Page 69 of Elijah’s Whim

“Help a guy out, here. I’m feeling like the dummy you just accused me of being.”

“You said we’re building a foundation,” I explained, still wearing that silly grin.

He pulled me on top of him so our noses were touching. “You want that too, right?”

Eagerly, I nodded and laughed. I could feel tears pricking the backs of my eyes.

He pressed his lips to mine. It was a gentle, loving kiss at first, but our hunger grew quickly. Elijah bit at my bottom lip to get me to open wider for him and then swept in with his masterful tongue. My head swam with dizzy pleasure that spiked with my pulse and throbbed in all the sensitive places in my body.

When I moaned and squirmed in his embrace, he loosened his hold on me and pulled back to regard me with pupils blown so large, the normally icy green of his iris had all but disappeared.

“We need to finish this conversation. But tonight, beautiful? I’m fucking you.”

“Oh.” It was all I could come up with in way of a response. Because when Elijah Banks issued that kind of growly comment in your direction, there wasn’t much more to say.

We got ourselves under control and picked up the conversation where we’d left it. Elijah begrudgingly explained that he and Grant often shared women, and at one point he shared with Sebastian too, though not as regularly. Apparently, when Grant got serious about Rio, Elijah continued seeing the woman they’d been seeing together by himself.

“Beautiful, I wasn’t seeing her. I was screwing her. I don’t want you to misunderstand. She wasn’t my girlfriend. We didn’t go out in public together. Hell, we barely saw each other in an illuminated room.”

I held up my hand. “I get it. I don’t need gory details.”

“Okay. I just want to make sure you do, because she sure as hell didn’t.”

“Wait. Huh?”

“Well, turns out, she went a little psycho. First Grant left the game of tag we were playing, and then I took my ball and went home too. She didn’t like being left on the playground by herself, so she’s been acting out like a brat does when they want attention.”

“So this stunt today wasn’t the first time she tried seeing you since I’ve been staying here?”

He just shook his head.

I didn’t really know how to respond to that. I didn’t have the right to be mad. I knew how protective he had been from the start, and I was sure if he thought she were a threat to my safety, he would’ve done something sooner.

He would’ve. Right?

“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing. This is a lot, you know. As strange as it may sound, I like learning about your past, even these parts. Other women. I’m just absorbing it all.”

“Honestly?”

“Yes. Honestly. But go on. Let’s get to how these dots connect. Or possibly connect. This woman from the playground, as you called it, and maybe my prank phone caller?”

“Well, I’m thinking that may be one of her bratty ways of acting out.”

“But how would she have gotten my cell phone number? I’m unlisted. Because of the stuff from my childhood, I’ve spent a great deal of energy on being safe and untraceable.”

“I know people want to believe those things are bulletproof, but they’re not. A person with a decent head on their shoulders can find workarounds to the usual systems in place to keep Joe Public safe. And Shawna Miller has more than a decent head on her shoulders.”

Well, that just pissed me off because it almost sounded like he had awe for the woman.

“Shawna Miller, huh? Well, if it’s all the same, I’m going to give that name to my own private investigator to look into. I don’t need some stalker bimbo following me around the city in a jealous bunny boiling fit.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary.”

Christ, was he going to defend her now, too?

“Why’s that? Does Rio know about this woman and her fiancé’s history? I venture to guess my boss has a mean jealous streak. Maybe we could keep a look out for her together, you know? Like a playground patrol of sorts?”