Page 116 of Barron's Second Chance
"Hey, Mom and Mike leave already?" His back stiffened as he heard her approach. Her voice was upbeat. A stark contrast to his turbulent frame of mind.
"Barron?" Eden asked when he didn't answer.
"Yeah?" He croaked. His throat felt dry, yet he found it hard to swallow.
"I asked if they've left already?"
"Yeah," was all he could say, refusing to turn around.
"Oh." He felt her move closer to him before a caress of her hand stroked down his rigid back. Despite his stormy mood, delighted tingles trickled down his neck at her soft touch. "Wanna do it on the couch? We haven't done it there yet," she purred.
He closed his eyes as her arms came around his middle; barely there kisses were making their way across his back. His cock started to rise as her hands spanned his hard stomach before beginning to creep down toward his hardening dick.
It was difficult to pull himself out of his Eden sex fog once it hit. It felt like being in a lucid dream, fighting to wake up.
Anytime talk got too serious between them, Eden would turn her feminine wiles onto him, knowing he was helpless to resist her forms of seduction.
But after that phone call, he couldn't do it anymore. Everything he thought he knew about the trajectory of their relationship was false. Was it really only sex to her? Could she really not see them being together permanently?
Would she never forgive him?
Before her fingers started working on the button of his jeans, he abruptly turned; dislodging her embrace.
"What are we?" He bluntly and suddenly blurted out.
Eden drew her head back in surprise at the harsh tone in his voice. She took a step back. Then another.
"Wha-what?" She stuttered.
"What are we?" He slowly repeated each word. "Our relationship. Or whatever it is. Where do you see it right now?"
Eden paled as she glanced around him, looking like she was seeking an exit. "Barron...," she started. "C'mon..."
"I heard you on the phone just now," he interjected. Eden's mouth opened and closed at his admission. A blush crept in as it dawned on her what he must've heard.
"I thought we were beyond casual," he pressed, frustration creeping into his voice. "We talk every day, multiple times. You welcomed me to New York, you threw me a birthday dinner, and we've spent nearly every minute of the day together when you're home."
He stopped to take a breath as he felt his voice about to break. "Yet, I heard you tell your Dad that we weren't serious. And worse yet, you told him that he wouldn't know me. You know Dan knows who I am," he gritted out.
Instead of acknowledging his impassioned words, Eden did what he knew she would, evading anything to do with the state of their relationship.
"Why are you always eavesdropping on my conversations?" Eden snapped, as she crossed her arms defensively.
"Because I don't fucking know how you feel!" He roared.
Eden flinched at the anger in his voice before taking another step back.
Remorse filled him at his reaction so he turned away and ran his hand through his hair roughly in irritation.
"I'm sorry," he gritted out. "I shouldn't have yelled. I just -"
He turned to look at her. Her arms were still wrapped around herself and her mouth was downturned in sadness. Tears were glistening in her eyes.
"Eden, I love you. So much. I know I agreed to do a casual relationship until you were ready, but every time I broach the subject, you do everything to avoid the conversation."
Eden's mouth tightened, and she glanced away in embarrassment, realizing that he had cottoned on to her evasion tactics.
"So please, tell me where your head is at," he pleaded. "Has our status changed at all?"
