Page 60 of Savage Prince
“Then we wait for the cop to leave, and we’re out of here.”
I narrow my gaze on him, but there are still two Elijahs in my apartment. “Are you lying to me? Is this some kind of trick?”
“You called me for help. Remember?”
My fuzzy brain attempts to remember what I did five minutes ago, and beyond that is nearly impossible.
“Hold on.” I stumble to the living area and plop ungracefully onto the small settee.
“You’re gonna puke.”
“Shut up. I’m not seventeen anymore and running from the cops. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Elijah leans against the countertop, staring at me. “You did help me chop a car last week ...”
“Shut up.”
“You always were—”
Whatever Elijah is saying fades away as my lids droop and my body grows heavy.
“Dammit, Tempe.”
Chapter 26
Temperance
My eyelids flutter like butterflies weighted down with lead balloons, and I raise my arms to stretch. In the process, my hand smacks into something warm.
“Damn, girl.”
My eyes pop open as I turn my head, staring in shock at the form next to me in bed. Elijah covers his nose, which apparently I just punched.
“Oh my God. What the hell?” I scramble up to a seated position, and as the sheet falls to revealeverything,I screech again. “What did you do, Elijah Joseph Devereux? If you touched me, I’m going to kill you!”
His sleep-rumpled hair flops over his forehead, and his lips curl into a lopsided grin as I grab the sheet and yank it up over my chest.
“Well, last night—” he says.
My hand shoots out to hover over the nightstand. “I’ll have my finger on a trigger in less than three seconds, so you might want to think real carefully about what you’re going to say.”
His grin, shockingly, widens. “You’re always so damn sexy when you’re threatening to shoot me. Goddamn, you’re beautiful, Tempe. It’s like a punch to the gut seeing you like this again.” His gaze starts at my messy bedhead and drags down my face to where my hand clutches the sheet to my nakedness. “I miss you. A hell of a lot.”
Even though the words wrap around me like a warm blanket, I’m not the girl Elijah misses. I haven’t been her in a long time.
When I don’t reply, he leans closer, the sheet pooling around his lap.Jesus Christ, tell me he isn’t naked.
“I didn’t touch you, but damn, did I want to.” His bare chest rises and falls, and he sounds sincerer than I think he ever has. “I want to so fucking bad.”
He ducks his head like he’s coming in for a kiss, and the split-second decision faces me.Go back or go forward.
I may not have a clue what’s in my future, because apparently my mystery man isn’t going to be part of it, but I know Elijah’s in my past.
“Put some clothes on, Eli.” I yank the sheet, wrapping it around myself, and scramble out of the bed.
He reclines, completely uncaring that I just yanked the sheet off him and he’s sporting morning wood in the morning light. “You sure you want to do that?”
Elijah is nothing if not cocky.
