Page 41 of Final Proposal

“You do. We both do. Fifty-fifty.” He chuckles and holds one hand up in front of him, the smile I’ve come to know breaking through the pained expression on his face.

Despite his smile, I’m already on the defensive. Already primed for a fight reserved for Chandler that Ford doesn’t deserve.

“Then why are you being a dick? You were in my room. In my shower. Using my towel that I brought here.” I point to the one he holds over his dick.

“Fine. Here’s your towel back,” he says, holding it out to me without flinching. My eyes meet his, hold, and as much as the woman in me wants to look, I refuse to back down from the dare sparking in his eyes. I meet him gaze for gaze and in a sudden moment of bravado, not to be upstaged by him—my partner—I drop my own towel.

He emits a hiss in restraint, a smile toying with the corner of his mouth as his eyes widen.

“What?” I ask innocently. It takes everything I have to stand there. I’m not modest by any means, but willingly standing in front of a man as gorgeous as him is a feat in and of itself. Talk about feeling insecure. “It’s only fair since everything between us from here on out will be fifty-fifty.”

“Even-steven.” His ghost of a smile turns into a full-blown grin.

It’s a game of chicken. Who will look first? Whose curiosity will make them break? Which one of us will swerve first?

“Good.” I return the grin and the dare that paints its edges. “Now that that’s settled, you can see your way out. I’m going to take my shower now.”

“Don’t forget your towels. I wouldn’t want you to not have anything to dry off with,” he says as he takes a step back, his eyes dipping down briefly.

He swerved.

And I promptly follow suit and do the same. Yep. Still gorgeous. Still hung. Still the definition of perfection.

Our eyes meet again. Jesus. The aloofness he just had? Completely gone. The man knows how to look at a woman and make her feel like she’s the only one in the room.

Granted I am, but I’m talking figuratively.

There’s an intensity in them. A desire that shouldn’t be there but that I feel equally as strong.

He’s off limits.

Every incredible inch of him.

“Thank you for your concern, but I can handle myself.”

“Noted, but I already knew that.” He takes a step back, his eyes dipping again, and his nostrils flaring in reaction. “Good night, Ellery.”

“You’re naked,” I shout after him in warning as he opens the door. And I realize my stupidity only seconds after I say it. The hotel is empty. There’s no one else out there. He’s not walking into a crowded hallway.

When he turns around, all I see is the smirk on his face and the amusement in his eyes. “So are you.”

Ford

The whole thing lasted seconds. Running into Ellery. Landing on top of her. Having proof of how goddamn perfectly our bodies fit together.

I groan.

It may have only been seconds, but it’s all that’s needed for a match to strike and flames to ignite.

And fuck did they ignite.

Desire. Need. Want. Greed. The four battled within me in those split seconds. Fuck decorum. Screw our partnership. The things that were going through my head were anything but partnership-amiable.

What I would have given to lean in and kiss her lips. To thread my fingers through her hair and knock her thighs apart with my knee and taste her there.

And I bet that taste would be as addictive as the feeling of sinking into her. Of hearing her moans as I did. As reveling in her slick heat as we drove each other to the brink.

Ellery naked.