I pressed my lips into his neck, soft and deliberate, grazing my teeth against his skin as I murmured, “You love it.”
“No, I don’t,” he said quickly, but the hitch in his breath gave him away instantly.
“You sure about that?” I asked, letting my teeth graze lightly against the curve of his shoulder, sliding my hand up to rest on his chest, feeling the rapid thrum of his heartbeat under my palm. A comforting feeling I’d grown used to falling asleep to. “Because, I think you do.”
He groaned when I ground my hips into his ass, tilting his head slightly to the side to give me more access to his neck. “You’re impossible.”
“And yet,” I murmured, my lips brushing against his ear. “You’re still here.”
He turned his head just enough to glance at me. “Only because you’ve stolen all my clothes. You think I can just leave your place looking like this?”
“Excuses,” I said.
At this rate, his food was going to burn.
Did either of us care?
I was going to wager: no.
Fucking Terran against my kitchen counter wasn’t exactly what I’d been aiming for when coming back from my conversation with Marlow and Avery. However, it would be quite insane of me to pass up on the opportunity, which may be our one and final time together if all things went downhill afterward.
“Besides,” I continued. “We don’t even wear the same style, let alone size. You’d hate what I have in my closet.”
“Style... you mean the one that says ‘obscenely wealthy and effortlessly put-together’?”
“Effortlessly?” I echoed. “I’m flattered.”
“Don’t be,” he shot back with an elbow to my stomach that barely hurt. “If I had access to the kind of money that came with having a wardrobe full of designer labels and... whatever else you’ve got going on in there, you’d never see me in sweats again.”
“Oh, is that what you think?” His back arched the moment my hand wandered down to his stomach, my other coming around to grab at his hip and pin him against the counter. “You think all it comes down to is a price tag?”
His breath hitched—such a sweet and beautiful sound. “All... all I’m saying is that I’d... kill for...evenoneof your shirts.”
“If you want it,” I teethed at his ear lobe. “Then ask. It’s yours.”
At this rate, I’d take him on a shopping spree this very second if he so much as batted his lashes the right way. Ellington Heights was practically begging for us to stroll its main strip, hopping from one designer store to the next and telling the doormen along the way to shove our bags into the back of my car.
Most of them had my credit card on file already, making it laughably easy to indulge him in anything his heart desired.
“Wow.” He let out a breathy laugh. “Sounds to me like a proposal.”
I froze.
The words hung in the air, sharp and unexpectedly slicing through the carefully constructed haze I’d been dragged into by his magnetism.
The inevitable conversation I’d been dreading and doing everything in my power to avoid was finally here and there was no avoiding it. Not with my sudden knee-jerk reaction and Terran’s practiced understanding of reading people.
He flushed as I pulled away, turning just enough to look up at me. “I-I was just kidding.”
My hand betrayed me, trembled just enough to be noticeable as I leaned over to turn down the burner. I’d be surprised if the omelet wasn’t charred on the other side, ruined much like my steady amount of control over a situation.
Though, who knew if he’d have an appetite after this. I certainly wouldn’t.
“We need to talk, Terran.” My voice was quieter than I meant for it to be, slipping past my lips with far too much emotion attached to it.
“Silas.” The alarm in his eyes cut through me. “I really was just kidding.”
I exhaled slowly, steadying myself back against the island’s counter while I forced my next set of words out. “I’m not.”
