“You’ve no idea how charming I can be, Sapphire.” He says my name like a warning, his eyes twinkling. “But I don’t want to be charming with you tonight.”
The air grows thick around us, dense enough to pierce it with a knife as he switches the mood.
“No?” Thank God. I want the unhinged version of Eli, one that no one else gets to see.
As if he’s done waiting, he pushes his chair back impatiently, the legs squealing loudly as they drag across the hardwood floor, then he extends his hand, and he stands there, devilishly handsome, looking powerful. “No, Sapphire, tonight I want to make you forget every man before me.”
Well, when he says it like that…
“And after you?” I can’t stop myself from pushing his buttons.
A dangerous tilt of his head is what follows next, along with a clenched jaw that tics slowly, and a look that could stop time itself through his slitted eyes.
Without a word, he does a gimme gesture, twice, with his fingers, urging me to stand as his laser-focused gaze burns into mine.
Slowly, I lay my hand in his palm, his fingers wrapping around mine possessively as I rise to my full height, and before I know what’s happening, Eli’s pulled me into his chest, and I greet him with ahumph, excitement coursing through me at the speed of sound, my hand lying flat against his solid chest that I’m desperate to see again.
He stares down at me, his expression alight with desire. Closing the gap between our mouths, Eli bows low because I’m so short by comparison. “There will be no after me.” He accentuates the syllables on those two words.
I believe him. I hope he believes it, too.
Good things never last around me, they always leave.
His confession from earlier spins around my mind like a top, now fueled by my determination to prove him wrong. The confidence in his tone makes it sound like he truly accepts what I said earlier, that I want this as much as he does.
“Then kiss me like our forever is already written in the stars.” I cup my hand around his neck, and his vein pulses wildly against my palm, fire rushing through mine with enough energy to believe that I’m already his.
A flicker of doubt flashes across his face so quickly that I might have missed it if I blinked, but it’s enough to show me he still doubts. His mouth may have formed words, but his mind hasn’t yet accepted them.
I close the decreasing distance, and that’s all it takes for him to pull me toward him, pressing his lips to mine.
As he takes the lead, sparks race through my body, illuminating every dark corner I didn’t realize was there. The sensation of his mouth slanting over mine makes me moan. He tastes like fruity cranberries as our tongues collide, and for a moment, I can’t picture ever wanting to kiss anyone else again.
The whiskers of his beard graze my chin, rough against the softness of my skin, as he tilts his head, savoring every inch of my mouth. His lips press and pull in a rhythm that fluctuates between gentle and urgent. Fingers trace the curve of my jaw, thumb gliding over my cheek, while the heat of his palm spreads through me. His free arm snakes around my waist, pressing me flush against him, the contact of his chest sending a pulse through mine. Every breath he exhales rattles against me, and I’m caught in the quicksilver of him: close, closer, impossibly close.
As our kiss deepens, I breathe a sigh, overcome with euphoria. It touches my soul, floods my senses, and makes me shiver in his strong arms, the place I never want to leave.
I realize that with the food he cooked for me tonight and his infuriating charm, dinner has become a dangerously delightful experience.
His hard cock presses against my stomach. A sharp gasp escapes me, and my hands clutch his shirt as heat radiates between us. It’s thick and threatening to suffocate us both.
“Take me to bed,” I murmur, voice trembling amid our fevered kisses.
Eli pulls back slightly, eyes moving over my face, searching for any sign of hesitation.
But he won’t find any; I know what I want.
Him.
I nod, smiling up at him, and any tension in his jaw disappears into the ether as my face communicates everything I don’t need to say.
In one smooth movement, Eli lifts me into his arms, and I squeal at the surprise, instinctively wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. Then he hurries down the hallway to his bedroom, I assume.
“I want you, Eli,” I confirm. His lips are on mine again as we burst through a door, before he lays me down on a soft mattress that bounces way more than my own. It’s like a soft fluffy cloud.
“I want you so fucking bad,” he mumbles between heated kisses.
He’s usually composed, but now Eli’s control shatters, his hands trembling with barely contained need as weeks of tension snap between us, electric and urgent.
