When we finished, the two of us could barely catch a breath. Eli picked me up and gingerly put me on my feet before wrapping me up in one of the fluffy robes.
“Now, it’s time for the bath.”
I eyed him warily, still struggling to regain my composure after what he’d done to me. “I don’t have my bathing suit on, and neither do you.”
He grinned as he threw a robe on himself.
“I like you naked.”
Chapter Nineteen
Eli
Emily and I basked in the kind of fuzzy, satisfied glow you could only get from staying up all night in bed with someone you were crazy about. Even now, driving back to Frazier Falls in the pale morning sunlight, all I had to do was look at her, and I was filled with an insatiable desire to pull to the side of the road and undress her once more.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked, a curious expression on her face.
I cocked my head to one side and raised a suggestive eyebrow, satisfied to see Emily’s face blush because she knew what was on my mind.
“I’m remembering the outdoor bath,” I finally said. “I wish we were back there.”
“Oh, you do, do you? It seemed to me like you couldn’t handle the heat for all that long.”
I laughed. “Champagne and hot water are a dangerous mix. With that winter air on our faces, and with you having nothing on …” I sighed dramatically. “I almost wish we could live there.”
“Almost?”
“I doubt we could sleep in water without the risk of drowning.”
“That’s the only issue you see with living in an outdoor bath?”
There were all kinds of problems with the concept, but it was my fantasy, and I was going with it. Anywhere I could have Emily on demand was a place I’d want to be.
“Your skin would get wrinkled, too, and wrinkling your soft skin would be a crime.”
“Oh, that’s terrible,” she replied. “Definitely not an option.”
“Definitely.”
“Do you have to work this afternoon, Eli?”
Taking my eyes from the road for a second to look at her, I answered, “No. Why?”
“I thought that we could maybe … I don’t know … extend the date a little longer in your bedroom?”
A small, excited smile curled my lips. “I like the sound of that. We could make pizza. A real one this time, from scratch.”
“No frozen ingredients in sight?”
“None.”
“Then it’s a date.”
Satisfied with the direction my day was going, I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and continued toward Frazier Falls. Who knew we’d get two dates out of one?
Emily was fiddling around with the radio stations when a phone buzzed.
“Is that mine or yours?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the road.
“Oh—it’s mine. Excuse me for a minute,” she said as she pulled her phone from her purse. She accepted the call and covered the phone long enough to tell me,—“it’s my boss,”—before turning away to have the conversation as privately as possible.
I tried my hardest not to listen, but within the confines of the truck, and bearing in mind that Emily hadn’t chosen a radio station, I could hear everything her boss was saying as clearly as if I were having the conversation with the man myself.
“Emily, I’ve got news,” he said.
“Morning Don, great to hear from you. How are you?” Emily said in a sweet voice that told me the two of them got along well.
“I thought you’d be done with pleasantries and small talk by now, given how much Frazier Falls has grated on your nerves.”
Emily glanced at me before letting out a small, uncomfortable laugh. “I’m not at rock-bottom yet. What’s this news?”
“Pete’s pushing for you to come back. His words were now or never. I figured now was better than unemployed. I was able to book you a flight out today. It’s the only one I could get with all the cancellations and delays. It leaves at five. Can you make it?”
I risked a look at her only to see her eyes light up right before they dulled.
My mood slumped immediately. I knew what Emily was doing. She was trying to act like this wasn’t the best news she’d heard in weeks.
“No, that’s great, Don, I can make that. Send me the details?”
“Already have. You can take tomorrow to organize yourself, but you need to be here Monday to discuss everything about that Green House Project you sent the information about.”
Her tone lifted as if she were happy. “That’s wonderful. I think we can do something with it this time. Especially now that they’ve gained international clients.”
For a brief second, we exchanged looks. I tried to keep mine neutral. On the outside, I was calm and accommodating. Inside, I was a mess of jumbled feelings that ranged from hurt to anger. On the steering wheel, my hands clenched so tightly that my knuckles turned white.
After saying goodbye, Emily ended the call, leaving a heavy cloud of silence hanging over us. All of that wonderful, sunny atmosphere we’d cultivated during the last twenty-four hours was gone. It was as if it had never existed.
“I guess our plans are canceled.”
Emily reached over to touch my arm. “Eli—”
I shrugged my arm away. “No, it’s fine. I always knew you’d leave. I didn’t realize it was going to be today.”
“It’s not like there was anything I could have done.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, but immediately regretted it.
Emily grumbled. “What was that all about?”
“What was what?”
“Don’t act childish. Why did you roll your eyes? Are you implying there was something I could have done differently?”
I had to finish what I’d inadvertently started. Pax said we needed to talk it out. Let’s see how brutally wrong he was.
“Don asked if you could make that flight. You could have asked him to move it to tomorrow. You actually had plans with me.”
“Are you serious?”
“He booked a flight without consulting you first. It would be reasonable for you to have had plans. Which you do.”
“Which I did. Eli, I’ve been trying to leave for weeks. I have a job to do.” She shook her head. “You want me to miss that plane because we made plans to stay in and make pizza? Is that what you’re saying?”
“When you put it like that …”
“When I put it like what?”
I resisted the urge to raise my voice. I already knew this would be a fruitless argument, but now that we had started it, I found that I couldn’t stop.
“Why are you willingly tossing away what we have together?”
She paused as I struggled to keep my eyes on the road. “Excuse me?” she uttered softly.
“You sound like you did on the evening we met. Is ‘excuse me’ all you can say to a question you don’t want to answer?”
“Who are you to say that I’m willingly tossing away what we have? What do we even have in the first place? We knew what this was.”