Elias
He padded down the hallway to the master bathroom to find steam creeping beneath the bathroom door, carrying with it the faint sound of running water and the soft echo of her moving around inside.
Something warm stirred low in his chest. Being with Aliza wasn’t just about being attracted to her.
It was also about the steady awareness that she was there, in his space, trusting him with her life.
Her trust did strange things to his heart—things that he wasn’t ready to think about yet.
He leaned against the door for a moment, debating whether to leave her to peacefully shower or join her.
The thought of her naked and soapy in his shower kicked his libido into full gear, and he couldn’t seem to help himself as he knocked softly on the door.
He waited for her to answer before pushing the door open.
“Hey,” he called out. “I’m just checking on you. ”
Aliza peeked out through the glass shower door, water glistening on her hair and skin.
“You’re allowed to come in,” she said, her smile shy but inviting.
That was all the permission he needed. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him as steam wrapped around them.
The room felt small and intimate, the air warm and thick with the scent of her soap.
“You coming in or are you just going to stand there gawking?” she asked.
“I don’t gawk,” he mumbled to himself as he stripped out of his clothes and opened the shower door to step into the warm spray of water.
She reached for him, her hands sliding up his chest as he kissed her, slow and deep.
The world outside the tiled walls faded away as she wrapped her body around his.
He practically consumed her with every lick of her lips, and he knew that he’d never get enough of her.
“Mine,” he growled, pushing her up against the tile wall. She hissed out her breath as her hot skin hit the cold wall.
“I need you, Elias,” she whimpered. He never wanted her to beg him for what she needed. He kissed his way down her body, giving each one of her taut nipples extra attention. When he bit one into his mouth, she cried out his name, rubbing her sex on his thigh. God, she was perfect for him.
They moved together beneath the spray of water, bodies warm and close, everything unhurried as they took their time to explore each other. It wasn’t about urgency—it was about connection, and about the way they kept finding each other, as crazy as that sounded.
Elias lifted her up his body, helping her to spread her legs around his waist. “You with me, baby?” he asked. She nodded as he sank into her body, filling her with one thrust. She cried out, and he stilled.
“I’m good,” she breathed, “don’t stop.” Elias took that as his green light, setting a punishing pace as he plunged in and out of her drenched pussy.
When Aliza cried out his name, he knew that he wouldn’t last much longer.
She was sure to wear his marks in the morning with the way that his fingers dug into her fleshy thighs and ass, holding her in place between himself and the wall.
That thought had him coming in hot spurts into her willing body, and when she went limp in his arms, he felt like he was holding his whole fucking world.
They stood like that, letting the warm water wash over their bodies, and when they finally pulled free from each other, breathless and smiling, Elias rested his forehead against hers. “You okay?” he murmured.
She nodded, gifting him with her shy smile that he loved so much. “I’m more than okay. A girl could get used to this kind of treatment,” she teased.
Elias took his time soaping up her body and shampooing her hair, loving the way that she let him take care of her.
As she rinsed off, he quickly washed, noting the way that Aliza watched him.
He shut off the water and grabbed a towel to wrap her in, drying them both off before wandering back into the bedroom, still wrapped in that quiet closeness of what they had just shared.
Aliza was perched on the edge of the bed with her towel tucked around her as Elias sat beside her.
“Listen,” he said, suddenly feeling very serious. “I know things with your dad are a mess right now, and I don’t want you worrying about school on top of everything else.” She looked at him a bit wary and he worried that she was going to completely shut his next idea down, but he had to try.
“I can cover your tuition,” he said gently. “At least until you’re settled. No strings attached, I swear.”
Aliza’s eyes softened, and for a second, he thought that she might accept his offer, but she shook her head.
“This semester is already paid for. And for the rest of it, well, I want to figure it out myself. I only have one more year to pay for, and I think that I can work my way through. I can even take out a student loan, if I need to.”
He frowned slightly. “You don’t have to struggle. I can help.”
“I know,” she said, reaching for his hand. “But I need to do this part on my own. I don’t ever want to feel like someone can take my life away from me again.”
He studied her for a long moment, then nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?” she questioned.
“Okay,” he repeated. “I trust that you’ll let me know if you need my help. You have it if you want it.”
Her smile was small but bright. “Thank you.” Elias leaned in and kissed her, slow and full of promise. Whatever the future held, he knew one thing for certain—they were walking into it together.
Elias was halfway through his first cup of coffee at work when it hit him that Aliza was at his apartment.
She wasn’t visiting or crashing for the night at his place.
She was living there, and that realization was both exhilarating and terrifying all at once.
