Page 36 of Tempting Fate

I grab the front of his T-shirt and haul him down for a kiss. I don’t mean to. Really, really, I don’t mean to. I know he and Patch went on a date and presumably it went well because there was no denying the attraction between them on Saturday, and it’s not like I want Em to choose me over Patch or anything like that, but—

I kiss him anyway.

Em makes a surprised, muffled sound against my mouth, but he doesn’t go rigid, doesn’t push me away. His free hand slides around the back of my neck and fuck, his glasses must be all askew, but he kisses me back anyway.

I move my lips against his, breathing him in. I don’t want him to stop. Now that I’ve tasted him, I don’t know how I’ll ever go without again. This feels perfect. It feels right.

But Em does pull back, which is smart from the way we’re both breathing, and the reality of what I’ve just done hits me like a lorry. I scramble back, almost falling onto the sofa. Em reaches for me, but I flinch away. His face falls.

“Sorry, I—” I shake my head. “God, I’m sorry. I should never—”

“Jamie.” Em uses his firm voice, the one he used the day we first met, and my brain goes entirely silent. His eyes soften. “It’s okay. I liked it.”

“But you—You and Patch.”

“We went on our date, yeah,” Em says. “We’re going on another one next week.”

“Y-you are?”

“Yeah.”

I glance over. The receptionists are studiously not looking at us, so I grab Em’s hand and pull him out of the building. A shock of cold hits me, but I drag Em out of sight—around the corner, anyway—all the same.

“You kissed me back,” I say. My tone isn’t accusatory. I sound… helpless?

“I did.”

“Why?”

Em pulls a face this time. “I wanted to,” he says after a moment, eyes burning behind his glasses, and my stomach flips as I gasp. He wanted to. He wants to, by the way his gaze falls to my mouth again. “Sorry.”

“We shouldn’t—Oh God, Patch,” I mutter.

“I’ll tell him,” Em says quickly. “I mean, I’ll tell him—”

“It was me.”

“No.”

“It was, though. And I’m not trying… I really meant what I said, okay? I want you two to be happy with each other. I don’t want to take that away just because of whatever’s going on with me.”

“What is going on with you, Jamie?”

“What?”

“It’s not just me and Patch, is it?”

I sigh in defeat. “No.” I glance around, but I can’t see anyone from my office here. “I had an interview for a new job on Monday. It went well.”

Em smiles. “That’s great!”

“Not really. It’s not here. The job. I’d have to leave London.”

As suddenly as the smile appears, it falls, and the one Em consciously replaces it with is not nearly so bright or honest. “Is that what you want to do?”

“I think I have to. Or it’s time to. I don’t know. I don’t think I can stay here.”

“This will sound terribly conceited, but… It isn’t because of me, is it?”