Page 67 of The Fire We Make

More silence stretched between them.

“Some weird shit going on,” Ace sighed.

“Very,” Joy agreed.

“I’ll get Remy to look into the judge and detective on this case. Good work, Rose.”

Joy smiled and nodded, blooming under his praise. She shifted, moving to collect the photos and another whiff of her perfume wafted up into Ace’s nose.

He inhaled deeply and had to suppress a groan.

“What fragrance you got on?”

“Why?” Joy snapped, her defenses rising. “You don’t like it?”

Ace chuckled. “Nah, it smells real good on you.”

Her gaze fell and she absentmindedly pushed coils away from her face. “Oh…thanks.”

He grinned, watching her return her files to the carefully curated system. His eyes roamed her frame as he considered how he could earn more of her time. He wasn’t quite ready to go home yet. His options were his empty penthouse or his even emptier estate in New Jersey. Neither sounded appealing to him.

“What are your plans tonight?”

She looked up from her binder. “I’ve got a bottle of wine with my name on it waiting for me at home.”

Ace laughed. “A whole bottle?”

“The whole thing.”

“You wild,” he laughed.

Joy shrugged with a grin. “What about you? It’s Friday. Got a hot date?”

Ace grinned. “Nah. Why, you asking me out, Rose?”

Joy snorted. “I have a date with my wine, remember?”

Ace licked his lips. “Right. You can’t miss that.”

They chuckled together and Ace became acutely aware that their faces were only an inch apart. Ace’s gaze drifted down to Joy's lips then back up to her eyes to see her doing the same thing.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she demanded but it came out more like a plea.

“How am I looking at you?” Ace asked, inching closer.

“Like you did at the club with those… bedroom eyes.”

Ace grinned and the movement made their lips brush ever so slightly. “I can’t help it. Every time I’m with you I think about taking you to my bedroom. Bending you over this desk. Tasting you.”

Joy inhaled a sharp breath. “Adonis,” she gasped.

The air between them crackled with charged energy and neither of them spoke, moved or breathed for fear of combustion.

Ace leaned forward slowly and Joy did the same. Their bodies gravitated towards each other with their mouths leading the way.

Ace gripped Joy by the neck, prepared to pull her the rest of the way to connect them. Their lips were a hairs breath away from touching when knocks on the door startled them both.

Joy shot upright and moved back several paces.