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Eli (Mallick Brothers 4)

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He knew it alright.

But to be fair, I wasn't exactly trying to hide my good mood.

Bobby was just doing some basic math.

I had been a Debbie fucking Downer for all the years he knew me inside and then the couple days I was out. Then I go out one night, come home late, and I'm suddenly in a good mood?

Yeah, two plus two equals four.

So he could know I got laid.

That was fine.

The cards I was playing close to my chest had nothing to do with the sex. Though, let's be real, that sex was fucking phenomenal. And I didn't just think that because it had been so long that I had gone without it. If you have had enough sex in life, you knew when it was just good technically because everyone involved got off and felt some good old-fashioned stress relief, and when it was more than that, when it was the kind of experience you wanted to have over and over and would never get sick of it. This was the latter kind of sex. This was the mind-blowing, obsession-inducing kind of sex.

I was sure I would never get enough of it.

Judging by the way she responded to me, she felt the same.

And Autumn, well, she owned a sex store. I bet her nightstand and closet were full of endless hours of fun.

I intended to explore that.

Often.

Enthusiastically.

Did I know there was a certain risk involved? Yeah.

I wasn't stupid.

I couldn't fuck her and not feel some kind of connection. She wasn't just some random chick at the bar. And she was, whether I liked to admit it or not, a connection to my old life. There was a thread there, small, but noticeable.

It was risky.

And I told myself I wouldn't be taking any risks.

But, well, there was no way now that I knew what it was like to be with her that I was going to give that up.

So long as the only time I was connected, opened up, was when I was with her, I figured things would be fine. I could still follow through with my plans, get my life back on track.

Hell, maybe the sex would keep me relaxed.

Relaxed, when you were dealing with rage issues, was a place you wanted to be.

"The dog thief, right?" he assumed rightly. "Tell me she's hot."

"She's hot," I agreed, but found that term wholly inaccurate. She was so, so much more than hot.

She was fucking beautiful.

I mean, I knew that going in since I had spotted her six years before outside that coffeeshop. She had a stunning, warm face, a huge, welcoming smile, and eyes that held secrets.

But last night, I got to see the whole package.

And 'hot' - while accurate - didn't do her a damn bit of justice.

She was fucking perfect.

Every goddamn subtle curve, every soft line, every dip, it was all goddamn flawless.

Add on the fact that she was confident, that she was comfortable being touched and getting touched, oh yeah, she was the whole package. Any man would have to be blind not to see that.

How the hell she was single was completely beyond me.

"So that's all you're gonna give me? No details?"

Clearly, he was offended by the prospect.

Most guys dished, no matter how much they claimed never to gossip. They did.

I had simply never been a kiss and tell kinda guy to begin with, and there was some strong urge inside to keep what Autumn and I had between the two of us.

So that was what I was going to do.

"That's all I'm going to give you. No details," I agreed.

"Man, that's cold," he said, shaking his head at me. "So what's on your agenda today?"

"I have to go back to the gallery to see how much space I have to play with so I can get to work on the pieces."

"When's the show?"

"Two days after Thanksgiving."

"That enough time?"

"I once whipped out a family portrait of three generations, including sixteen grandkids, in a weekend."

"Yeah. Inside. Where you had nothing to do but work on it. Where you had no fine piece waiting on you to make her toes curl."

That was true enough.

But Autumn worked.

And we were keeping it, ah, casual.

So that was only going to be taking a few hours out of my day.

"It should be fine."

He nodded at that, moving to stand, taking his coffee with him. "I got a nice profile, man. Just saying. I'd look good on a fucking wall."

With that, he was gone, leaving me to wonder if he was actually serious or not.

With him, it was sometimes hard to tell.

But I wasn't planning on using him anyway.

I had other ideas.

I had demons to exorcise.

And I figured that the only way to do that was to do it on paper.--"Eli!"

Shit.

Goddamn it all to hell.

I should have known to go to Home Depot two towns over instead of the damn small home improvement store in town. But all I needed was a drill bit so I could get some work done around the house. It seemed stupid to go out of my way for just one little thing.



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