Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Raf
I’m pretty sure I’m going insane, because it’s been a mere ten hours since I last saw Eli, but already I’m dying to be with him again.
I try to be normal. Reasonable. Rational.
I lecture myself that if it feels too good to be true, that’s probably because it is. I tell myself not to get ahead of things. I give myself a stern talking-to, because if I keep this up, I’ll scare Eli off.
None of it helps.
We agree to meet at a small Italian place, and I wait in front of the building, doing my best not to pace because I’m impatient as fuck and scared as hell, because what if Eli has changed his mind? What if he’s come to his senses in the last ten hours? What if he doesn’t show up?
But then he’s there, waking toward me, feet moving fast, cheeks flushed.
He stops in front of me and grins.
“Hey,” he says. “You’re here. I’m late.” He glances at his watch.
“I’m early. I couldn’t wait.” He makes a face.
“I’m not supposed to say that, am I? I’m supposed to be cool and calm and not psychopathic, because then you’ll probably start to think I’m weirdly enthusiastic, and people aren’t supposed to be like that when they like somebody.
Oh, shit. I’m not supposed to say that either, am I?
” He clamps his mouth shut and looks down at his feet. “Can we forget I said any of it?”
I step closer and nudge his chin up with the tips of my fingers.
I kiss him.
It’s been ten hours since I last got a taste. Ten hours. Six hundred minutes. Thirty-six hundred seconds. It feels like I’ve counted every one of them in anticipation of this moment.
His mouth is just as hungry as mine when he kisses me back.
That infectious grin of his is back once we finally pull apart.
“I like you too,” I say. “And I also couldn’t wait.”
He nods, smile widening. “Good. That’s perfect.”
“Eli!” The woman behind the counter comes to hug Eli the moment we step into the restaurant. “I haven’t seen you in days. I was about to send out a search party.”
“So you come here a lot,” I say.
The woman glances at me and snickers. “A lot,” she confirms.
Eli sighs. “Bianca, this is Raf. Raf, this is Bianca.”
She lets Eli go, reaches out, and shakes my hand vigorously.
“You’re cute. What brings you guys here tonight?”
Eli glances at me, blushes, and smiles.
“A date,” he says.
“Ooh. Must be serious if you’re bringing him to meet us.”
“Already regretting that decision,” Eli says.
“Does Aspen know?” Bianca asks.
“No, and if you tell her, I will hack Google and give you an average rating of zero stars with a suspicious amount of reviews talking about diarrhea,” Eli says.
Bianca holds both her hands up in the air and laughs. “We have mushroom lasagna today. It sold out, like, an hour ago, but I can figure something out just for you.”
“Keep talking,” Eli says.
“Marinated olives, artichoke paté, and crispy prosciutto.”
“You’re getting there.”
“And Torta Di Ricotta,” Bianca finishes victoriously.
“You’re forgiven. We’ll have all of it.”
Bianca throws her head back and laughs before she leads us to our table in a quiet nook beside a window. She quickly tousles Eli’s hair before she walks away.
“A family friend?” I ask with a smile.
I’m already loving this—seeing yet another side of Eli, meeting the people who clearly know and love him. I want to meet them all.
Whoa! Slow down a bit.
“Bianca used to date my brother. When they broke up, we took a vote as a family to see whose side we would take. And I mean, blood is blood, but we all really like Bianca, so in the end it wasn’t that difficult a decision.”
“I’m sure your brother appreciated it.”
“He was on board with the choice.”
I laugh and sit back. We talk about our day until Bianca comes over with the appetizer platter, and then we talk a bit less because everything here tastes amazing.
I pat my stomach and groan. “I want more of the lasagna, but I feel like if I eat another bite I will explode.”
He perks up. “Dessert all to myself, then. Another pro in your column.”
“You’re really trying to tell me you’re not full yet?” It’s impressive how much food he can pack away. Truly.
“It’s a cheesecake, Raf,” he says. “With lemon. And cheese.”
“Yeah, that does sound pretty great.”
“We can get it to go and take a walk to make some more room for it?”
“Deal.”
Bianca packs four slices into a cake box with the restaurant’s logo on the side of it and hands it to Eli.
“Enjoy,” she says.
“Thank you, Bianca,” we both say, then we head outside.
We stop on the street, and Eli sends me a thoughtful look. “Want to go to my place?” he asks. “For the cake. We could watch a movie if you want. Or maybe—”
“Yes. To all of it. To any of it. Whatever you want to do, I’m game.”
I’m coming on too strong, but then Eli is beaming at me, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind at all.
“Let’s go, then.”
Eli’s apartment has one bedroom and a cozy living room. There’s a small kitchen, a wide green couch, a dining table, a TV, and a soft rug. A small hallway leads to the bedroom and the bathroom.
