Chapter 61
Sixty-One
ELI
Addie was trying to kill me.
Which was a natural progression of the week we had. Neither of us had managed to get to the other one to break so far, but there had been a number of close calls.
Last night had been the worst of it. Or so I thought until she made me zip her up into a deep red jumpsuit that moulded to her body in a way that felt illegal. I had wanted to pull the whole thing off and throw her onto the bed. But I wasn’t going to be the one to break the rule.
She would never let me live it down.
But I think I could’ve lived with that because at least if I devoured her before we went to dinner, I wouldn’t feel so fucking tense sitting opposite her while we tried to have a nice meal.
And given the way Addie was looking at me, it seemed like we were in the same boat.
“You have got to stop looking at me like that,” I said lowly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied, the corners of her mouth tilting up into a smirk that looked deadly in the low light of the restaurant.
I wanted to kiss it off her face and fuck up her lipstick in the process.
“What are you thinking of ordering?” I asked to distract myself.
Addie’s dark gaze ran over my face and chest, exposed by the dark blue shirt that I had hardly buttoned up—because if she was going to fight dirty, so was I—before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she reopened them, she looked less hungry for me. But only just.
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t actually looked.”
“You mean, you didn’t spend all afternoon studying the menu so you could be prepared?” I teased.
“No, I spent the afternoon teaching. Then, when I got home, I got distracted trying to think of ways to get you to break and forgot to check,” she replied bluntly.
“I knew that thing with the zip was on purpose,” I muttered loudly enough for her to hear.
“No, I genuinely needed your help with that. I mean, I had other options I could have worn, and I didn’t need to only be pulling it on the moment you walked into the room, but I can’t do the zip up unassisted. It’s weirdly stiff, and I can’t get the grip right.” The smirk was back.
I looked up at the ceiling and tried to find my resolve, so I didn’t suggest another bathroom rendezvous.
When I looked back at Addie, her eyes looked like the densest of forests. “The sight of your nipple almost had me, I won’t lie.”
She rolled her eyes. “And yet, the rule remains unbroken.”
“If I didn’t break it last night when I walked into my room to find you humping a pillow and saying my name, which, let’s be real, is what started this whole thing between us, then there was no way that I was going to break over a bit of silver through a puckered nipple.”
Addie shifted in her chair as she clenched her jaw and glanced down at the menu.
“I’m probably going to have the pappardelle and am willing to share some kind of garlic bread situation with you. How was lunch service?” Addie’s voice was a little breathless.
“It was fine. No dramas. How was teaching the youths of today?”
“I had to pretend that I care about the Henry plays.”
“Why do you hate them?”
“I don’t even know. I just do. That is about as deep as it gets. Can you, like, do a button up or something? This chest is too much to deal with right now. Also, why the fuck did we not go out on Sunday? You didn’t work then. Why have we been doing this to ourselves all week?”
I smiled as I did up one button, which did not cover my chest. “I have been asking myself that question all week. But I think this way might be more fun?”
Addie scoffed. “Fun? It’s been hell.”
“It’s called delayed gratification,” I retorted. Although I had to agree.
“It’s stupid,” she pouted. Again, I had to agree.
“We just have to get through dinner,” I pointed out.
“We could have just got through dinner on Sunday. But fine, we’ll get through dinner.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Would you rather manage a lighthouse or a farm?”
“Dessert?” David, the server taking care of us, asked as he took our empty bowls away.
“Tiramisu, two spoons,” I answered, knowing it was on the dessert menu, and Addie never turned down a tiramisu. David nodded and walked away. Addie took a sip of her espresso martini.
“Two spoons is an interesting choice.”
“Oh, I wanted it to seem like we were going to share. It’s merely symbolic. I won’t be sharing.”
Addie snorted into her glass, covering her mouth as she cleared her throat.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Fine. Just caught me off guard how boldly wrong you were about the tiramisu.” She smiled.
“I was the one who ordered it. It’s mine.”
She put her martini down. “I will fight you for it.”
“Sharing will get it done quicker, and then we can get out of here,” I pointed out.
She quirked an eyebrow. “Oh, I’m sorry, am I boring you?”
“Not possible. But I need us to not be in a public place for much longer.”
Addie’s mouth parted. The temptation to lean over and press her lower lip down with my thumb was overwhelming.
I was so focused on her plum-stained lips that I was caught off guard by the tip of her shoe running along the inside of my leg until the tip of it pressed gently against my crotch.
My knee banged the table. Addie looked smug as she dropped her foot, her face a picture of innocence.
Suddenly, I was regretting ordering dessert at all.