Chapter 10: Ask Me After

He walked me out the way he had on the first night, one pace behind and to my left.

The service corridor ran along the back of the casino, white-tiled and humming.

It was nearly six.

The only sounds were the fluorescent lights and our feet.

I still had his jacket on.

I kept meaning to give it back.

"This way," Reuben said at the stairwell door.

I stopped, and he stopped.

We were a foot apart.

The jacket slid off one shoulder and he caught it without thinking, and his fingers brushed my collarbone.

Neither of us moved.

"I told you I wouldn't ask for anything," he said. His voice was lower than usual.

"You haven't."

"I'm about to."

My pulse raced.

He put one hand flat against the tile beside my head.

He did it slowly, so I could see it coming.

His other hand touched the side of my face, and my eyes closed on their own.

His thumb moved along my jaw.

His breath was on my mouth.

"I'm head of security," he said. "You're night staff. I sign the people who sign you."

"I know what you are."

"Then you know this is the worst idea in the building."

"Reuben."

"Say it."

"Kiss me," I said.

He did.

It was slow for about a second.

Then I had a fistful of his shirt and he had both hands in my hair, and my back hit the tile.

He tasted like cold coffee and bread.

I had wanted that mouth since a man looked at me across a puddle and didn't look away.

I could taste the lie in mine, and I kissed him harder anyway.

He made a low sound against my throat.

"Keys," I said. "Tell me you have keys."

He laughed once, rough, and pulled a ring from his belt.

The lost-property room was three doors down.

He got the lock open on the second try, with me pressed against his back and my hands under his shirt.

Inside it was shelves of umbrellas and forgotten coats, and a long metal table under a single bulb.

He shut the door and turned the bolt.

Then he lifted me onto the table.

My knees went around his hips.

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