KAY PULLED THE door to her daughter’s room shut behind her. She clasped her arms around her body. Her nerves were still humming like they were remembering Eli’s touch, the hair on her arms standing on end.
The lights in the living room were low, and she looked around in confusion as she observed the perfectly tidy kitchen. She walked a little farther and then stopped abruptly. Eli lay on the couch, wrapped in the comforter.
Snoring.
She stood there, stunned, for a few moments before the hurt moved in. He’d just had his tongue all over her skin a few minutes ago and now he was asleep? She eyed the lump on the couch suspiciously. Then her hands clenched into fists.
“Don’t you dare pretend to be asleep!”
When he didn’t move, she stalked over to the couch and yanked the top layer of the comforter back. Their eyes met and Kay’s heart sank. Just as she’d suspected, Eli was fully dressed and wide-awake.
Disappointment lanced through her. It was always one step forward and then giant leaps back with Eli. Any time she thought she’d made progress with him, he ran the opposite direction. Then, just when she was finally making an effort to get on with her life, he kissed her like he couldn’t help himself. Like he wanted nothing more than her.
He was leading her on in so many directions she had emotional whiplash. She was sick of it.
“Is this what you do? Kiss a girl and get her all riled up, then roll over and go to sleep?”
Eli’s eyes narrowed at her scathing tone. “I was trying to do you a favor. There’s only one place that little make-out session was going, and you aren’t ready for that. Not by a long shot.”
Kay bristled. “I know exactly where it was going. I was hoping it was going to my bed.”
Eli sat up then, pushing the comforter back. Kay backed up at the dark desire in his eyes. She thought he was annoyed, but as he got closer, his shoulders and thick arms seeming even bigger as his chest heaved with his breaths, she realized she’d misread him.
Badly.
He wasn’t annoyed. He was aroused. The thick length pushing at the front of his jeans proved it. She shivered, remembering how that thick flesh had felt when she’d been wrapped around him. It had been like being caged in by a wall of muscle. She’d never felt so safe and yet so in danger at the same time.
Even when she’d been too boneless and limp to move, she’d never worried about falling. All it took was one of Eli’s hands on her back and she’d felt cradled in safety. He would never let her fall. He would never let her down.
Or so she’d thought. Because his running act made it seem that he was willing to let her down in one way.
“I don’t understand. You know I want this.”
Eli skimmed the back of his hand over the tip of her right breast. His eyes narrowed, watching with obsessive interest as the tip tightened under his touch. Kay bit her lip as a whimper escaped her throat.
“If you keep pushing, we’ll end up sleeping together. Some men would be fine with that except I know that you want more. You want someone you can have a future with. That’s not me. No matter how much I want you.”
It was hard to equate the harsh words coming out of his mouth with the intensely erotic look on his face. But then that was part of her problem, wasn’t it? Any other guy would have told her this after they’d woken up in bed together the next morning. Eli was just nice enough to tell her up front. She wasn’t able to separate sex and love and he could tell. He knew her and knew this wasn’t something she did lightly. Whereas he was no doubt used to casual flings. With a body like his, she wasn’t fooling herself that he’d been saving himself for her. If she even knew how many women he’d been with, she’d probably be shocked.
She was operating way out of her league.
“You’re right. I want it all. I just don’t understand why we can’t have it.”
His face tightened and then his arm slid around her back. “Not possible. No matter how much I might want that, too.” He pulled her closer until her cheek rested against his chest. He gazed down at her and Kaylee wondered what he saw when he looked at her. A client? A friend? An inexperienced girl?
Whatever he saw, it obviously wasn’t enough.
/> “I want so much for you, Kay. One day you’ll meet the right guy and have the life you deserve.”
“I don’t want to date some other guy.” Kay squeezed him around the waist. His arms tightened around her for a moment, then he let go.
“You don’t want to now, but in time what you’re feeling will fade. You don’t really know me. If you did… Well, anyway, one day you’ll meet someone worthy of you. You should make another date with that lawyer guy. He seemed like a pretty cool dude. I treated him like shit, and he took it well. That’s a good sign. I won’t interfere this time. I promise.”
He let her go and walked over to the alarm panel next to the door. A series of loud beeps told her he’d set the alarm. Without another word he lay down on the couch and wrapped himself in the comforter.
CHAPTER EIGHT
OVER THE NEXT few days, Eli tried to stay in the background. Kay ran errands, spent time with her daughter, and went to work. She kept to her usual routine. The only thing that was different was Eli shadowing her.