Page 25 of Silver Foxed

He traces my lower lip with his thumb. “Don’t be. Much like your situation, Deb and I weren’t compatible. I only wish we would’ve figured it out earlier.”

I kiss the pad of his thumb. “How long were you married?”

“Ten years.” My mouth drops open, and he chuckles. “Please don’t feel sorry for me. It was good at first, and I don’t have regrets. But we didn’t have children, and she developed new interests and started her own business. We naturally drifted apart. It happens.”

“But the divorce was messy?” I ask curiously.

“We co-owned a lot of assets together, and she got a little petty, though I think it was her way to try to save the marriage. But in the end, I knew it was time for us both to move on. I wanted to see who or what else life had to offer me.”

I sit up on the bed, Elijah’s eyes drifting down toward my still-naked breasts. When his eyes meet mine, he’s smiling like a dog. I smack his arm. “Besides my amazing breasts.”

He huffs a laugh. “They are amazing.”

“Be serious!”

He sits up off the pillows and reaches out to fondle one. My breath catches in my throat as he does it. But then as quickly as his touch is there, it’s gone, leaving me wanting more.

“I was being serious,” he teases. “But if you really want to know what I had in mind, it’s another similarity to you.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Really? You want to enter your hot-girl badass-bitch era, too?” He looks at me funny, and I snort. “It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later. Go on.”

“Well, just so I don’t forget to say it, you’re already both of those things—minus the bitch part. At least from what I see and what you told me.” He tugs me into him so our backs are now both up against the wall of pillows. “And if I understand what you mean, I think I had one of those phases in college.”

That makes me blush and laugh all at the same time. “You were a ladies’ man, weren’t you?”

He develops a look that says I’m right. It isn’t hard to picture since Elijah is so insanely gorgeous now—I can only imagine a younger version of him surrounded by college girls. I bet he was beating them off with a stick.

“But to answer your question…” He pauses for a moment, his brow settling into his default pinch. “I’ve always wanted to have a family. Kids. Maybe even a dog. A legacy to leave behind.”

My heart thuds in my chest at his words, and I swear a spark lights in my stomach. One that feels an awful lot like…hope. I try to swallow the feeling and keep any sign of my thoughts off my face. The last thing I want to do is scare this man off after I said we were going to have a weekend of no-strings-attached fun.

Catching feelings and thinking about marriage and babies is not no strings attached. Those are in fact, a lot of strings. And none of those strings can happen between us. At least not in Elijah’s mind. If I’m being realistic, I know they shouldn’t happen, either. If Elijah and I were together in real life, we’d run into a lot of complications. The biggest one being my dad.

“The good news is, you can still find someone to have that with,” I say, even though my stomach sours when I speak the words. “And you should get a dog.”

Elijah stares at me thoughtfully. I have no idea what he’s thinking, but I like the way he’s looking at me, like maybe he’s having the same thoughts. That maybe he’s picturing me pregnant with his child, a German shepherd named Dolly at my feet.

I force a small smile and try to pretend I’m not acting like the teenage version of myself that used to write Mrs. insert-the-last-name-of-the-cute-boy-I-just-met-here all over my notebook.

“Do you like dogs?” he asks.

I clear my throat. “Yes. I love dogs. German shepherds are my favorite.”

His eyes widen. “You’re joking?”

“Don’t tell me that’s your favorite breed?”

He nods. “I had one when I was a child,” he says almost sadly. But then he’s smiling again. “His name was Fred.”

I huff a laugh. “Fred?”

“I liked the Flintstones.”

My belly warms thinking of Elijah as a little boy watching his favorite cartoon with his dog. Then my unhinged brain starts to wonder what our kids would look like, what our life would be on a weekend morning together. I would cook him and the kids breakfast before we took Dolly—or Fred—for a walk in the park. I’d grade papers on a Sunday night while he caught up on work or helped the kids with their homework.

His thumb on my cheek brings me back to reality, a reality where that isn’t possible. Or is it? An interesting idea pops into my mind and begins to run wild.

“What are you thinking about, Alex?” Elijah asks curiously.

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