My jaw dropped.
“There were other reasons for my celibacy besides thwarted desire for you,” he said. “My choice in women was dubious, as Max and Lizzie like to remind me. I was reassessing my choices when I met you.”
“So you decided to not have sex…indefinitely?” The last word came out in a high pitch. “You’re insanely hot. How did you manage to not date?”
Technically, when I thought about it, I hadn’t had sex during that time either. I’d fooled around with a couple of guys, but either I got cold feet when things became more serious or I found something wrong with them.
He cupped my ass. “Glad you think I’m hot.” He was staring at my breasts. “About that round two—I’m ready when you are.”
I put my hand on his chest, holding him back. “Jack Townsend, what are you saying?”
He sank onto the pillow and sighed, running a hand through his rumpled locks. “I liked you back then.” He looked over. “I still do.”
“Which is why we found ourselves giving in to mutual attraction. But—”
He must have understood the question I didn’t voice, because he said, “I like you a lot, Elise. I want something more permanent.”
He can’t mean…“But this relationship ends in a couple of days.”
“Does it have to?”
My eyes widened. “Yes! Or the living part. I like you. More than is wise. You’re smart and sweet and funny, and some have pointed out that I don’t measure up. But I’m still figuring myself out. I’ve always lived with my mom or depended on my sister. It’s important for me to prove I’m capable.”
“To others or to yourself?”
“Likely to myself, but that doesn’t change how I feel.”
He sat up, propped on his elbow, and his mouth firmed as he looked off. “Fucking Thalia. She knows nothing about quality.” He looked back at me. “You can’t be measured because you’re better than me any day of the week. You’re caring and strong, and I don’t deserve you, but I want you. As for your needing time to prove something to yourself—I’ll wait.” He touched my bare hip lightly, but there was desire in that touch. “I’m a patient man.”
These were words any woman would die to hear. They were the wordsI wantedto hear—but I’d be putting off the one man I truly cared about because I didn’t have my shit together yet. “You shouldn’t have to wait.”
He studied me for so long I wasn’t sure he’d respond.Having second thoughts?“Let me worry about that,” he finally said and leaned over and kissed me, then stealthily tucked me under his body.
“Jackson,” I said in warning. “We can’t leave things like this.”
“Shh,” he said. “Enough talking.”
ChapterThirty-Three
Jack
I woketo soft curves and Elise’s buttercream and fruit scent. I’d have to find her shampoo and start soaping my body with it so I could smell her all day.
I stretched and rubbed sleep from my eyes, then glanced down at the warm woman beside me.
Not beside—entwined with me like a pretzel.
Elise’s leg was flung over the top of my thighs, one arm was tucked under the arch of my back, the other was over my stomach, and her face was pressed to my pec.
We must have slept like this all night, because my stomach was hot from where her arm rested.
I stayed like that for a while, thinking about last night. Probably the best night of my life. I’d wanted to ask Elise to continue living with me, but it was clear she wasn’t ready for that. I’d have to settle for her moving out and then dating like normal new couples.
Sounds filtered back from the front of the apartment, as though someone were in the house. My body tensed.The fuck?
Female laughter trilled, and I sensed Elise wake beside me.
She lifted her head. One side of her cheek was bright red from being plastered to my chest. “Who’s here?”
