Chapter 30
THIRTY
“ In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you .”
~Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“ I s this normal?” Forehead creased, Elle handed the shampoo to Clayton, the shower’s spray licking down his muscular body.
After this morning’s run, they’d barely made it past the foyer before she pounced on him. Like breadcrumbs their clothes were strewn along the path leading to the bathroom.
“Washing hair?” he chuckled and squirted the coconut scented liquid onto his hands before massaging it into Elle’s head.
“No. The sex. We have a lot of sex.”
“Are you complaining?”
“No! It’s good sex… really good.” She laughed at the proud grin on his face. “We just have a lot of sex. Is this normal? Like was this how it was with you and…”
“Other women?” His right eyebrow quirked.
She winced. “I’m not fishing for compliments…. I just don’t know if this is normal. Are we normal?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I can honestly say this is not normal for me. I’ve never been like this with anyone else.”
“I know this will not surprise you, but it’s never been like this for me with anyone else either.”Her mouth tipped into a coy smile.
This man both unlocked and consumed her. And she didn’t mind one bit. With him she was flirty, sassy, sultry, vulnerable, and more Elle Davidson than she had ever been.
“I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you.” Her eyes met his.
It was far more than sex.The intimacy between them was something she had never experienced with anyone else. Elle wanted to devour it all. His laughter.His pain.His heart. His body.She wanted not just their yesterday and today, but tomorrow...all the tomorrows.
“I know,” he murmured, running his finger along her lips. “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”
The reverent way his hand caressed her cheek reinforced that his want wasn’t just about the sex either.A soft longing in his gaze telegraphed that he had the same burning desires that rattled unspoken within Elle.
What if she asked for his tomorrows? What would that look like?She couldn’t ask him to leave with her and she wouldn’t stay.
She finished her shower silently, and then stood in front of the bathroom mirror, wrapped in a towel, drying her hair. Clayton appeared in the mirror’s reflection dressed for work, the sleeves of his green striped shirt rolled up.
“Have a good day, baby.”He pressed his lips to hers, as though they were an old married couple.
Elle turned back to the mirror, Clayton’s image lingered there, watching her, his throat bobbing as if he had something else to say.Their eyes danced with each other in the mirror.
“I like not being normal with you,”Clayton murmured.
“I like not being normal with you, too.”Elle’s heart spoke first, not letting her logic clamp its hand around her mouth, nagging her that she didn’t get to keep him.
As Clayton disappeared, his footsteps growing faint, Elle let out a shaky breath.It was Friday. Tomorrow would start her last week here, her last week with him.
Elle knew they needed to have this conversation. She had put it off too long.
If this was just them playing house until next week, she was okay with that. She would be okay with as much of Clayton as she could have until she left Perry…until she left him.