“How long are you in town for?”
“I don’t know. I just know I don’t want to go back yet, Ice. I want to spend time with you and I think you feel the same.”
“You do get that this doesn’t make any sense, Liam?”
“We never did, but it sure was good, wasn’t it, Ellie?”
My head drops down and I hide the small smile that pulls at my lips. This is crazy. I’m crazy. But, Liam isn’t wrong. I do want to spend more time with him. Hell, I’ve wanted that since the day I left Tennessee. It hasn’t changed, despite time. He’s also not wrong. It was good.
“What now?” I ask him, getting up my nerve to return my gaze to his.
“I thought we’d play miniature golf. What do you think?”
I look over my shoulder at the place that Liam brought us to. It’s a miniature golf, arcade, and go-kart track. The kind of place we used to go to when we dated, and I grin. My man was always a giant kid.
My man.
He’s not that anymore…Is he?
“I think I’m about to spank your butt,” I respond with a grin.
“It’s been a while, Ice, but don’t forget, I’m the one that does the spanking in our relationship,” he replies with a wink, taking my hand and leading me to the entrance. I ignore the quiver of anticipation that seems to center between my legs.
I’m playing with fire, but the heat of it keeps me from stopping. I have a bad feeling that it’s too late anyway.FuryShe still loves me.
I don’t know a hell of a lot about love in general, but I know that. One week of spending time with her makes me pretty damn positive of how she feels. As for me? I’ve never stopped loving Ellie. I don’t think it’s possible. It doesn’t solve the reasons we separated to begin with, but fuck…
I have to believe there’s a way around it all.
I don’t want to give my club up and I’m not sure I can give Ellie up. There has to be some way to meet in the middle.
It’s been five days since we spent the day playing miniature golf and having fun at the arcade. Five days in which we’ve spent at least part of every one of them together. Tonight, I’m at Harvey’s, waiting for her to get off work. She’s filling in at the bar tonight, because her bartender called in sick. She’s a natural behind the counter and I have to wonder why I never knew that. Ellie is just naturally good at anything she does. That makes it easy to overlook how good she is at anything she tries.
Fuck, I love her.
I took one look at her years ago and I’ve never been the same.
My gaze moves from her to the man she’s talking to and instantly I’m put on alert. I get up from my table and walk over to the bar without even thinking about it.
“Go out with me tomorrow night, El.”
“Sorry, Wayne. I have to work.”
“I can pick you up after work, I’m easy, baby.”
Ellie laughs, puts a beer in front of the guy and gives him a smile that makes me want to punch something.
“I’m sure you are. But, the answer is still no.”
I’m not a man used to feeling jealousy. Then again, I’ve never had to. Until Ellie, there wasn’t a woman that I was possessive over. The minute I saw her, I claimed her. The attraction to her was so strong, I didn’t bother fighting it. I wanted her. I wanted her in a way that I knew the feeling would last. It might sound stupid, but after just a week of dating, I had her in my bed and moved in with me. I told her that when a man saw what he wanted, he took it. She laughed at me, but she didn’t argue either. In hindsight, maybe I should have slowed shit down. Maybe if she knew what kind of lifestyle I led, the things I did for the club in advance, she would have gotten time to sift through them and accepted that part of me. She could have kicked me to the curb, too, but it would have been better if it happened that way, instead of years down the road.
There’s no going back, however. Ellie and I can only go forward and I want to do that with her by my side. My problem is convincing her to want the same thing. She immediately turns to another customer. I don’t even know for sure if she saw me sit down. That’s a damn blow to a man’s ego. I used to be the only man Ellie noticed in a room full of others. I know it’s been a while, but damn it, for her to act like she has this past week with me, she has to have the same feelings…