She pulled back from him. “Probably?”
The edges of his lips quivered with laughter.
Hers followed suit. She fell back on the bed, her forearm covering her eyes, giggling.
He stretched out beside her, the heaviness of the moment gone.
She grabbed a pillow and smacked him square in the face. “Probably?”
He retaliated with his own, missing her head and hitting her shoulder with cloth and down and fluffy fabric.
She couldn’t let that stand. Gripping the pillow, she hit him again.
The coordination of what happened next was a little sketchy even as it played out. She laughed. He laughed. Shewhompedhim with her pillow. He tickled her along her sides.
“Marlee?” he asked.
“Hmm?”
His expression turned serious. “Definitely. Not probably.”
Oh.
“You know what this night is missing?” she asked.
“Lots of things. But what do you think it’s missing?”
“Orange dildos.” She burst into hysterical laughter at all those old ladies and the orange dildos they’d made for Scotty’s trees. Well, they were her trees, too, but since she didn’t live there, they were mostly Scotty’s.
Then Eli was straddling her, his fingers no longer tickling but pressing gently against her skin. His face only millimeters from hers, their breaths became one between them. “I’m here. Youdefinitelydon’t need an orange anything.”
“Probably.” She dropped her grip on the pillow, moving her fingertips to his cheek. Exploring the stubble there.
“Definitely,” he repeated. “I want to kiss you. I’ve wanted to kiss you since the other night. Every day since we got back from Vegas.”
Oh. Well.
She touched his lips with the tips of her fingers. “Then you should.”
He didn’t kiss her. No, he moved his hands from her sides, gripping her wrists instead. Holding them above her head, he moved his mouth to hers. Lips to lips, skin to skin, he explored her mouth.
Tonight, he took his time. Tasting. Exploring. Feeling every inch of her mouth.
“I miss you at work,” he said between kisses.
“You don’t want me there,” she assured. “Kitchens and I don’t get along.”
Like, at all.
“I’m proud of you.”
Nowthat, that she didn’t expect. “What?”
“You found your calling. You love your work. You’ve got clients who adore you. Yeah, I’m proud of you.”
She sunk her teeth in her lip. “Really?”
No one had ever said that to her before.
