Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 39424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
The silence on the phone is deafening, and I’m starting to regret even making the call. Her tone is soft when she says, “You wanted to hear my voice?”
Fuck, I shouldn’t have said that, but now that it’s out, I can’t take it back. “Yeah. I should be focusing on work, but instead I’m wondering if you’re okay because I know you were sad last night, and it’s my fault.”
“What else?” she asks.
“What do you mean?”
“What else is on your mind?”
I lean against the brick building. I need to get back inside, but I still take the time to answer. “I’m thinking about you in those leggings. I’m thinking about the other night when you asked me to shower with you and I said no when in all reality, I’d have given anything to be able to be with you like that. I’m thinking about you at book club meeting and all those men watching you and you don’t even realize it. And I’m thinking that I’ve hurt you before, and I don’t trust myself to not hurt you again. I’m fucked up, Chloe. I’m no good for you and I should stay as far as possible from you…”
When my voice trails off, she asks, “But…”
Fuck, there’s a but, and there’s no denying it. “But… I can’t. I can’t forget about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. I close my eyes and I’m back in that bedroom with you and your thighs wrapped around my head.” I grit my teeth. “I can still taste you, Chloe.”
“Elias….” she says, and I hear the longing in her voice.
“I know. Look, I need to go back to work. I just wanted to hear your voice, that’s all. Take care, Chloe, and call if you need anything.”
“Okay,” she murmurs, and before I hang up, she says, “Thank you for calling me. I wanted to hear your voice too.”
As soon as I hang up, my whole body trembles. There’s something about Chloe, and I should have known that when I went back to Whiskey Run, I wouldn’t be able to stay away from her. The last thing I want to do is hurt her again, and I don’t trust myself not to. She deserves more than the broken man that I am. No matter how much I want to be with her or how much I wish I was a different man—a whole man—I’m not. The quicker I come to terms with that, the better off we’ll both be.
CHAPTER 13
CHLOE
This has been the slowest week ever.
I’m not very smart. I can feel the heartbreak from five years ago as if it just happened today, yet here I am ready to jump feet first into anything Elias is willing to offer me. He wants a one-night stand, I’m all for it. He wants to give me three orgasms in one night, I can’t say no. And he tells me that I shouldn’t fall for him, but it doesn’t matter because I’ve been his since I met him five years ago.
As I lock up the gym, my head is on a swivel. I keep thinking he’s going to show up at any time, especially today. I haven’t talked to him since the day after he left, but I have texted with him every day. Either just to chat or play twenty questions. And every night, he’d text me good night, and it took everything I had not to tell him I love him.
As I get closer to my house, I can feel the shift in the air around me. He’s here. I know he is.
And when my house comes into view and I see him standing on my porch, I know I should play it cool, but that’s not who I am. I take off in a dead sprint and don’t stop until I’m throwing my body at him and wrapping my arms around him.
Breathless, I hold on to him, and it feels so good to have his hands at my waist and to feel him holding me.
No matter how many times I’ve tried to convince myself that I need to guard my heart, I have no self-preservation when it comes to him. I smile with my cheek against his chest. “You’re home.”
“Yeah,” he answers gruffly. I’m not sure if it’s because he doesn’t want me to be touching him or if he’s filled with emotion, but he doesn’t try to push me away.
I pull back and look up at him. “Come in and I’ll fix you dinner.”
He shakes his head with a grim look on his face.
I release my hold on him and awkwardly step back. “You don’t want to come in?”
He raises his hand, and for just a second I think he’s going to touch me, but just as quick, he lets it fall to his side. “No, I didn’t mean that. I just meant I’ll go get food. You just got off work; you don’t need to cook.”