I wrapped my arm around her waist, her hand laying atop mine, and my forehead rested on the back of her head.
Fucking Styx.
Forget the rest of the people on the elevator.
Forget the rest of the world waiting outside.
Forget the reality of our situation.
Her fingers entwined with mine so perfectly, and I pulled her closer. Somehow. I wondered if this close, if this quiet and intimate, if our souls would realize who we were.
With every floor change and group of people moving on and off the elevator, my lips brushed her neck, and each time I kissed her, she seemed to sink a little further into me.
“What if we stayed here?” I whispered in her hair. “What if we created our own reality right here in this elevator and never left.”
Her head lay entirely on my shoulder, and she looked sideways at me. “What if we ran away?” she whispered. “What if we jumped in your Jeep and never looked back?”
“Baby, you say the word, and I’ll follow you to the end of the earth."
The elevator dinged again. People began to move. They shuffled about, and I realized that we might have the elevator to ourselves again for a minute or two. Both of us stood breathless as the onlookers exited, and the moment the doors closed, a switch turned off in our heads.
She turned into me, grabbed a fist full of my shirt, and hauled me against her. I reached around her and slammed the emergency stop, jerking us both and making us hold each other tighter.
“I hate what you do to me,” she hissed, staring at my lips.
“I hate what you do to me too.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - CHLOE
I COULDN’T STOP shaking.
Fuck, after this entire night… after forgetting about the world with him for a few hours, I wasn’t ready to go back to anything less. I had thought he would finger-fuck me right there in the elevator or sometime earlier in the night and had been prepared to stifle my moans and keep a straight face if need be.
Only this was almost worse.
“I want to kiss you.” His breath tickled my ear, a chill running down my spine. “I want to touch you, hold you, and call you mine.” The hand on my ass moved to my neck, pushing my hair back as he wrapped his hand beneath my jaw. Every muscle in my body weakened at the simplicity of that touch, of the ownership and confidence in his knowing what that would do to me.
I couldn’t speak. I wanted him to touch and kiss me too. I wanted him to push me against the elevator wall and hold my throat while he plunged his fingers inside me with reckless abandonment. Each second I remained in his arms was a second closer to combustion.
And yet, I couldn’t pull away.
I opened my eyes, only to be met with his. Desperation filled his gaze as the hand on my neck moved to cup my face, his thumb running across my bottom lip.
“Tell me I can never have you, and I’ll walk away,” he whispered. “I know what you said, but I need to know that it wasn’t just you feeling lonely. Tell me I’m too late.”
My heart hurt. Breath escaped me. It felt like so long since I’d sent that text, even though it had been less than two weeks. I was trembling. Broken. And the words that came from my lips were an admission that I hadn’t allowed myself to admit aloud.
Not until now.
“Say it,” I whispered.
“Say what?”
“Say that I’m making a mistake,” I said as my gaze lifted to his. “Say that what we had was more than just a one-night stand. Say that you looked for me, and tell me that I’m not completely crazy for feeling like something is missing every time I look into Tyler’s eyes.”
I grasped his shirt, and his fingers creased on my waist. Pain and hunger and sorrow filled his face. He looked hurt, not for himself, but for me.
“Tell me everything my heart has begged to hear from you since I said yes to him on one knee. Tell me why when he proposed that I only thought of your face and why every time it snows, my heart feels like the pieces are still on that fucking balcony.”
