“She’d become a painting while doing something as simple as looking out a window,” I tell her. “Her eyes filling with her own special point of view, an angle only she sees. Finding the light, Elle, that’s what she’d do.”
“This hypothetical girl,” she whispers.
I lean in close. Knowing I shouldn’t do this, not yet. Not until she knows. Knowing I could break a little girl’s heart if I shatter the dream too soon. Or is that just an excuse?
She turns away, sucks in a breath. I’m moving too fast.
“What about you?” I ask, massaging her shoulder again. Calming myself down. “I need data too, Sunshine.”
“I’ve never really thought about it,” she says softly. “But I think I’d want a man who understands that I’m a human being.”
“That’s a low bar, Elle.”
“It’s rarer than you’d realize.”
“Of course you’re a human being,” I practically snarl.
“Some men want a woman to fit neatly into a little box. To do all the right things at the right time. I just want… a person, treating me like a person. Two people going through life doing people-y things.”
I lean down and kiss the top of her head again. “Like I said. Low bar. You should think of something more than that. Expect more than that.”
She sighs. “I always thought I’d stay single for a long, long time anyway.”
“Thought, past tense?”
“Well, we’re in a relationship now, aren’t we?” She speaks in that sarcastic tone that I recognize.
I know she’s dodging something real. Can’t begrudge her that. It’s only been a few days.
We return to silence. Over the course of a few minutes, I hear her breathing picking up, like she’s building to something. Finally, she sits up, looks at me with sunshine eyes, bright even in the dark.
“I’ve thought of a good test to see if we can really sell it,” she murmurs.
I know what she wants. I can see it in the rise and fall of her chest. In the way she keeps her mouth open even when not speaking. Like she’s waiting. Like she’s as hungry as I am.
“Oh, yeah?” I growl, tone husky.
“I think if a man grabs and kisses his girlfriend, and it’s obvious she likes it, no one would doubt they’re a good fit. Right?”
Tell her, tell her, tell her?—
“I’ve got it wrong,” she says after a moment. “Oh, God. Have I gone too far? I didn’t mean?—”
I grip her shoulders and pull her roughly against me. Too hard. But when I hear that tempting gasping noise, I can’t stop. And when I kiss her and feel her heated response, I know she feels it too.
She moans as I lift her up and drag her onto my lap. She straddles me, her hips twitching against mine. I open my mouth and find her tongue. We move together like we were made for it. My hand braces her back as I grind against her.
My manhood floods with heat, hard and ready. My head burns with precome. Thick, hard steel straining against my pants.
“I’m taking you someplace private,” I groan, standing up and taking her with me. She wraps her arms around me as I hold her, one arm braced on her back, the other under her legs.
“Do it,” she says with a note of daring. “Just… just fucking do it, Rhett.”
She says it recklessly, wildly.
I slide my hand up her thigh as I carry her through the house. Into the guestroom. Kick the door closed, then carry her to the bed.
I lay her down, then gently lay my body against hers. But when I kiss her again, the savage in me roars. She makes a desperate moaning noise and grips the back of my neck, pulling me against her.
