“What are you doing?” I asked him.
“We’re going to lie down and sleep for a bit. Then, I’m gonna wake you up and fuck you again.”
My face heated, and I knew I was blushing, which was ridiculous considering what we’d just done.
“You’re planning to stay?”
He paused at my question, taking a half-step back. “Do you want me to leave?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Then, let’s go to bed.”
He went to pull me to the bed, but I resisted. “I need to clean up first.”
“Okay.”
By the time I went into the bathroom and quickly ran through my nightly routine, Elijah had climbed into the bed and was reclined back on my pillows, his hands folded behind his head. He was on my side of the bed, but I didn’t say anything.
I just moved around the bed and climbed beneath the blankets, turning on my side to face him. Elijah did the same.
I asked him the question that came to me while I was getting ready to go to bed.
“Is this a one-time thing? Like a few weeks ago?”
His eyes never left mine. “Do you want it to be a one-time thing?”
My heart rate picked up, thudding against my sternum. I didn’t want it to be just one night. I didn’t even want it to be casual. The idea of voicing that desire and having it rejected made my chest ache, even as my heart throbbed with excitement.
Elijah Lawson was someone I could be serious about. I didn’t know him well, but what I did know interested me.
“I don’t want it to be a one-time thing,” I finally admitted. I wasn’t ready to reveal more. “Do you?”
“No.”
I exhaled. “Okay. Then, let’s just take it one day at a time.”
His hand crept to my hip, pulling me closer. “Good.”
When my bare skin settled against his, his arm wrapped around my waist.
“Go to sleep, Brown Eyes. You’re gonna need your energy later.”
I laughed even as heat filled me, but I closed my eyes anyway.
He was right. I did need my energy when he woke me up a few hours later. And again, when the sun was beginning to rise.
Chapter Seven
That night was the beginning.
Elijah repeated his behavior from our one night together the following morning—he stayed for breakfast, and we talked. When he walked out the door, my heart sank. He never mentioned getting together. Though he’d said he wanted to see me again the night before, I wasn’t sure I believed him.
I was drowning my disappointment in a horror movie, popcorn, chocolate covered raisins, and sour candy when my phone chimed.
Thinking it was one of my friends, I waited a few minutes before I picked it up. I loved my friends, but when I was feeling like this, I wanted to wallow in solitude.
I dropped the phone in my popcorn bowl when I saw Elijah’s name on the screen.
