Blue Angel Read Free Page A

rest of the universe. And she hated that he was tagging along on her birthday. “Do you two want to join me? I’m meeting some folks at the Standard. Might be some interesting guys for you to meet, Alec.”
    Mallory looked at Alec, and to her relief, he didn’t hesitate before saying, “Another time.”
    “Well then, happy birthday, love. I can’t believe I almost got to see you in your
birthday suit
.” He kissed her on the cheek.
    Alone, finally, Mallory and Alec walked silently to the corner. He pulled her to him.
    “So, birthday girl. That was quite a show.”
    “Yeah, it was really . . . interesting.”
    “I meant your show.”
    “Oh . . . that. Are you mad?”
    “Why would I be mad?”
    “I don’t know. It showed a certain lack of decorum.”
    “Mal, you went with it. That took nerve. To be honest, it was hot.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes! What else would it be to me? My God, any guy would kill to see his girlfriend up there like that. The only thing that would be better would be if we got that dancer back to our apartment for a private show.”
    “Alec!”
    “What? I told you I’ve been thinking about that.”
    “Do you have to bring it up on my birthday? And I don’t need to hear about the specific women you have in mind.”
    He stopped and pulled her close to him, kissing her on the forehead.
    “You’re the only woman I have in mind. And speaking of, I was going to take you out for dessert somewhere and toast your birthday over champagne but honestly, all I want is to take you home. Is that okay?”
    Mallory looked at him. There was nothing in the world she preferred to do over sex with him. Nothing could compare to that feeling of walking into the bedroom, knowing he was going to touch her. Knowing how he would touch her.
    “Of course it’s okay.”
    He hailed a cab.
    In the backseat, he took off his seat belt and moved close to Mallory. She resisted the urge to tell him he really should wear his seatbelt. Her friend Julie’s ex-boyfriend was an ER doctor at Mt. Sinai, and had told her that not wearing a seatbelt in a car accident increases your chance of dying by some huge percentage that she couldn’t remember—probably because she’d blocked it out because it upset her.
    Alec started kissing her, and she felt her stomach jump. He still had that effect on her—even after four years. When she told that to Julie, her friend hadn’t believed her.
    She glanced at the cab driver. He was talking into a hands-free headset. Clearly not paying attention to them.
    But when Alec’s hand slipped under her skirt, she pushed it away.
    “Alec!” she said.
    “Shh . . . he’s not looking. Believe me, people do a lot worse in the back seat of cabs.”
    His fingers brushed over the front of her underwear.
    “Seriously, stop,” she said. He pulled his hand back and moved to the far end of the seat.
    “What? You’re mad at me?”
    “I wish you could just go with it. You were fine to push the envelope when a strange woman pulled you on stage.”
    “I just don’t want to do it in the back of a cab.”
    The rest of the ride home was silent.
    As was the elevator ride up to the tenth floor of their apartment building on East 83rd Street.
    Alec opened the door and went straight to the couch, where he sat and looked at Mallory expectantly. She wondered how to diffuse the situation.
He
should be the one trying to mollify
her
, but she decided that wasn’t a fight worth having.
    Mallory stalled by rearranging a vase filled with long-stemmed yellow roses. That morning, Alec had sent her three dozen of her favorite flowers. She fanned out the stems, and asked, “What do you want from me?”
    “I want you to dance for me,” he said with a smile.
    “Shut up,” she said.
    “I’m serious,” he said. “When you were up there on stage, I kept thinking I just wanted you to do that for me.”
    It was classic Alec. He was always pushing her just past her comfort zone when it came to sex. It was one of the