He wanted to give in. To truly touch her, to finally taste her, but instead, he pulled back.
Eliza gasped.
“I’m not going to force you, Eliza. I’m telling you what I want. It’s your turn to take the next step.” With that, he turned on his heel and left the bedroom.
The ball was in Eliza’s court. There was only so much he was willing to do.
Chapter Thirteen
Eliza had been good.
All her life.
The perfect daughter. The model student. The most efficient and hard-working employee she could be. No one could ever doubt her ability to do the right thing, to be the right person. To follow all the rules.
Then Preston had to go and do that to her, and now she was all over the place. His touch had set her on fire. Since that day in the sun house, where she’d felt his hands on her body. She was more than willing to throw caution to the wind, but his sister found them. It had brought with it a hard dose of reality.
She’d avoided him, successfully, in the hope of being able to gain back her senses, but it hadn’t happened. Nope, she was the one still struggling, like always.
Now he had told her he wanted to fuck her, and damn it, her willpower could only last so long.
Calling her friends was out of the question. They already had money on how long this would all take to fall apart, and she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing the truth.
Preston didn’t demand an answer that night, or even the next day. It was only during breakfast two days after his confrontation, that he announced they were going to check out a house with Lydia.
This was news to her. She had a piece of toast in her mouth as she looked at him.
“You’re looking at a house?” Marsha asked.
“I was surprised myself. It’s the one at the end of the street. You know, the one I’ve been struggling to sell,” Lydia said.
He hadn’t said anything to her about looking at a house.
Marsha looked like she was going to burst into tears.
“What does this mean, son?” Greg asked.
“I don’t know yet. I’ve got to check the place out. See if I even like it and then if it all goes well, I’ll make a decision.” He had a smile on his face. If he was to move back to Westcliffe Heights, what did this mean for her? For their agreement?
Don’t think about this now.
“What about you, Eliza? You seem shocked,” Roger said.
“I’m fine.” She forced a smile to her lips.
“I think it’s good news,” Caroline said. “I know Trudy has missed having her big brother around.”
Each time Caroline spoke at the table, the entire family tensed, apart from Trudy and Preston. They were the ones who knew the truth, and so did she.
Eliza turned toward Caroline. “Would you like to join us?”
“No, she can’t,” Trudy said. “I’m taking Caroline out for the day.”
The tension slowly eased.
Eliza finished her toast but didn’t eat anything else.
When they left the table, she followed Preston to the front door to find Lydia waiting for them. “Do you guys want to walk or drive?” Lydia asked.
Preston took Eliza’s hand, locking their fingers together. Again, she felt the heat and warmth from his touch. She didn’t pull away.
“We can walk.”
“Excellent. While we walk, I will tell you more about the property.” Lydia filled the silence, but Eliza ignored her.
She’d stopped calling her friends. She hadn’t spoken to them in over a week for fear they would know something was wrong. They had her back through everything. They would try to come down here to offer her support, and right now, she needed to stay focused in the role she’d agreed.
The only problem was she hated pretending.
Preston was a great guy. Each minute she spent in Westcliffe, seeing him with his family, she knew the truth. The businessman was the fake. Preston Boone, Westcliffe Heights guy, he was the real deal.
They arrived at a large property with iron gates. Lydia inserted the key and flicked the lock.
“Now, if you do decide to take this property on, there is a code you can use and you don’t have to keep getting out of your car to unlock the gates. We’ve currently disabled it so we can keep it locked.” Lydia let them both inside, closing the gate behind her. “It doesn’t automatically lock, but you can decide to do that.”
The front gardens were so beautiful. There were flower beds on each side of the path. The lawn had been perfectly mowed. It looked like the kind of house that would be on the front of a magazine.
They walked up several steps, moving around the corner and coming toward the opening of the house.
Three more steps brought them to the front door. The house had brick posts on either side, and Lydia opened the front door.