Looking Inside

—

Trey wanted to go to the gym that afternoon, and then stop by his office, where he said he had something in the works that needed his attention. Eleanor said she needed to run some errands herself.

“Plus, I told Mom I’d take some of her containers back to her,” she reflected as they stood together near the front door. She was feeling a little nervous at their parting. Their time together this time had been intensely erotic, intimate and . . . special. It was one of those kinds of nights and days she wished she could do all over again. She was a little heartsore it was finished.

“Yeah, I kind of cleaned you out of your mom’s cooking, didn’t I?”

She patted his hard belly and smirked. “Who knew Mom’s food could feed either a platoon or Trey Riordan?”

He took her into his arms and dipped his knees to bring his head down to hers. His low laugh struck her as delicious as his lips moved on her neck and then plucked at her lips. She’d given him a new toothbrush to use earlier following his shower. He smelled like mint and clean male skin. “Thank your mom for me. Tell her the food was fantastic. I think I’m addicted,” he said, eyelids heavy as he peered down at her.

Her pulse started hammering at that, but she played it cool.

“Trust me, she already knows it was fantastic, but I’ll tell her anyway.”

Their mouths brushed together and clung. “Have a good rest of the day, then,” he murmured, showing no signs of leaving.

“You too,” she said, hoping he couldn’t see her pulse thrumming at her throat. Her heart hitched when he gave her one last kiss and finally parted from her.

He halted a second later with the front door open.

“Can I take you to dinner tonight?” he asked her over his shoulder.

Relief broke over her, feeling like a physical sensation, it was so intense. “I’d love that.”

“Good. Because the thing of it is . . .”

“Yes?” she asked him breathlessly when he faded off.

“I really don’t want to leave.”

She blinked at his admission. He’d sounded a little surprised saying it, like he’d just fully experienced the realization at that moment.

“I don’t want you to go either.”

He gave a half grin and leaned back toward her. He planted another kiss on her mouth. “That makes going a little easier. Not much, but a little. I’ll call later and we’ll decide what time for tonight?”

She nodded. He studied her for a second before he turned and left.

He was right. Watching him walk away this time was better after they’d made their confessions.

Not much, but a little.

—

She couldn’t get over how different Trey was in reality versus magazine articles’ slants on him, or given her own expectations of him from spying into his private world. He was surprisingly forthright and easy to be with. It had started to become clearer and clearer to her since spending time with him that she’d been seeing him in the one-dimensional light of her sexual attraction.

Her hunger.

His honesty made him exponentially more attractive, but it also added to her guilt.

Although she wasn’t precisely sure she should feel guilty. He’d proposed a sexual, no-strings-attached affair initially, and she’d accepted. Since then, they’d started to tread in deeper waters, but it was still the beginning of a relationship that they’d both agreed was primarily based on an uncommonly strong physical attraction.

So what if she’d made herself more exciting in his eyes than she really was? Her playacting at being a sexually confident woman only added spice and excitement to their affair.

Maybe it was because he’d intimated at dinner last night that he was aware that things were going deeper between them. And the deeper she went, the more honesty became crucial.

Stop overthinking things, she admonished herself at least a couple dozen times that afternoon as she picked up her dry cleaning and drove up to her parents’ place in Evanston. Everything is going great with him. You’re finally tasting that big, juicy, delicious bite of life Caddy encouraged you to take.