Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 39424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Jealousy, pure and simple, rages inside me, and I try to pull my hand from his. “Sorry, I thought I was helping… I didn’t consider that you wanted her—”
He cuts me off and leans toward me. “Stop right there. I don’t want her, and I don’t want her attention. The only woman’s attention I want is the woman sitting in front of me thinking she can save me from the cruelties of the world.”
“But—”
He pushes a stray hair off my face. “The reason I said you messed up is because when she gave me her number and told me to call her, I told her I had a girlfriend.”
My eyes widen, and my mouth forms an o.
He chuckles. “Yeah, so I’m sure that the whole town has heard by now that I have a girlfriend, and by your little act of protection here, I’d say the town is going to assume that you’re the girlfriend.”
I swallow and just stare at him. The plan was to keep my guard up, but I’m failing terribly because I’d do anything to be considered Elias’ girlfriend.
I lick my lips, and he groans. “You’re killing me here, you know that, right?”
I scoot closer to him and blink up at him. “What do you mean?”
His hold on my hand tightens, and the way he’s looking at me has me admitting, “I missed you while you were gone.”
He jerks as if I’ve physically hit him in the gut. “Yeah, I missed you too.”
I can’t stop the smile from forming on my face. I only meant to distract him while we sat in the restaurant and waited for our food, but instead, a little more of that wall around my heart has come tumbling down.
CHAPTER 14
ELIAS
I’ve been finished with my food for a while now, but I’ve sat here and listened to her tell stories about work while she eats. I should leave, but I can’t force myself.
She opens the Styrofoam with the pieces of cake and holds it up to me to smell. “You want some of this?”
The scent of apples and cinnamon hits my nose, and even though it smells good, it’s nothing to the way she smells. Her scent is becoming an addiction. I put my hand to my stomach. “I’m good right now.”
She closes the container and sets it to the side before cleaning up our mess. “Okay, so, are we going to do this?” she asks with her back to me.
I sit up a little straighter, and my tongue feels thick in my mouth. “I want to.”
Hell, even I’m a little surprised by my admission, but not as much as her. It’s almost like she doesn’t fully believe me when she asks, “But?”
I move to stand up and grip the back of the chair in my hands. “No buts. I want you.”
I wait for her to come toward me, but she stays rooted in her spot. “I want to feel your body against mine this time, E.”
I love the fact she’s shortened my name, creating an intimacy between us, but the warmth and excitement from only a second ago disappear, and I freeze up. “I can’t, Chloe. No matter how much I want that, I can’t.”
She’s staring at me, running her finger along her lower lip as if she’s deep in thought. “What do you mean, you can’t?”
I just stare back at her. “I physically can’t.”
She clears her throat. “Soooo… you can’t perform, you mean?”
It’s then I realize what she means. “With you, I can perform, and there’s no doubt about that. I’m saying… fuck, I don’t even know what I’m saying.” I suck in a breath and let it out slowly. “I just mean that you don’t want to see me like that. Trust me when I say you really don’t.”
Chloe doesn’t play fair, though. She makes a tsking sound, shaking her head. “There you go again, thinking you know what I want. Well, I’m here to tell you what I want, E.” She starts to undress, and my heart skips a beat as she continues to talk. “Do you know I still think about the way your body feels against mine? The way you made me feel special just by the way you touched me and let me touch you. I need to feel that way again, and the only way to do that is if you let me.”
By the end of her speech, she’s completely naked, and all I can do is grip the back of the chair a little tighter. I’m fighting not to reach for her, and it’s a losing battle.
Her hands come up, and she palms her heavy breasts in her hands. I watch as she squeezes them, tweaking the nipples between her fingers. “So you don’t want to be skin to skin with me?”
I’m practically panting, and all I’m doing is standing here. I want to lick every curve of her body. I want to taste her again, and fuck, yes, I want to feel her skin against mine.