“Somehow, this just makes you even more endearing.”
“Come on. You can tell me when I’ve annoyed you. My skin isn’t thin.”
He walks up to me and, before I can react, he grips the back of my thighs, lifting me up so I can wrap my legs around his waist. A high-pitched squeal escapes me as he captures my lips in a sweet and soulful kiss.
“I won’t pretend to know how this thing works, Little Devil. All I know is, everything you do makes me want more of you. Even the crazy stuff. The more time I spend with you, the more time I need with you. When I’m not with you, I’m planning what we’ll do when we’re together again. I want to know everything about you, Vaughn, and I want to share parts of myself with you that I can’t even fully face myself.”
My dumbfounded stare makes him smile, and the dimples are on full-out panty-melting display.
“First of all, crazy stuff?”
His chin tips down in a ‘you know what I’m talking about here’ gesture. He positions one hand across my opposite ass cheek so that he can hold me up while ticking off points with the other hand.
He holds up his thumb for point number one, “You drugged me on our first date-”
My race to cut him off is the maddest dash I’ve ever made. “First date?!? I was at work, and you drugged yourself-”
“Semantics.” Eli’s quick with this one and immediately resumes ticking off points with his index finger, representing number two. “Your best friends are the result of either a staged process where twins were prearranged in a failed attempt to cure seriousness or a cloning experiment that did NOT go off without a hitch.”
“That’s fair.”
One corner of Eli’s lips curves upward, and he looses his middle finger to join the count as point three. “You carried a high stranger into your apartment immediately after meeting him.”
My chin drops, and my eyes narrow on this man who is the sole reason for the majority of my ‘crazy stuff’.
The ring finger joins in. “You manipulated me into breaking and entering.”
Can’t argue that one. Desperate times.
Finally, the thumb-sized pinky finger. Point five. “You almost put Wu Chow’s in the freaking microwave.”
A laugh bubbles up out of my traitorous lips.
“Okay, moving past the ‘crazy stuff’ comment.” I put the words crazy stuff in finger quotes since that was an obvious stretch on his part. “So, what you’re saying is,” I use my fingers to start counting off points in the same fashion he did earlier. “You want to spend all your time with me”. I pause, giving him time to object before continuing with point two. “You love everything I do.” Another pause. No objections. “You’re willing to commit crimes if it makes me happy.” Pause. Nothing. “You want to teach me skills and share every part of yourself with me.”Does he see where I’m going with this? “You want to know everything about me.” This last pause is heavy and dramatic on my end, but he remains rock steady and attentive.He doesn’t see the obvious thing here?I search his eyes for the clue that he clearly hasn’t caught. “Okay then. Sounds good. Now, what about this position we’re in? I thought I was taking the lead with all physical interaction.”
“You are and you did. We’ve already been in this position before. In the pool. A position initiated by you. Now it’s fair game on this position and all related contact.”
My eyebrows go up in a ‘well you’ve got me there and you’re obviously keeping score’ expression.
“Hmmm. So, I start it...and then you keep it going?”
His head bobs side to side. “Essentially...yes. I told you...you’re setting the pace. You’re the boss...for now.”
“For now?”
His warm rumble of laughter would melt my resolve if I had any left for this man. I’m pretty much just sarcasm and putty at this point.
“Yes. Little Devil. For now.”
The tenor of his voice, the feverish look in his eyes, and the tightening of his grip on my ass have my skin tingling and every nerve ending in my body coming to life.
“Hmm. And we’re in a relationship, correct?”
“Correct.”
“Uh huh. And how long have we been in this relationship?”
“Our first date was June 16th. Our first tiff was June 17th. Our first makeup was also on June 17th. We’ve been together for almost two months now, with July 16th being our one-month anniversary. I brought you coffee, breakfast, and that new release from Emily McIntire. Still waiting on my gift.”
