Chapter 20
“I can ignore a dare. I can. I just prefer not to.” ~ Paisley
Paisley
I wake to the feel of Eli gliding the tip of his finger up my back. My naked back. I bite back a groan. I shouldn’t have given in to the temptation of Eli. Again.
But after an evening of being jetted off to a fundraiser, watching him growl at anyone who came too near, and enjoying being in his company, I couldn’t resist him anymore.
He squeezes my hip and kisses my shoulder. “What are you thinking about so hard this morning?”
“How to extricate myself from this situation without you making a fuss.”
He bursts into laughter. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me near as his body trembles with his mirth. It feels entirely too good to be all wrapped up in him.
“I really should leave.”
He rolls me until he’s looming over me. “Stay for breakfast.”
“I’m not much of a breakfast person. ”
“I have coffee.” When I don’t give in to the temptation of coffee, he pushes. “I’ll give you a tour of my house.”
“House or mansion?”
“Home.” He kisses my nose before jumping out of bed. “Come on. You’ll have the exclusive scoop since I never invite people, who aren’t my family, to my house.”
“Never?”
He shackles my wrist and tugs me out of bed. “Never.”
Damn him. He knows how much I enjoy being the first at anything. And I can’t deny I’m curious to see his house. I know he had it built to specification before he moved back to Smuggler’s Hideaway.
“I guess I can suffer through a tour of your house if it makes you happy.”
He chuckles and holds up a robe. “You can wear this. Unless you want me to ravage you in every room of the house.”
I pretend to consider the question. “How many rooms are there?”
“There are seven bedrooms and…”
I hold up a hand. “Enough. I’ll wear the robe.”
He helps me into the robe and tightens the sash around my waste. “I like you in my robe.”
I lift up my arms and wave my hands but they’re hidden by the material. “It’s a bit big for me.”
Eli rolls the material up my right arm until my hand appears before switching to the other arm. “I like you in my robe,” he repeats.
I nod to his hardening cock. “I can tell. ”
He digs a pair of sweatpants out of a drawer and dons them. “You ready for the tour?”
“As long as coffee appears sometime in the near future, I’m ready.”
He grasps my hand. “We’ll start in the kitchen.”
He leads me out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen. My jaw drops open at the sight of it. “This kitchen is bigger than the one we have at the Five Fathoms restaurant.”
He shrugs as he makes his way to the coffee machine. “I wanted a kitchen where Mom could prepare holiday meals. With six boys in the family, she needs the extra space.” He smirks. “We have a tendency to steal food while she’s cooking.”
He switches on the coffee machine.
“Are you certain you know how to operate this machine?”
He glares at me. “It’s not my fault the coffee machine at the distillery is possessed by the devil.”
“Is this a frequent occurrence? Appliances in your life being possessed by the devil? Because rumor has it you ruined the coffee machine at Apparoo, too.”
He growls. “Who told you?”
I giggle. “Dakota. Your assistant is quite helpful.”
“I guess I don’t need to wonder how you managed to get in my office to prank me any longer.”
I smirk. “You still need to wonder. Dakota didn’t help.”
“You always were a troublemaker,” he mutters as he starts the coffee.
“False. Chloe and Sophia are the troublemakers.”
He snorts. “And they forced you to join their shenanigans. ”
I nod. “Exactly.”
“As if anyone could force you to do anything you don’t want to,” he mutters.
I wish he was correct. But he’s not. My evil stepsisters and stepfather have forced me to do many things I didn’t want to do. All in the name of family. They don’t understand the meaning of family. But I go along with it for the sake of my mother. My stepfather would bully her even worse if I didn’t attend certain events.
Eli hands me a cup of coffee. I sniff the brew before taking a small sip. “It’s good.”
“You don’t have to sound surprised.”
“Trust me. I’ve seen what you can do to a coffee machine. I’m not faking surprise.”
“Ready for the tour now?”
My nose wrinkles. “I don’t know.”
The kitchen is impressive. The rest of the house is bound to be amazing. It’s a bit intimidating if I’m being honest.
“There’s no reason to be scared. Nothing in this house will bite you.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Unless you want it to.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “No biting.”
He winks. “You didn’t mind last night.”
I feel my cheeks warm but ignore them. “Let’s have this tour then. I don’t have all day.”
