Ellis reheats some of the food, citing, “I’m not feeding you cold shit.” While I get to sit back and enjoy the view.
Watching him in his element, away from interruptions and prying eyes, is a treat I savour. He moves fluently in his kitchen, multitasking without breaking a sweat, creating deliciousness with his hands and infusing passion into every morsel.
As we eat, we chat, sticking to lighter topics, ignoring the elephant in the room. And just as on our first night, our conversation flows effortlessly, albeit with even more stolen looks and heated stares.
With a stomach full of Ellis’s divine food, I can’t help the groan of contentment that slips past my lips as I lean back in my seat, glass of wine in hand.
“Jesus, I haven’t eaten that much in… ever.” He laughs as I rub my full belly. “Seriously, remind me to leave a massive tip for the chef.”
Ellis gives me a salacious leer before licking his lips, and with a low voice, states, “I’ve heard he’s quite partial to massive tips, or should I say, more than just the tip. After all, nobody likes a tease.”
I shake my head with a chuckle.
“You’re incorrigible.”
He shrugs, smile widening behind the lip of his wine glass.
“I’ve been called worse.”
Heat thickens the air between us and has me reaching to loosen my collar. A move Ellis doesn’t miss.
“Take a seat on the sofa, and I’ll bring us over dessert.” He gets up and strolls lazily towards the kitchen, letting me drink my fill, enjoying my eyes on him. “Oh, and feel free to pop a few buttons and relax. You’re looking a little… tense.” His head turns, eyes locking with mine. “And a little… hot.”
“Are you trying to loosen me up, Mr Probert?”
I stand, and he takes the opportunity to run his eyes over me from head to toe. I feel his stare like a touch, stoking the fire inside me, stroking fingertips of need over my skin.
“No. I’m trying to seduce you.”
I swallow thickly, and he smirks. The sinful curve of his mouth taunts me, making my mouth dry and my lips tingle.
“Noted.”
At my choked one-word response he chuckles, but I don’t miss the not-so-subtle way he reaches down and rearranges the bulge in his jeans, raising a brow at me when he catches me locked on the movement, daring me to comment.
“Dessert. Sofa. Good, I’ll just, uh…” I hook a thumb in the direction of the living area, and the bastard sniggers at me. The full force of Ellis’s attention is heady as fuck and has me giddy like a schoolboy.
Watching him all cocky and confident has me not knowing my head from my arse, and it’s a rare feeling for me, one only he can create.
With a dry smirk, I shake my head, throwing him the finger as I walk away, calling him names under my breath.
I hear the deep, throaty sound of his laughter follow me and, in an act of one-upmanship, I undo a few buttons on my shirt, letting it open to just under my pecs and untucking it from my trousers.
If he wants relaxed, he’s going to get it.
Taking another sip of my wine, I sprawl across his battered but comfier than it looks sofa, one leg stretched entirely across the seat, leaving Ellis no place to sit.
When he sees me, small glass bowl in each hand, he takes in the stretched-out length of my body, his gaze zeroing in on the recently revealed expanse of my chest, and he stops dead and just… looks.
I expected laughter. I expected an innuendo-filled retort. What I didn’t expect was for him to freeze as if stunned.
He blinks, a frown creasing his brow, his denim blue eyes narrowing, and suddenly my attempt to turn the tables feels awkward.
I move, bringing my leg to the floor and sitting up straight, worried that his silence isn’t him admiring the view. He looks… perplexed.
“Everything okay?”
My question seems to break through his foggy thoughts, and his head lifts, eyes finding mine, letting me see all the turbulence within.
“What’s happening with us? Why have I seen you like this before? And please…” His voice is more than a request; it’s a plea. “Please, don’t give me some spiel about divine essence. You know more than you’re letting on, Macsen. And it stops here. I deserve those answers you’re keeping locked away.”
He’s right. He does deserve more.
Resigned, I nod, never breaking eye contact, wanting him to know I’ll tell him everything I can.
“Please sit, and I promise to answer any questions you have. Where would you like to start?” I shift and nod to the seat next to me.
Ellis hesitates for only a moment. Then, with considered movements, he sets down the bowls of what looks like ice cream on the footstool that doubles as a side table, and takes a seat next to me. Turning in place, he bends his knee so his entire body faces mine, ensuring I can see I have all his attention.
“At the beginning. You need to start there.”
And so, I do.
Chapter 10
Ellis
I don’t know why a switch flipped inside me at seeing Macsen sprawled out across my sofa.
I knew he was trying to turn the tables, get his own back for the comment I made about seducing him, and his comical reaction to my teasing. I knew all this, and I should’ve gone with it. I should’ve pounced on him, chastised him for his blatant provocation with my mouth on his.
Shirt unbuttoned, the smooth expanse of his defined chest revealed, a twinkle of mischief and desire in his eyes, and lying there like an all you can eat buffet was both funny and sexy. It didn’t warrant my extreme response.
Not unless you could feel how I did at that moment.
Sucker punched.
The visual hit me like a memory long forgotten.
It wasn’t déjà-vu. It wasn’t feeling as if I’d lived this very moment before. It was more like I’d experienced Macsen this way before. Many times.
The glimmer of seductive mischief in his eyes. The way his body called to mine. The way my chest constricted, and I found it hard to breathe because even as close as we were, he still felt too far away.
It was too much and not enough condensed in one specific moment.
So here I sit, knee resting against his thigh, back pressed up against the arm of the sofa, body turned towards his. My gut churns with a mixture of anticipation and heady lust—my default around him. I’ve never wanted a man as much as I want Macsen Evans.
If I thought I could tempt him into my bed and fuck all these feelings out of me, I would. But I know it’s more than that. I can feel it.
And it scares the shit out of me.
Unless the answers he gives me quell all these raging emotions, I am going to lose my mind.
And, what’s scarier than that, it felt like I was also going to lose him, too.
That’s what had me frozen at that moment.
There he was before me, offered up on a platter, a gift from the gods—my divine order—and I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I so much as blinked, he’d be gone.
So, I didn’t blink.
I watched, and I waited, not willing to miss a single word, or the inflection of his voice, or the way his face moved as he spoke, or the way he looked at me.
Fuck, how he looked at me.