He tells me he’s renting the place, and it came fully furnished, but I can see his touch everywhere, starting from the fact that there are a lot of plants.
“I’ve always wanted a dog, but it’s impossible right now with my schedule.
I had fish for a while, but then I thought they started to look kind of depressed with me never here, and even though all the literature I read was kind of hesitant to say that fish will miss their owner when they’re gone, I know what I saw.
My fish were getting all… floppy. Not in a good way.
Anyway, I gave them to my sister. They live in her restaurant now, so there are lots of customers, and they can people-watch, and they look much happier. I’m settling for the plants for now.”
I can’t help myself. I wrap my arm around his waist, pull him against me, and kiss him.
He looks deliciously dazed when I finally manage to drag my lips away from his.
“What was that for?”
“Just felt like it,” I say.
He licks his lips like he’s gathering up every remnant of my taste. My cock twitches in my pants.
“Feel free to feel like it whenever you want,” he says.
We grin at each other.
There’s heat in his gaze. I’m sure it’s in mine, too.
“Cake,” Eli says hoarsely. “We should have that cake now.”
I take a seat on the couch, Eli brings us forks from the kitchen, and we settle in. Eli pulls his feet underneath him and grabs the remote.
“What do you want to watch?”
I shrug and move closer so I’m right beside him. “Anything. I don’t really care.”
He tilts his head to the side. “Well, what do you normally like to watch?”
“I… I usually play video games?”
He cocks his head. “Really?”
I don’t know what to make of his tone. Is he going to think I’m just some immature frat dude now?
He pushes himself off the couch, goes to the TV stand, and slides the doors underneath it open, revealing a console. He grabs the controllers.
“What’s your poison?” he asks with a grin.
I straighten my back and eye him even more curiously than before. And I thought I was already maxed out on curiosity, to be honest.
“Cathartic violence. I like to shoot zombies in the face.”
He comes and drops one of the controllers into my hands, then brings up Left 4 Dead 2. He doesn’t say a word while the game loads, but there’s this new kind of crackling energy in the air now.
“Dark Carnival?” he asks.
“Let’s do it.”
Four hours later, the cheesecake is gone, and we’re both slightly drunk on beers from Eli’s fridge. Eli’s feet are underneath my thigh.
The controllers are down, hordes of zombies are dead, and Eli is slumped against me, smiling.
When Eli slides the tips of his fingers up my side with a dreamy look on his face, heat pools in my belly with no restrictions.
He looks up, eyes meeting mine, a small smile on his face, and his hand disappears beneath my T-shirt.
Goose bumps spring up all over my skin while his fingers explore. Up and down and up and down.
I turn my head until our mouths align and kiss him.
It goes from sweet and soft to hard and demanding in less than a minute. Hard, bruising kisses with his hand in my hair and mine clutching his back. He lets out a moan and pushes his body against mine. Another, more impatient moan later, he throws his leg over my thighs and straddles me.
We both groan when my hard cock pushes against his.
I want more.
I need more.
I shouldn’t. I don’t want to hurry anything.
He sucks my earlobe between his lips and tugs. It feels like there’s a direct line from my ear to my cock, because my dick gets even harder.
His tongue tangles with mine and our groans fill the living room.
It takes every ounce of willpower I have to pull my mouth away.
Eli’s gaze is wide and hazy when it settles on me.
“Why’d you stop?” he asks.
I try to think.
Yeah, Raf. Why did you stop? Because I can’t seem to remember.
“We… There was the beer. And something, something not a good idea?” I say.
“We’re not drunk.”
I’m sure I could argue, but… “Excellent point.”
He grins and slides his palm over my cheek, lowering his head until his lips are only an inch away from mine again.
“Plus, it’s our third date. It’s customary to put out.”
“Is it our third date?” I ask, too turned on to think.
“Well, yes. There was the elevator date.” He licks my bottom lip. “There was the date where you walked me home. Very gentlemanly, by the way. It got me all hot and bothered. Good manners usually do. And now there’s this one we’re currently in the middle of.”
I huff out a laugh that turns into a groan when he lifts my T-shirt and casually flicks my nipple.
“In that case, not putting out would be really bad manners,” I manage to say. “And you don’t like that.”
“No,” he says seriously. “I would be very disappointed.”
He yelps when I grab his thighs and stand up, holding him close to my chest.
“Oh, fuck, that’s sexy,” he pants. “Put those fireman muscles to good use and take me to bed.”
“Your wish is my command.”
We kiss the whole time I stumble toward his bedroom, bouncing off the walls and running into furniture. His tongue is in my mouth, and my hands are kneading his ass.
I stop at the foot of his bed and let him drop onto his back.
And then I look down at him.
And my mouth goes very dry.
Holy shit.
This feels like a dream.
And if it is, I never want to wake up.