There’s a soft knock on the door, but we both ignore it, our mouths too busy to do anything else but continue kissing each other. A whimper leaves me when he breaks away from my lips to trail his mouth down my neck. He licks and nibbles, his other hand shifting, resting on my waist before slowly moving up higher.
Higher.
Until his hand is on my breast, lightly resting there, asking a silent question.
Yes or no, Ava? Can I do this?
I don’t pull away. I say nothing. I lean into his palm.
Yes, I say.
Yes.
His thumb drifts over the front of my shirt. My bra. Slowly rubbing back and forth, again and again, making me sigh into his mouth. There are layers between his hand and my flesh and still my nipple hardens. My core tightens.
My body missed him.
There’s another knock on the door, more insistent than the last time. I remove my hands from his hair and touch his shoulders, pushing him so he has no choice but to lift away from me, his brows furrowed in confusion.
“We should go,” I whisper.
He watches me, his lower lip damp, his tongue sneaking out for a lick and making it shinier. A jolt of lust races through me and my breath hitches.
“You really want to leave?” he asks, the sound of his deep voice settling right between my thighs.
“No.” I shake my head, and I’m rewarded for my honest answer with another sweet, drugging kiss.
Now the knocking is nonstop and a male voice booms, “Come the fuck on! I gotta piss!”
Eli pulls away from me, his gaze meeting mine. “You want this?”
What exactly is he referring to? I’m about to ask, but realize we don’t have time to pick this moment apart. I go on full instinct, nodding my answer instead.
He offers me the slightest closed mouth smile, one side quirked up. Otherwise, there’s no reaction. “Give me thirty minutes.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Give us thirty minutes. You go back out to that party and so will I. Talk to someone else. Talk to a bunch of guys, I don’t care. See if any of them interest you,” he says.
What in the world? “Eli, I—”
He rests his fingers over my lips, silencing me. “Flirt with other guys. Take forty-five minutes if you need it. But don’t drink another drop of alcohol. I won’t either. Let’s see how we feel about each other at the end.”
“Give me an hour,” I tell him, because I could probably convince myself this is a bad idea in an hour. I could definitely flirt with other guys. Talk to my friends and tell them what’s happening—they will talk me out of this, I know they will. Leaving with Eli is a bad idea and I’ll end up sabotaging this entire night, like I’m so good at doing lately.
“Perfect. We can set a timer.” We both pull our phones out and do exactly that, setting our timers at the same exact time. The guy is still pounding the door, making me feel guilty that we’ve been in here so long. He must really have to use the bathroom. “Let’s go.”
We exit the bathroom, the beefy looking guy easing up when he spots Eli. “Hey man. Sorry to interrupt your hookup.”
“No problem,” Eli says easily, not bothering to correct him. We walk down the hallway side by side, as if we’re still together, and I search the room for my friends, glancing over at where Eli was just standing when I realize he’s gone.
Huh. Well, that only took two seconds for him to abandon me completely.
I spot him immediately, not too far from where I’m standing. Surrounded by a group of women, but he’s talking to just one.
My heart sinks.
She’s pretty. Blonde like me. About my height. She’s smiling at him as she talks and he nods at whatever she’s saying, appearing completely into her. He never once looks in my direction. The longer I watch, the angrier I get. Not even three minutes ago he had his hands all over me and his tongue in my mouth, and now he’s flirting with some random chick.