back to Lee. There was something about his expression that made me think he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. Instead, he shot me a sober nod and restarted the engine.

“See you around, Snap,” he said right before he pulled away from the kerb.

I stood on the path, watching his black car disappear into the black night and worrying about how my life was changing, all because he was in it.

Five

“Oi, Burrows, where’d ya get the shiner?” Tony called after Steve, who’d just stepped inside the break room. Steve flicked his attention to Tony, a face like thunder and a black eye to boot.

“Your missus wanted to try something a little different in the sack,” he sneered, and Tony bristled. My workmate wasn’t an easy man to rile, but what Steve had said got his back up. He went silent, and believe me, since he was normally a happy, chatty sort of bloke, Tony was at his scariest when he was quiet. Steve gave him a snide look before going to sit on the other side of the room from us.

“Don’t listen to her — she’s just crabby because she got into another catfight. Handbags at dawn, it was,” I said, grinning at my friend. “She needs to learn how to act like a lady.”

Tony let out a loud laugh, and Steve scowled. He kept quiet, though, which was out of character. Normally, the man had a mouth on him that Niagara Falls couldn’t shut up. This niggled at me, because if Steve had gotten into a fight on the job, he’d be bragging about it with endless talk of “you should see the other guy.” The fact he was keeping schtum was worrying, and it reminded me of Lee’s threats when we’d visited the garage. Maybe Steve tried to pay another visit, and Lee had made good on his promise.