Five days had been all it had taken for his carefully ordered life to flip on its axis.
Her toothbrush was next to his in the master bathroom.
Her schoolbooks sat on the shelves in his living room, and Cat had already claimed Aliza as his own.
Elias didn’t regret moving her into his place—not one bit.
Still, he knew exactly what Jonnas was going to say, and after their scheduled morning meeting, he knew that he’d get an earful from his best friend.
Elias checked his watch and realized that Jonnas was late for their meeting, which was totally out of character for him.
He decided to look for him, eventually finding him in the physicians’ lounge later that morning, scrolling through his phone while pretending not to eavesdrop on a group of residents arguing over lab results.
“You missed our meeting,” Elias accused.
Jonnas looked up. “Shit,” he said, gathering the paperwork that he had spread out in front of himself. He looked up at Elias and paused. “You look like you’re about to confess to a felony. You okay?”
“No, and it’s not as bad as a felony confession,” Elias said. “I let a woman move in with me.” There, ripping the band-aid off quickly was his go-to move, and now was no different. Once the words were out there, he couldn’t take them back.
Jonnas froze. “Say that again,” he shouted, garnering some unwanted stares from the residents around them.
“Can you keep your voice down?” Elias whispered.
“Aliza’s staying with me. Her dad cut her off and took her apartment away from her.
There was an eviction notice on her front door.
The fucker even cleaned out her apartment.
He took everything but her clothing and a few personal effects.
She had nowhere else to go.” He was explaining himself and his decisions to Jonnas—the hospital’s bad boy, and he wasn’t sure why that was.
His friend had done some pretty questionable things over the years since they had been friends, and Elias had never asked him for an explanation.
Jonnas stared at him. “Elias, you’ve known her for five days.”
“I know how it sounds,” Elias defended.
“No, you don’t,” Jonnas said. “It sounds insane.”
“She didn’t have anywhere else to go. Her friend, Dani, has a few roommates already, and she is kind of a loner, like me. Besides, I really like her. She didn’t have any choice in the matter,” Elias insisted.
“Okay, but you did,” Jonnas challenged.
Elias felt his irritation flare. “I wasn’t going to let her end up homeless.
I care about her, damnit.” He looked around the room to find that they had an audience, and he cursed to himself.
“Can we continue this conversation while walking back to my office?” he asked.
“I’d rather not broadcast my personal life to everyone in the room.
“There are shelters, or relatives, I’m sure. What about student housing? You’re not the only option, Elias,” Jonnas insisted.
“She doesn’t have any family other than her asshole father,” Elias snapped. “And I wasn’t about to turn my back on her or send her to live in a shelter or try to find student housing.”
They started walking towards Elias’s office, and Jonnas leaned in to whisper. “This is how people get hurt. You’re mixing a rescue mission with romance.”
“That’s not what this is,” Elias breathed.
“Isn’t it?” Jonnas shot back. “She’s vulnerable. You’re older, stable, and hold all the power here.”
Elias bristled. “I’m not controlling her.”
“I didn’t say you were,” Jonnas replied.
“I said it’s a bad setup. You’ve fallen hard, and that’s understandable.
She seems like a nice girl, but she’s just that.
She’s just starting in life, and you’re—um, you’re established.
And now you’ve let someone into your home before you even know who she is.
Do you even know her birthday?” Shit, that wasn’t something that he felt was important—not yet.
They would get to details like that about each other, but for now, they were just starting out.
Maybe he had put the cart before the horse, but doing so with Aliza felt right.
Elias’s jaw tightened. “I know exactly who she is, and all those little details will come with time.”
“You know who she is when she’s scared,” Jonnas countered. “That’s not the same thing as knowing her.” Silence fell between them.
“I care about her,” Elias said quietly.
“I know,” Jonnas replied. “You’ve already said that, and that’s why I’m worried. You’re in over your head.”
Elias stopped at the café and poured himself another cup of coffee, his hands steady despite the storm in his chest. “I wasn’t asking for your permission. I thought that as my friend, you’d be happy for me.”
Jonnas sighed. “No, you didn’t ask me for permission, but don’t pretend this isn’t risky.”
Elias met his gaze. “Everything worth having is risky. Listen, I’ll have to talk to you later.
I have patients to see.” Elias took a right to walk the opposite way from Jonnas.
He could see the hurt on his friend’s face, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about that right now.
They parted without another word, the tension thick and unresolved.
As Elias headed back to his office, one truth anchored him through the doubt.
He wasn’t going to walk away from Aliza. Not now, not ever.