Sol’s whole body combusted in that one second. The woman was mouth-watering. Every slide of her tempting mouth, every shift of her delectable body, every tiny groan as he swept his finger over her sinfully hard nipples. He’d never ached so much before to bury himself inside a woman. Not aside from the primal, ph
ysical urge, that was.
Anouk was dynamite where before he’d only known black powder.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘WHAT IS THE matter with you, bratik?’ Malachi challenged from across the expansive, luxury office just as Sol was filling his mug with hot, rich coffee from his brother’s coffee maker.
‘What?’ Sol cocked an eyebrow, selecting a couple of Danish pastries to put onto a napkin and striding over to flop in a comfortable chair.
The last week had been unparalleled. So much for a one-night stand. He hadn’t wanted to let Anouk go and she had been more than happy to stay. There hadn’t been a room in his penthouse they hadn’t used as their personal playground.
‘You’re full of the joys of spring,’ sniped Malachi.
‘And you’re grouchy and on edge.’ Sol eyed him shrewdly. ‘More so than usual, that is. Though I wouldn’t have thought that was possible.’
‘Funny,’ Malachi bit out.
‘Thanks.’
‘Idiot.’
Sol shrugged, wholly unconcerned, and wolfed down the second pastry before speaking again.
‘Hungry by any chance?’
‘Always.’ Sol grinned, glancing around the room.
‘Vkusno! So, what’s the Christmas tree all about?’
He didn’t think he’d ever seen so much as a bauble in his brother’s offices before. Only Anouk had been more resistant to festive decorations than his brother always had been. Sol didn’t know why, but he found himself staring at it a little harder. It looked remarkably similar to the one in Resus. The one that Anouk had said her friend Saskia had decorated.
He practically heard the clang as the penny hit the floor of his brain.
‘I realised it’s good for morale,’ Malachi sidestepped. ‘I’m not the only one who works here, you know. Listen, I’ve got a board meeting to prepare for, so do you want to tell me why you really schlepped across town to see me?’
Sol stared at his brother wordlessly. That tree had nothing to do with morale; it was about Saskia, plain and simple. Suddenly, he wondered if she was doing for Malachi anything like what Anouk was doing for him. Making him feel whole when he hadn’t before recognised how broken he’d been? And, if so, didn’t they all deserve this chance?
‘You and I have always said that we weren’t built for commitment, or love. That everything she put us through destroyed that in us. But what if we’re wrong, Mal? What if you and I have always been capable of love?’
‘This discussion is over,’ Malachi ground out. But still, he didn’t move.
‘There’s always been a love between you and me.’ What had Anouk said? ‘It may be a different kind of love, but it’s love nonetheless.’
‘Where did those pearls of wisdom come from?’ Malachi snorted, but Sol noted that it lacked the level of scorn he might have expected from his big brother. He also noticed that Malachi wasn’t outright dismissing him.
Or was he just reading too much into it because of the way Anouk had made him re-evaluate his own priorities?
‘I don’t know,’ he answered honestly.
‘A woman?’
‘No,’ he denied. Then, ‘Maybe.’
‘Anouk?’
Reality bit hard, and for a moment Sol thought about denying it. What if talking about her with Malachi spoiled what he and Anouk had? Might have. Not that he even knew what they were—these...feelings that sloshed around inside him like sand and cement and water in a mixer.