“This is not my fault.” I grin, smoothing wet strands of hair off her face. My hand settles on her jaw.
“So it’s my fault, then?”
“You’re the one kissing me like we’re alone.”
“You kissed me first,”she scoffs.
“Eli, can you turn just a quarter—yup, perfect!” Ramona directs us from the safety of the shore.
“I’ll do it again. If you make me a promise.”
“What’s the promise?” She lifts her body higher, using my shoulders to drag her core over my jeans.
I nearly groan, tightening my hold on her waist. “Promise me, when we leave here, it won’t be the last time I get to kiss you.”
Her eyes darken, one cold hand tracing a finger from my temple to my jaw. “You can kiss me whenever you want.”
Fire courses through me like I’ve never felt before. “How am I just now seeing you?” I cup her jaw, turning her head to meet my gaze.
“I’ve been here the whole time. I’ve always seen you,” she whispers. Her words hit me so hard, she might as well have slapped me in the face.
“Sibyl…”
She shakes her head. “This isn’t the place.” Her smile is soft—guarded even. “Plus, you promised me a kiss.”
“So I did.” I lower her head to mine, pulling at her cold lips, I kiss her softly.
Chapter 5
Sibyl
“Towel’s in my truck,”Eli mumbles when he deposits me on the shore.
I watch him—t-shirt clinging, every inch of him exposed by his tight, wet clothes. His jeans are doing nothing to conceal the bulge between his legs.
Ramona and her assistant are trying their best to ignore it. If they weren’t here, I might have offered to do something about it.
“Well,” Ramona huffs. “That was insane, in the best possible way. Are you two…”
“I’m not sure.” I shrug.
I’m not sure of anything. Until today, I thought Eli would always see me as a little sister. He’s not as mean as Kellan, but Taylor and Eli have always treated me like a sibling—ruffling my hair, teasing me about my terrible choice in men, beating up the guys who broke my heart.
I always knew Eli was out of my reach. Lara was his soulmate. And I was perfectly content to crush on him from afar. Now that I’ve felt his hands on me? Kissed him? I don’t know how I’m supposed to go back to acting like I don’tdrool over him every time he stops by the shop and leans his veiny forearms on the counter, tan cargo pants hugging his ass just right.
I’m going to have to move.
Out of state, preferably.
As far away from him as possible.
“Sibby.” His voice startles me from my thoughts—a towel extended between us. He’s shirtless. His bare chest is shining where it’s still wet. A dry t-shirt draped over one shoulder. He towels off the other, his bicep flexing in a taunting display.
My God, I could eat this man up, climb him like a tree, and never come back down.
“So.” Ramona clears her throat. “It’ll be a couple of weeks for the gallery, and I’ll probably post the video on socials in a month or so. Does that work for you two?”
“That’s fine.” My voice squeaks out.
