We sit in awkward silence for a long while until I can’t take it anymore.
“Hey, Eloise?”
“Yeah?”
“If I ever get rabies, I’m sinking my teeth into Dave Blasko first. I just wanted you to know that.”
She snorts, bringing her free hand up to her mouth to cover her grin. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“Whywould you say that?”
Because it made you smile.“Not sure. It just seemed really pertinent.”
She throws her head back with a belly laugh, and it’s the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. “You are such a weirdo.”
I squeeze her hand, moving closer so she’s pressed against my side. “You like this weirdo. Admit it.”
She looks down at our clasped hands, the moonlight bringing out the faint pink glow of her cheeks. “Maybe I do.”
Not a no. It’s enough for me.
I turn my gaze back to the horizon, watching the waves ebb and crest, their peaks sparkling with the silver light of the moon.
“Riot?”
I’m surprised to find her wide eyes locked onto my face. “Yes?”
“I need to know…” She looks away, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. “Does this… Is this going to change everything? Now that you know about my baggage, I mean… Are you going to wake up tomorrow and want to stop seeing me? Because I can deal with it if you do. I just need to know…”
“You really have no idea how I feel about you, do you?” When she doesn’t respond, I reach out, cupping her cheek in my calloused palm. “This… us… it’s not some casual thing for me. The things I tell you aren’t just pretty words. You’re my fucking oxygen, Eloise. Nothing on this earth could scare me away or change the way I care for you. I still want to hold you and protect you and worship you. In fact, knowing this has only made me want to do those things more fiercely.”
“Promise?”
Instead of answering, I hold out my pinky. Her face heats as she hooks her finger with mine, her eyes lowered as she goes in to kiss her thumb. Just before she reaches it, I yank our hands downward, and Eloise’s mouth collides with mine.
She’s so surprised it takes her a second to move, but when she realizes what’s happening, everything changes. Eloise lets out a low moan as her eyes lower in bliss, her lips working against mine in a beautiful dance that leaves me breathless and needing more.
I sweep my tongue over her lower lip, and she opens wider, allowing me to deepen the kiss. Her fingernails dig into my shoulder as another moan fills the silence, the sound vibrating low in her throat and driving me wild.
“Eloise,” I murmur, breaking away to place my forehead against hers, using the angle to stare deep into her eyes. “I need you, little muse. I need you like nothing I’ve ever needed before.”
“I know,” she whispers. “I know because I feel it too.”
I throw my head back with a stifled groan, tasting blood on my tongue from how hard I’m biting my lip. “God, I’d do anything to hear that again.”
She grins, leaning in to give me another long, slow kiss. “I need you, Riot. And I’ll say it as many times as you’d like.”
Fuck. She’s going to kill me.My cock strains painfully, but somehow, I find the will to pull back. I can’t very well fuck my student on the beach in the middle of the night. That would be wrong.Right?
I tell myself I’m making the right choice as Eloise leads the way back to the main deck, but it really doesn’t feel that way. I want to pull her close, to feel her perfect lips moving with mine.
To shove my cock so deep inside her pretty little cunt she’s choking on my name.
“Thank you for coming all the way out here. I don’t know if I said that yet.” She turns her head over her shoulder, and the moonlight hits her cheekbones in a dazzling way.She looks like an angel.
“Riot?” She stops reaching for the rope, her hands frozen and face crinkling in worry. “You okay?”
