The first three buttons of his white collared shirt were undone and his black shorts showed the thick muscle of his thighs. I tried not to stare, but they were exceptional thighs.
“I had dinner and saw a movie. Something about a woman who goes on one date with every ex she’s ever had. I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying close enough attention. Did some shopping beforehand.”
“Oh. Nice.” That sounded like the kind of day you would spend with a significant other. Maybe he didn’t pick up on the plot of the movie because he and his mystery lady were making out like horny teenagers.Good for them.I forced the thought into my brain over and over again in the hopes that I would believe it.
Eli pulled out a butterfly bandage and carefully stuck it to my palm, his fingers smoothing over the edges.
His touches were so much lighter than they had been that night in Vegas. Neither of us had handled the other with care, and I liked it thatway. It felt reckless and like we were saying things with our bodies that our mouths would never be capable of. But now he was so soft and careful, and it turned out I liked that just as much.
He gave my hand back to me, and I let it fall between us, my pinkie finger brushing the side of his thigh as he shifted.
I expected him to get up and leave, but instead he leaned back and tilted his head up. “The fan has a remote.”
“Are you serious?”
He closed his eyes and smiled. “I forgot to show you where it was. Top drawer of your nightstand.”
“Well, that’s handy.”
“How were your first two nights?” he asked. “You and Marlon sleeping okay?”
“Yes. Marlon, especially.”
We both eyed the dog, sleeping on the floor with his limbs spread out like Superman.
“Thank you,” I told him. “I can’t remember if I said it or not, but thank you. I don’t know if I would have made the same offer had the roles been reversed.”
“I find that hard to believe. You were the one always dragging me along with you and Brody so I wouldn’t sit in that room by myself. Even when I was a moody asshole.”
“We really needed a moody asshole to even out the group dynamics.”
“I still can’t believe you’re here.” He set his hand on my thick thigh, his fingers managing to span the width of it.
I studied the vein that lined his forearm and then forked around his knuckles. Eli was touching me. For no reason at all. My ex-husband was touching me. And less than an hour ago, he was out with another woman.
I shook my head and reminded myself to breathe. “I didn’t exactly have this scenario on my midlife vision board.”
He shook his head. “Of all places? Starlight Palms. That day I saw you in Ruby’s apartment, I thought I was having a stroke. You know, I used to think of you and wonder if you still looked the same way you did in my memories. And then, there you were in the flesh. And you looked exactly the same.”
Elithoughtof me. “Plus a few gray hairs and some forehead wrinkles,” I said to deflect, because I didn’t want these feelings. The last thing I needed was to want a person I couldn’t have. And not just any person. Eli—a person who had left me before.
He sat with one elbow perched on his knee as the other hand left my thigh to push a curl out of my face. “I would do a lot of things differently.”
“You look like you did pretty well for yourself in the end.”
“I should never have left you in Vegas like that.”
I nodded. “Yeah, me and Brody kept thinking you would come back and that you just needed space.”
“Not Brody,” he said. “I shouldn’t have leftyou.”
“It’s getting late.” I didn’t know where this conversation was heading and with the chaos of my first few weeks here, I hadn’t emotionally rehearsed how I wanted to talk about that night. How I wanted to talk about us. I knew how I felt about it, but those feelings weren’t anything I could say out loud. Those feelings weren’t anything I could trust Eli with.
With a sigh, he nodded and leaned toward me.
My heart stilled.
His lips pressed against my cheek, and I felt his words take shape against my skin. “Good night, Vera.”
