He takes it, letting me pull him to his bed.
“Sit,” I whisper.
After a long look at my sexiest panties and bra, he folds his tall body to sit on the edge of the bed. I step between his legs. His hands inch up the back of my legs, taking their time memorizing the curve of my ass. I press my palms to his cheeks, brushing the pad of my thumb over his lower lip.
“Will you open your heart to me?”
His hands move to the clasp of my bra while his gaze remains locked to mine. “Yes.”
“Good.” I kiss his forehead, down his nose, and along his cheekbones. “Because I’m going to love you so hard, time won’t matter.” I kiss one side of his mouth as he eases my bra off. “Distance won’t matter.” I kiss the other side of his mouth. “All you’ll feel when you take each breath…” my lips hover over his “…is my love.”
For the rest of the night we pay homage to each other—physically, emotionally, spiritually. I refuse to stop until my mouth and hands have touched him everywhere and his have possessed every inch of me. I memorize the look he gets at the exact moment he loses himself to me. His back arches. My hand splays over his taut stomach muscles; my fingers curl into his tight flesh like I’m claiming him—Every. Single. Piece.
It’s sensual.
It’s vulnerable.
It’s beautiful.
It’s mine. I want that look to be mine and only mine forever.
I want to be his greatest strength—and his greatest weakness.
I want to be where he hides his lies and finds his truth.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Flint
“You have to leave.” I begrudgingly attempt to dress the naked woman sprawled out on my bed. There’s bedding everywhere—pillows half on the bed, half on my night stand, my comforter on the floor at the end of the bed, blankets wadded up beside the bed, the fitted sheet pulled off two of the corners of the mattress, and the top sheet woven around said naked woman passed out on her stomach. Sweat, sex, and her fruity shampoo fight to be the dominant smell in the room.
“Elle …” I tug at the sheet, but it’s all knotted. How did this happen? I grin. I know how it happened.
Her arms break free, reaching to the top of the mattress like she’s getting a good stretch. But instead of relaxing, her fingers curl into the edge of my mattress like she’s dangling from the roof of a tall building.
“Elle?”
“I’m not leaving,” she mumbles into the mattress.
“You can’t stay.”
“What time is it?” She keeps her head buried.
“Four.”
She grunts. “Wake me in two hours.”
I sigh, running my hands through my hair that’s been thoroughly yanked and pulled over the past four hours. “Harry gets up at six.”
“Great. I’ll make everyone breakfast.”
I growl in frustration. “I told him we wouldn’t have sex.”
“Then shame on you.” Her sexy little body shakes with silent laughter.
I want to sink my teeth into the exposed curve of her ass and fuck her senseless for being so stubborn and laughing at my predicament. I squint, leaning a bit closer. Those might already be my teeth marks on her ass. Serves her right.
“Ellen …”
“I’m getting chilled.” She turns her head to the side, blinking open one eye. “Grab a blanket and give me your naked body heat.”
“You’re going to have to sneak down the back stairs, right at six o’clock.” I grab a blanket from the floor and start to slide into bed.
“Uh uh … naked body heat.” She grins.
I slide off my briefs and cover us with the blanket. She wiggles free from the confines of the sheet and hugs me with her whole body. After shushing her humming three times, I give up and let it lull me to sleep.
*
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“I can’t find my other sock. Why is your door locked? You never lock your door.”
My eyes shoot open as I jackknife to sitting. Ellen eases to sitting next to me, rubbing her eyes.
Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.
He’s already working the key from above the door into the lock. How the hell did he get that down so fast?
“Harrison stay out—”
Light from the hallway blinds us as he stands in the open threshold, holding a single sock in his hand. Elle pulls the blanket up to cover her bare chest, but I think there’s a good chance he already saw it. Maybe not. Maybe it’s too dark in here.
Fuck. I hope it’s too dark in here.
“Ellen?”
“Morning, Harry.”
“Harrison. I’ll be out in a minute. Please shut the door.”
“Did you have sex with Ellen?” Harrison takes a step inside the bedroom, eyes making an inspection of the floor where I’m sure he’ll find her discarded clothes and my briefs.
“Harrison, close the door, now.”
He closes the door—with him still on the inside of the room.
“Not what I meant.”
He flips on the lights. We squint again.
“For god sake, Harrison.”
“Did you have sex with Ellen? You said you wouldn’t have sex with Ellen. You promised you wouldn’t have sex with Ellen or my teachers. I told you this would happen if you kissed her. Did you kiss her?”
He’s smarter than this. He knows the answers to these questions. But when he’s upset, he thinks out loud, so I let him because I’m naked under this blanket and so is she. Neither one of us can get up and cover up without leaving the other one naked. We’re completely at his mercy.
“Why?”
Beneath the blanket, Ellen rests her hand on mine. She feels his struggle. This was what I wanted to avoid.
“I told you to find your own friend. She’s my friend. You don’t even like her. You gave her a D—a seven—seventy percent.”
Ellen’s fingernails dig into my hand. How kind of him to bring up the seven.
“Harrison, get ready for school. We’ll discuss this later.”
“Dad, you promised—”
“Harrison! We’re done. This conversation is on hold until tonight.”
He grits his teeth and fists his hands as he turns toward the door. After he opens it, he turns back toward us. “Are you going to make cookies?” he asks Ellen.
I cringe. Simon and his fucking-around dad.
“Uh …” Ellen glances over at me.
“Chocolate chip. Gluten free. Dairy free.”
“Harrison, out.”
“When you have sex with men who have children, you’re supposed to bake cookies.”
Ellen stifles a laugh. “I’ll have them hot out of the oven when you get home from school.”
He nods stiffly and shuts the door.
I drop my head in my hands. “Fuck …”
Ellen giggles, collapsing back on the bed.
“It’s not funny. Why didn’t my alarm go off?” I grab my phone from the nightstand. It should have gone off. I toss it aside and nudge her leg with mine. “Get dressed. School. Work. A kid with one sock. This is going to be a long day.”
Ellen rips the blanket from me and cuddles up on the one pillow still on the bed, her back to me. “I don’t have anywhere I need to be for another few hours.” She yawns. “Keep the noise down. I’m going back to sleep.”