Loving Montie (Breathless 4)

“Let me get my purse.”

Eve grabbed her purse from the couch and hurried through the door. Elijah chuckled as he watched her look for the frog, and he outright hollered when the frog showed itself on the lawn and she sprinted to his rental car. By the time he made it to the car, Eve had found the humor in the situation and they both laughed.

He opened the passenger door for her and closed it as she got in. At least he’s a gentleman. She noticed the nice comfortable feeling of leather as she nestled into the seat. When he got in, he noticed her relaxed posture and reached over and changed the satellite radio to smooth jazz. Eve found herself taking in browned butter skin and his beautiful mouth that revealed straight white teeth.

This man is fine. Her thoughts made her even more aware of her situation. It was a warm summer evening with a good-looking man and beautiful music. Lord, what in the world was she doing?

When he called, the low timbre of his voice was straight seduction, even when they discussed work. When he started calling for personal reasons, Eve knew she shouldn’t have even entertained him but she was drawn in. Truthfully, it was the texts that got her. The sexual innuendos were strong and captivating. She found herself rereading them. And when she would finally delete them, another would come.

His quest seemed to come out of the blue. She was never aware of any mutual tension between them prior to a mysterious text he sent her. She was sitting in her living room at the computer answering all of her emails and her phone rang indicating a text. Looking down, she noticed his name and thought nothing of it. He was good about sending jokes and different things, so she had no apprehension reading it. It wasn’t a laugh that she got.

Hey, I was on a business trip in Texas and I had a dream about you and me in a compromising position. What do you think that was about?

Eve was surprised by this and didn’t know what to say. She decided to respond sarcastically:

Don’t know what to think other than you shouldn’t eat big meals late at night. Everyone knows that it causes bad dreams.

He sent back a smile emoji and she didn’t hear from him for another two months.

Then one night she was checking her social media when a message from Elijah popped up. That was when all was revealed. Eve found herself engaged in one of the most provocative text conversations of her adult life. At first, she tried not to take it too seriously, but they began to occur quite often. First it was texts, and soon they graduated to the phone. Although this activity increased, they fell short of full on phone sex. She made it clear to herself that she wasn’t interested in actually crossing the line. She didn’t get involved with men in relationships.

But their relationship moved from platonic to full on sexual tension. Anytime they found themselves in each other’s presence, they exchanged secret glances and spoke in secret code. Eve was paranoid thinking somehow someone knew. To her, everything seemed so obvious, but Elijah was really cool. The flirting was becoming more intense and the desires were actualized. She stayed mindful and always on guard so as not to be made a fool. Now was the first time they were alone face-to-face. Knowing partly what he wanted, she found herself curious as to whether that was all.

Eve and Elijah went on a hunt for ice cream. Every place they went was closing soon, which gave them no time to talk, so they settled for coffee at the twenty-four-hour diner not far from his hotel.

They were sitting in an isolated booth in the back of the diner. This meeting was not late by her standards but late enough for the diner to be virtually empty. Their waitress came to take their order and Eve used this time to get her nerves together. When the waitress left, Eve got up enough nerve to catch Elijah’s eyes searching for the reason she was there and what he was thinking. Elijah sat there sipping on his coffee, watching her watch him. She made mental notes about how beautiful he really was. He was tall, with smooth skin, short black hair perfectly edged with tiny waves. His eyes were sultry brown and his smile, surrounded by a black ha

ir goatee, could knock any woman to her knees. She was so completely taken by him.

Eve held his gaze as long as she could. Then she turned her head, sighed, and took a sip of her water. She noticed that he adjusted in his seat. When she looked up, he was leaning with both arms folded on the table.

“You look like there’s something you want to ask me,” he stated, watching her closely.

“What gives you that impression?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the way you were looking at me and then you sighed.”

She shrugged her shoulders but didn’t say anything. He settled himself back into his seat and cocked his head to the side.

“I’ll give you sixty seconds to ask me anything you want to,” he said abruptly.

“Wha...what do you mean?” she asked surprised.

“I’ll give you sixty seconds to ask me anything,” he repeated smiling. “And make it good.”

“You can’t just spring something like that on someone.” She threw herself back in her chair. “I would want to think about it.”

He placed his hands behind his head. Her attention was drawn to the power displayed in his arms. Her heart fluttered.

“Are you trying to tell me there isn’t one thing you’ve wanted to ask me?” he asked, regarding her intently.

“I’m sure there is, but to spring one minute on me and tell me to wade through all the thoughts in my mind is unfair,” she said preoccupied with those very thoughts.

His smile broadened. Looking down at his watch, he simply said, “You had sixty seconds, to be exact, but now you are down to fifty seconds.”

She stared at him and held an unspoken conversation with herself. Ask him ‘Why’ you idiot. But do I really want to know? Well, that is what you came here for, is it not?

“Are you going to be totally honest with me?” she asked, trying to build her confidence.