Epilogue #2
“And I don’t like being around people.” Not all people, anyway. I wasn’t a misanthrope, I just preferred silence. Peace and quiet. Hard work. Reading a book.
Thinking about Chelsea.
Fuck.
“Do you think opposites attract?” She shifted closer, leaning into me so that her scent went swirling up my nose.
That heat that had been riding over my skin at her gaze came back hard.
I shrugged. I stopped at a red light. In a minute, we’d be back on Arbutus Street, on our way to the bridge.
“Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
“What?” My truck rumbled under me, the lights on the dash feeling suddenly too bright.
“A girlfriend. You’re cute. Really cute with that hair and those eyes.” She waved her hand around at me. “You’re tall and your arms are probably strong from baseball—”
She reached both hands up and lay them on my bicep.
That heat drove down now, my dick twitching.
“Chelsea, what are you doing?”
“I was right, they’re big. I like arms.”
I should have moved my arm away, but the feel of her hands there was sending spikes of electricity up my arms. There wasn’t anywhere to move it, anyway. How long was this goddamned red?
“Don’t you have a boyfriend?”
Chelsea shifted closer. “We broke up awhile ago.”
That settled that.
“I haven’t told anyone,” she said. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”
My dick jumped again. No. Just… no.
“What if we just… hung out for a bit when you drop me off? Ever since Blake came back, Cass has been staying with him. They’re in love.”
Her voice sounded bitter at that. Hurt. Eli told me on the way to the game earlier that his sister had fallen head over heels for her consultant.
I was happy for her, especially since she’d seemed so messed up when I’d done that interview with her.
I’d even seen the two of them once, holding hands as they walked over the bridge downtown, eyes only for each other.
I could still feel Chelsea’s eyes on me.
Finally, the light turned green. I threw my foot on the gas.
Maybe the momentum would force Chelsea to sit back in her chair.
I cursed the part of me that hoped it wouldn’t.
“And you know Eli’s going to be at O’Malley’s forever.”
“Not forever,” I said.
“So you’re thinking about it,” she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
Shit. This wasn’t happening. But fuck yes, I was thinking about it.
How could I not? Chelsea Kelly, if I admitted it to myself, played a regular feature in my fantasies, the ones I tried to wipe from my brain the minute they passed through.
She was Eli’s sister. His baby sister. His—
Chelsea’s hand slid onto my thigh. She’d kept the first hooked under my arm and was craning herself up now so her lips were by my ear.
The green light up ahead was red. If I stopped, I wasn’t sure what would happen, not with Chelsea’s hands on me. I slowed down. If I coasted a bit here, I wouldn’t have to hit the brakes and I could lay on the gas the minute it turned green.
“No one has to know,” Chelsea whispered. Her hot breath in my ear had a direct line to my cock. I had to bite back the groan threatening to come out of me.
Part of me knew this was her self-destructive behavior, that Chelsea probably didn’t feel anything for me. That I could be anyone.
Part of me didn’t care.
“Chelsea,” I said.
She took my earlobe in her mouth, her hand sliding higher up my thigh.
Even as the heat threatened to engulf me, some small part of my conscience knew I had to stop.
Knew this could get really messy really fast. “Chelsea, we can’t do this,” I said.
My voice was barely more than a whisper.
The light up ahead was still red, but it was going to change any minute.
I held my foot over the gas, ready to hit it the moment it turned.
Then her hand slipped over the bulge in my jeans.
“Fuck,” I said. I glanced at her briefly. Her eyes were on mine, her bottom lip in her mouth.
“See?” she squeezed her hand. “You want to, too.”
I glanced back up. The light had turned green, and we were almost on it. Thank God. I lowered my foot onto the gas.
Her hand slipped off, and I wanted desperately to tell her to put it back on.
Yes, I want it, Chelsea. I want it so fucking bad. But we can’t. It’s impossible.
I turned to look at her to tell her that last part, and that’s when I saw the headlights behind her. Bright. Huge.
Too fast.
Too close.
The last thing I saw was her face; that sad, beautiful face, before the vehicle slammed into us with an explosive, sickening crunch.
Thank you so much for reading Level With Me.