Read Online In my Arms Tonight (NYC Singles Book 2) by Sasha Clinton - Free Book Online

your parents not say anything?”
    He peeled the cigarette away from his lips, eyeing her curiously. “I didn’t have parents.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Backtracking, Kat tried to recall what she’d read about his past in his biography. Well, there had been no mention of parents anywhere, but she’d not thought the omission important.
    “Who did you grow up with, then? Relatives?” Flapping her hands to fight off the gray-black cloud of air that was winding its way towards her nose, she distanced herself from Alex.
    “No one. I just drifted from foster family to foster family, I guess.” His gaze momentarily lost focus.
    Absently, he pushed away a wayward strand of hair that had fallen into her eye, his thumb pad brushing her forehead in a languid, sensual curve.
    Kat would have expected her muscles to clench at the unwanted bodily contact, but they loosened instead, as if Alex had done the most natural thing in the world by touching her.
    The texture of his skin, rough and gritty, sent an earthquake down to her belly when his thumb traced the arch of her eyebrow. Eyebrows were hardly the most intimate part of the female anatomy. Even so, the spot between her thighs moistened with heat.
    “So how did you… go to college? Who paid for it?” Her throat could have been stuffed with cotton.
    “I worked for two years to save up enough so I could go to community college, because I didn’t want to take on student debt. In my second year, I was offered a full scholarship to transfer to Princeton, and I worked part-time to cover my living costs.”
    Shadows darkened his irises and his hand moved to her head. He began stroking her hair, attention still miles away.
    Finally realizing what he was doing with her hair, Alex withdrew his hand. “Sorry. I didn’t notice that I was… doing… whatever I was doing.”
    Kat hoped her face didn’t convey her disappointment. His touch had gotten her so excited, but now she felt like a fool for overestimating the importance of a casual touch.
    “It’s okay,” Kat assured him, awkwardly. “I didn’t mind.”
    Alex’s right eye twitched. “I think I’m tired. It’s been a long day.”
    He tossed the burnt cigarette butt into a bin and pried another one from his pocket. Chain smoker, huh?
    Turning right, he lengthened his stride. Kat didn’t know where they were heading, but she followed him, because she wanted to stay around him. She felt intimate walking around with him at night, talking.
    Drawing her hands back, Kat visually catalogued his side profile. “Do you smoke only when you’re stressed or is it all the time?”
    “I’ve never analyzed. Most time I don’t even realize what I’m smoking.” Alex stopped.
    “So you smoke other stuff?” She was whipping out her notebook and pen already, ready to take notes. Wow, talk about twenty-four-seven job obsession.
    “Other stuff?” Tapping the cigarette in his hand, he let the ashes float away with the breeze. “Like what?”
    “Joints, perhaps?”
    “That’s twice you’ve asked me about my recreational drug use.” The LSD thing earlier. He must be meaning that. “My answer remains a firm no.”
    “Would that answer change if I said that this conversation was off the record? Which it is, by the way.” Kat tested the waters.
    “No, it wouldn’t.” He looked at her like she’d insulted him.
    Okay, point taken. Alex didn’t do drugs.
    “Pity. I’d thought I could get something useful for my friend who works for the Globe .” She pretend-sulked.
    “I’m sure there are enough pop stars getting high in NYC clubs to keep tabloids busy. They don’t need me.”
    He put out the second cigarette by crushing it under his shoes, then produced a third one.
    “You can’t have three in a row! You’ll turn into a chimney,” Kat exclaimed. Being the health freak that she was, she just couldn’t let this slide.
    He smirked. “I don’t think that’s possible, darling.”
    Darling . That did a number on