Page 36 of An Unexpected Encounter

Fuck it. The truth it is.

“Because it’s my name for you. I see you as my babygirl. It’s what I want you to be.”

“Elijah, we can’—” I hit a particularly tender spot on the bottom of her foot and she moans loudly. I want to move her foot, rubbing it up against my semi-hard shaft, but I don’t want to scare her off. She’s actually letting me in her space and I don’t want to ruin it.

“Don’t worry about what we can and can’t do. Let’s just let things happen. Do you work today?”

“Umm, I have some stuff I need to do, but I can do it anytime. Perks of being your own boss.”

“Were you always self-employed?”

“Pretty much. I’ve been lucky. Word of mouth from my clients has helped.” Her voice gets heavier with each word, each breath labored.

She doesn’t speak anymore, her eyes fluttering before finally closing and her breathing levels out.

She’s sleeping.

I use this time to take her in, memorizing each freckle on her body that’s not covered by her clothes. The way her lips part slightly when she’s sleeping. She’s perfect, and she doesn’t even know it.

Gently lifting her legs, I stand, placing them back on the couch, and pull the blanket over her.

I need to piss like a racehorse.

I softly step away from her, not wanting to wake her, and make my way down her hallway, looking for the bathroom. The wall is filled with pictures of her dad and only a few of Selena and her mom. In fact, the only ones of her mom I see are with her father in them. There are absolutely no pictures of just Selena and her mother.

The urge to piss is too great, so I continue walking until I see an open door. Thank fuck it’s the bathroom. I quickly relieve myself and wash my hands, eager to get back and check each picture out, giving myself a little peek inside her world.

I take my time looking at each picture. There’s a lot of her and Sam, and it looks like they do a lot of traveling together. I step a little further down and see a picture collage.

My eyes zero in on one.

Sam.

But he’s with a man.

Not only that, he’s kissing him.

And not in a brotherly way, but a lip-to-lip one, and if my eyes aren’t deceiving me, they have their tongues down each other's throats.

Stepping back, I examine all the pictures again. In all the ones of her and Sam together, there’s not one of them kissing or gazing into each other’s eyes. They look more like friends than lovers.

A smile fills my face and my heart races. My sweet, sexy babygirl is keeping secrets. I’ll let her keep it for now. But once I tell my brothers, we’re going to pursue her with all we have.

Chapter 17

Elias

“What do you think he’s doing?” I ask Zeke as I flip through the channels on the television, looking for something to focus on, anything other than wondering what he’s doing.

What she’s doing. What they’re doing together.

Jay’s been gone since this morning and he hasn’t returned, and he hasn’t messaged. Is he still with her? Is she okay? So many things are running through my mind and his lack of response is killing me.

My legs bounce, and my fingers itch to pick up my phone.

When Zeke doesn’t answer, I reach behind him and slap him on the back of his head, causing it to fall forward. He jumps up, hands fisted, ready to punch me.

“What the hell, Eli?! What’s your fucking problem?”

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