She shakes her head. “Nothing. It just amazes me sometimes how well you know me. Not even Andrew would have thought to take me to the botanical gardens, and I’d been asking him to go since they opened their doors.” She ducks her head, glancing down at her feet.
I lift her face with a finger under her chin.
“I pay attention to things that matter to me, El.”
That powerful pull happens again. The one we had the night she was sitting on my lap. I know she feels it too because her gaze slips from my eyes down to my lips. All she had to do was ask, and I swear I’d give her what she wanted. I know Ella, and I know I couldn’t make the move first. She would have to tell me what she wanted. I’d let her taste my lips and then I'd spend the rest of the night tasting every fucking inch of her.
When she doesn’t pull away or step back, I place my other hand at her lower back. With minimal effort, I pull her toward me. She comes so easily it’s as if she belongs right where she’s at. Her breath catches and her mouth parts as if she’s just waiting for that connection. What the hell. There are so many alarm bells going off in my head, but I ignore them. I lean down, ready to take what I want.
A roaring engine has us both jumping apart. Drew’s Benz comes flying down the street. He pulls into the driveway, damn near ramming into the back of Ella’s SUV.
I watch as the woman who was seconds ago so open, nearly collapses in on herself. Right before my eyes, I watched her shrink.
Drew hops out of the car and storms up to us.
“Where the hell is he?” He barks out.
“He’s in the house. I already took his phone and put him on punishment after having a long talk with him.”
Drew scoffs. “A talk? No, he needs his ass whooped. I’m sick of this shit. I’m going to go in there and get him together.” He storms between us, causing Ella to nearly stumble back.
I don’t budge. I’m too busy tamping down on the urge to grab him by the collar and haul his ass back to his car.
Ella turns to me, and I can see it in her eyes: the moment between us is gone, and she’s already regretting it was ever there.
“I should go,” she says.
As much as I want her to stay, I know I can’t ask that. I want to grab her arm and take that fucking kiss despite her ex and my best friend being here. But I don’t. Instead, I simply nod my head and step back.
“If you need to send Jake home, it’s fine.”
“No, he can stay. It will be good for Cam.”
The tension seeps back between us. That pull that doesn’t seem to want to go away. Even though we have nothing else to say, neither of us are in a rush to walk away. I get that urge again. The one that demands I say fuck it and pull her back into me. The moment I reach for her his voice cuts through the air.
“Ella, what the hell are you waiting on?” Drew is back at the door, his arms crossed over his chest. “I don’t have all damn night for this.”
Done with his tone and his shitty attitude, I turn to ask him who the hell he’s talking to. Her small hand on my arm stops me in my tracks. When I look down at her, she shakes her head. She was probably right. Saying anything to Drew would only end up with me kicking his ass. And we didn’t want that.
“Goodnight, Mitch.” She turns and walks away.
“Yeah, good night, Mitchell,” Drew shouts from the doorway.
For a second his gaze stays on me, and I can tell he’s pissed. It also lets me know him coming to the door when he did was not a coincidence. He may not have known what my intentions were, but he knew he was interrupting something.
His scowl slowly turns into a smug smirk and a raised eyebrow. Without saying a word, I read the non-verbal warning reminding me exactly what he has over my head. I grit my teeth and tilt my head to the side. There was nothing I could do.
“Goodnight,” I say to them both before heading into the house.
I needed space between me and Drew, and a cold fucking shower.
Date Two
Chapter Thirteen
Ella
“So that’s when I told him he had three cavities,” Everett laughs. It’s my sign to join in.
