Read Online One Wrong Step by Laura Griffin - Free Book Online Page B

you doing here?”
    A grin spread across his face. “You don’t remember inviting me, do you?”
    “I didn’t invite you.”
    “Remember?” He leaned closer, flattening his palm against the cinder-block wall behind her. “Back at your apartment? Right before you kissed me good night?”
    She’d kissed him? God, she had no memory of that. Or of inviting him to the Easter party. Of course, everything after that third margarita was kind of a blur.
    “How’d you get in, anyway?” she asked. The Bluebonnet House was surrounded by an eight-foot security fence, and the only entrance was through the electronically locked front door.
    “I told Janice you asked me to come.” He smiled. “She buzzed me right in.”
    Of course. The college senior working reception today would have been starry-eyed at the sight of him.
    With the tip of his finger, he brushed her ponytail off her shoulder. “I like this dress you’re wearing. You didn’t tell me this was formal. Fact, I distinctly remember you telling me to bring my Nikes. I’m supposed to shoot hoops with someone named Enrique?”
    Celie closed her eyes, remembering now. Vaguely. God, why did she ever drink tequila?
    She opened her eyes, and McAllister was still staring at her, clearly enjoying her discomfort. He trailed a finger along the neckline of her dress, which scooped low in the front. Celie had always thought the long skirt and tiny floral print made it look demure, but McAllister obviously didn’t.
    And that thing he was doing with his finger was making her skin tingle.
    “Miss Celie?”
    She jumped, bumping his chin with her forehead.
    Kimmy stood in the hallway, grinning and holding an empty Easter basket. “Look what Miss Chantal gave me! She said I can put candy in it!”
    “That’s pretty, sweetheart.” Celie pressed her back against the wall, wishing McAllister weren’t standing so close. “You go on outside now, okay? It’s almost time for cupcakes.”
    Kimmy smiled and skipped off, swinging her basket beside her.
    Celie took McAllister’s hand and dragged him into her office. It was barely larger than a broom closet, but it was out of the traffic pattern. She flipped on the light switch and crossed the tiny room so they were separated by the cheap metal desk.
    He wandered over to the file cabinet and picked up a framed photograph of Feenie holding Olivia. “This your office?”
    “Yes.” She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry I didn’t remember inviting you. I think I had too much to drink last night.”
    “Ya think ?” He was laughing at her now, and she felt her cheeks flush.
    “I apologize. I don’t usually have three margaritas in one evening.”
    He crossed to the window beside her desk and peered through the dusty miniblinds. “Four.”
    “What?”
    He pulled the blind cord, and the room suddenly dimmed. Then he turned around. “You had four.” He took a step toward her, and her stomach tightened.
    “Why did you do that?”
    The corner of his mouth curved. “Why do you think?”
    He edged closer, and her heart started to race. She stepped back, bumping the desk and plunking her bottom onto it. He gazed down at her with that look she recognized, the one she’d seen on his face the night of Feenie’s wedding.
    “What are you doing?”
    “What I wanted to do last night.” His voice was low and intimate, as if they were in a bedroom together instead of an office.
    “We can’t do that here.”
    He glided his hands up her bare arms and laced his fingers together behind her neck. “Why not?”
    She was eye level with his chest, and she tried not to think about how good it looked as she floundered for a reason. She tipped her head back and looked up at him. “Someone might walk in.”
    “I locked the door.”
    She glanced frantically over her shoulder and saw that the door was indeed locked, the little thumb latch in the horizontal position.
    “Still, we can’t.”
    Instead of backing off, he eased closer, nudging her