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“Why is it that we keep meeting like this?” “Like this?” “By chance.” He huffed a laugh. “Maybe we just have lots in common.”
“There are three dishes I can make. Because a professional Michelin restaurant chef taught me.” Rue blinked, like it still wasn’t clear. “I could feed you well. If you’re still hungry, that is.”
“They’re not your size, you know.” “They definitely worked when I used them.”
It scared the shit out of me. I’m asking you to communicate.” “I just…” She didn’t continue, but he didn’t need her to. “I know.” Something softened inside him at her lost expression. “It was intense for me, too.”
Am I holding you hostage the same way you hold me? Tell me, Rue. Just between you and me.
This was Eli Killgore, though. Breaking my streaks. Ruining my plans. Making me want to do terrible, disloyal things.
I’d never felt more beautiful than when he looked at me. Like I was the final prototype of someone’s entire fantasy life.
“We should go in.” My words labored against his lips. “In a minute.” His fingers skimmed between my flesh and the waist of my jeans. I sucked in the night air. “It’s been a few long fucking weeks, Rue.”
“I want a story. Before we go upstairs.” Ah, yes. Our currency. “An ugly one that proves how terrible a person I am?” “Doesn’t matter. As long as it’s true.” He paused. “As long as it’s just for me.”
“Come on, Rue. You have to know I’m going to treat tonight like the second chance I never thought I’d get.”
“You can’t be surprised.” “I don’t need to be surprised to enjoy it.”
“No. You’re the first person I’ve been with more than once.” His lip curled. “Sex is that good, huh?”
“Okay. This is what’s going to happen—now we sleep, in my bed. Together. And when we wake up, we do this again. And we stop bullshitting ourselves and each other about whether this is the last time, whether we’re going to stop doing this, whether we have any control over how much we want this.”
Ask me for anything, he thought, anything at all, and watch me give it to you. Whoever came before me, they had no idea. I’m up for the challenge.
“Come on, Rue. Don’t chicken out now.” He watched her swallow. Her lips remained sealed, so he clucked his tongue. “It’s not like you.”
“Good girl.” He kissed me again, firmly this time. “Because I’m letting you do it?” I asked against his lips. “No. Because you thought about it before saying yes.”
“Do you cook?” “Not well, but I like to have proper meals. Food is what I splurge on.” She said it like it was a luxury. “I’m glad you’re staying.” “Why?” “I like to feed you well.”
What would it be like to be in a relationship with her? Long, comfortable silences. Incessant honesty. Peaks and valleys. So easy to imagine some poor, hapless guy hanging from her every word. Making a full-time job out of teasing her. He’d put her at the center of his universe, and feel on top of the world when she eventually returned the favor.
“Hey, Conor,” she teased. Her cheekbones were flushed pink. From the night chill, Eli hoped. Except it was June. In Texas. “Hi, Maya.” Hark nodded, pointedly looking elsewhere. He was always nice enough to pretend not to notice Eli’s sister’s crush, but did a miserable job of it.
When his sister left, Hark’s eyes followed her. Then he poured himself another glass of wine and downed it in a single gulp.
“What an interesting question.” The twist of Hark’s mouth was bitter. “We were asked to leave.” “Hark.” This time,
BY FLORENCE!’nnnnnnnnn
“Since Rue might be too polite to ask Hark to go drown himself in a claw-foot bathtub, how about we just call it a night?”
“Part of me wants to feel offended. That you won’t skate with me for five minutes, but are okay with being fucked in the middle of a parking lot.” “And the other part?” Eyes fixed on mine, he opened the passenger door. “Get inside.”
“Come to my place. Let me take care of you. Let me teach you how to pet dogs. Exposure therapy, sweetheart.”
“You can’t act this way around her, okay? Because she’s going to get sad. And if she gets sad, then I’m going to get mad. And there will be consequences.”
“Your sister obviously cares about you. She called me here because literally anyone else, from the doorman to her neighbors to the fucking mailman, would not hesitate to call the authorities. But here’s what she doesn’t know.” He leaned forward. “I have an entire team of lawyers at my disposal who can make your life very, very hard. Which means that I can ruin you without getting you arrested or beating you to a pulp. I wouldn’t even need to make her sad.”
THANK YOU TO MY MANNNN
“I just want to talk to her,” he bit out. “Then schedule a fucking meeting.”
“I didn’t call you here because…I don’t think that just because we had sex you should be at my—” “I am, though. At your disposal.”
But Rue’s favorite cultivation method was clearly hydroponics.
ONGG TBGAS SO COLOL
“If you ask, I’m never going to tell you no. You know that, right?” “I had my suspicions.”
“Whenever you want to feel like this,” he murmured at the inside of her thigh, “call me. Use me.” Her heels dug into his back like little fists. “I think about doing it every second of every day anyway.”
We did not fuck, and I did not suck him off, and he did not go home. Instead, Eli’s arms stayed around me for the rest of the night.
Call me if you need me. And then, right below, scribbled more hastily, as though he’d decided to add something when he was already halfway out of the door: Call me even if you don’t.
All three of them—Minami, Hark, Eli—have refused to talk to me ever since the loan was bought. Not a single communication happened without lawyers standing around. And here Eli Killgore is. Breaking the streak. For you.”
“I want you to look me in the eye, and tell me that this is just fucking.”
“Hey. You said it yourself—you and I, we’re not just fucking.” His smile was hopeful. Encouraging. “I’m here for you. You can trust me.”
“And I’m going to—I’m going to want to see you every day. I’m going to learn more dishes and pack your lunch and write cute little notes on it. I’m going to ask you if you want to sleep at your place or mine and always assume that we’re spending the night together. I’m going to think about you all the damn time. I’m going to assume I’m watering your plants when you’re out of town. I’m going to hold your hand in public. I’m going to kiss you in public. I’m going to organize surprise parties for you with your friend. I’m going to send a hundred texts per day with stupid online shit I think you
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“I am really bad at replying to texts.” “I know.” “And I don’t love surprise parties.” “I know.”
