Page 20 of Elijah’s Whim

“Now, before you scurry off, what time are we expected at your parents’ tonight?” I angled my body away from hers, freeing her to move about as she wished.

“Oh, not this again. Why do you insist on antagonizing me?”

“I told you. You’re not going alone.”

“And I told you, you aren’t invited to join me.”

Distance. I needed to put some distance between our bodies or I’d have her over my lap for the discipline I’d spent the better part of the morning fantasizing about. For such an intelligent woman, she really wasn’t grasping the concept of who was in charge in our relationship.

Across the room, I propped my ass on the edge of my desk and regarded her with calm patience while she found a place to set out my lunch. When ordering the meal in the wee hours of the morning, my only thought was getting to see her again in the middle of the workday.

But now that she was in front of me and carefully setting the food out as though she was caring for me personally, the moment seemed intimate. I gave my head a solid shake. Jesus Christ, was I that desperate for companionship? Was I that hard up for the genuine attention of another human that I would let paying someone to prepare a meal for me be so easily used as a substitute? I needed to get a grip, and fast. My normally tight, controlled composure was already slipping, and I’d been around this woman less than a week.

“You’re not thinking rationally, Mr. Banks.”

Truer words have not been spoken, beauty.

“Explain it to me, then.”

“The story we decided to tell my family, if you recall, was that I’m house-sitting. Correct?” she asked with confidence. Wherever she was going with this line of thinking, she was sure she was about to score the winning goal.

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“If you’re in town and with me when I go to my house tonight, why would I need to be house-sitting? You can’t tell me that makes sense.”

“Who said you were house-sitting for me?”

“It makes so much more sense that way. Who else would you be? I’m not in the habit of showing up for dinner with random guys in tow."

“Why wouldn’t you bring home a man you’re dating?”

“No way.” She shook her head. “They’d never buy it.”

“Why not? I can be very charming.” I pushed away from my desk and stood to my full height.

“Oh, trust me, I know all about your charm,” she began, but when I took one step toward her, she objected.

“No,” she said, holding her arm out stiffly as if warding off someone who’d just tested positive for COVID-19. “You just stay over there. Far away from me. I wasn’t joking about still needing to deliver these lunches.”

My grin grew wider the more she babbled.

“Don’t do the grin either, and I swear if you throw in the hair flop too, I’m not kidding… I won’t come home tonight. You don’t play fair. Not even a little bit.”

“Whaaatt?” I laughed and ended up sputtering the word more than speaking it.

“Maybe I should start fighting fire with fire? Walk around the house in a little thong bathing suit?” A mischievous glitter danced in her blue gaze, and she came closer to me. Exactly what she had just instructed me not to do. “Tell me, Elijah,” she purred, and her throaty voice had my sight narrowly focused on just her mouth.

My God, how I wanted to hear what she sounded like after choking on my cock. Or shouting through an orgasm.

“What’s that, beautiful?” I asked, matching my tone to the husky seduction in hers.

“What’s your favorite color?”

Silly girl. She was stoking a fire in the wrong kitchen. She’d learn the hard way, though. Years of running my mouth on the streets ensured I could verbally spar with the pros. I tilted my head with an extra bit of force, ensuring the longer strands on top fell to the side the way she’d admitted to having a weakness for, and then grinned before leaning in close so I was right beside her ear. When I spoke, she would feel my answer as well as hear it.

“Flesh.”

Later that afternoon, while seated at the conference table in Sebastian’s office, we waited for Jacob Cole to arrive for our meeting. Work on my best friend’s lifelong dream building, the Edge, was progressing as scheduled, despite more setbacks than any of us could’ve predicted.