He threads his fingers through mine and leads me out of the kitchen. “This is the living room. You might be familiar with the couch. ”
I am no wilting flower. I draw a finger along the back of the sofa. “It is a nice sofa.” I glance up at Eli and bite my bottom lip. “Very comfortable.”
He groans. “You can’t tease me if I’m not allowed to ravish you in every room of the house.”
I quirk up an eyebrow. “Who said I don’t want you to ravage me in every room of the house?”
“You can’t distract me.”
“Distract you?” I flutter my eyelashes. “Whatever do you mean?”
“You want me to give into temptation and bend you over the sofa, so you don’t have to discuss how good we are together.”
“I agree we’re good together.”
He steps close and presses his front to mine. “We’re fucking spectacular together but there’s more to us than chemistry.”
My heart thuds in my chest. I’m not ready to admit there’s more to us than chemistry. Eli would be too easy to fall in love with. But I’ve made the mistake of thinking I could fall in love before. And I don’t repeat my mistakes.
“Do you really have a swimming pool in the basement?”
He sighs and steps back. “There’s only one way to find out.” He motions me forward and I scurry in front of him.
We descend to the basement. This time, I don’t let my jaw drop to the floor. I clear my throat and feign nonchalance.
“Is this all?” I ask as I scan the area.
Behind a glass wall is a gym facility to rival any professional fitness center I’ve been to. Next to it is a gurgling hot tub behind which is a sauna. But the real eyecatcher is the pool. It runs the entire length of the house.
“Nova would love this. She’s a great swimmer but she’s afraid to swim in the ocean.”
“You should invite her over. In fact, invite all of your friends over. I’ll invite my brothers. We’ll have a pool party.”
I point to the volleyball net stored in the corner. “I hope you have an industrial sized first aid kit.”
“I have five brothers. I have every first aid kit known to man. Plus, my mom’s a nurse.”
“Handy. It would have been useful for Sophia’s mom to be a nurse when we were growing up.”
“Sophia’s mom?” he asks as he sits in a lounger chair. He tugs on my hand until I sit on his lap.
“What are you doing?”
“Asking you about Sophia’s mom.”
“We always hung out at Lily’s house. Sophia was the only one of us who had a normal family life. Although, she’s been in love with her brother’s best friend forever. So maybe not completely normal.”
He brushes the hair from my face. “I’m sorry your home life wasn’t what it should have been.”
“Should have been?” I shrug. “It’s a waste of time to worry about what should have been. I prefer to concentrate on the future.”
“Good.” He nods. “Me too.” He toys with a strand of my hair. “And the future I want to concentrate on now is a future with you. ”
I moan. “I should have known you wouldn’t let it go.”
“What can I say? I’m a man who knows what he wants. And before you ask, what I want is you.”
I frown. “You don’t want me. You want sex.”
“Beep!” He makes a buzzer sound. “Wrong.”
“You didn’t even remember ghosting me on a date until I reminded you.”
He fists my hair and tugs. “I’ve apologized for my behavior. You’ve accepted my apology. You can’t constantly bring up the past if you want to go forward in the future.”
I consider debating with him but I can’t. He’s not wrong after all. “You are correct.”
He chuckles. “And you couldn’t resent it more.”
I shrug my shoulders. “You’re pushing me into a relationship I don’t want. I’m allowed to be resentful.”
“Don’t want? If you can honestly tell me you don’t want a relationship with me, I’ll retreat. I’ll pack you up in my SUV, drive you home, and never bother you again.”
My pulse increases as fear spikes within me. No more Eli? No more coffee mornings? No more teasing each other?
He kisses my forehead. “But I don’t believe you want me to leave you alone. I think you’re scared.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “I’m not scared.”
Challenge sparkles in his eyes. “Prove it.”
“Stop daring me,” I snarl.
“Stop fighting me when we want the same thing and I’ll stop daring you.”
“Liar. ”
He kisses my jaw. “Give us a chance, Lace.” He nibbles along my jaw until he reaches my ear. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
I wrestle with my answer. I want to say yes. I always want to say yes where Eli’s concerned. Even when I hated him, I was drawn to him.
“There’s no reason to be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“Then, say yes.”
“Yes.”
I immediately open my mouth to take the word back, but Eli places a finger over my lips. “You won’t regret it.” He unties my robe and shoves the material off of my shoulders until I’m bared to him. “Let me show you why.”
He dips his head to lick my breast and I force my fear into a tiny box in my mind. I’ll deal with it later.