Page 18 of Life

This time I inhale and let out a long breath. “I’m trying to know you better, okay? You want me to open up the diary of my past and let the demons bleed out into the open, but you’re not willing to share anything of yourself.”

He scoffs. “Is that what this is about? You wanting more information about me? There’s not a whole lot to tell. I work. Sleep. Fuck. Eat. Read and then work some more.”

I glare at him. “You’re not that boring. Everyone has something they are into. Like, I enjoy dancing. Hanging out with my soul sisters, seeing movies, that kind of thing. What are you into?”

“Dancing?” he repeats.

“Really?” I wouldn’t have pegged him for a guy that likes to shimmy, but the world is full of surprises. “What kind of dancing do you like?”

He laughs and takes a seat in the chair near the couch where I’m sitting. I follow his movements with my eyes and make myself busy, curling my feet under my bum and settling in.

“I’m not into dancing, babe. Though I’m interested in what kind you do.” His eyes gleam a darker shade of green.

I tamp down my frustration. “You truly don’t know anything about me, do you?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. Not a thing.”

“And yet you willingly drop everything—your working, sleeping, fucking, eating, and reading—to protect me from a man you also know nothing about.¿Por qué?”Awe and surprise coat my tone as I nervously twine a lock of hair around my finger.

He purses his lips. “There’s something about you I can’t stay away from. Don’t even want to try. Maybe it’s that you were close to the one person I cared for more than any other before his last days. Maybe it’s because when I saw you looking at my brother’s casket, you looked like the entire world had been set on your shoulders with absolutely no one to help lighten the load.”

Tears prickle against my eyes, but I suck in a slow, deep breath to keep them at bay.

“Also, you’re fucking beautiful. Not just pretty. Iknowpretty. Ifuckpretty. Nah, you, you’re the type of woman a man would spend every dollar in his bank account to make happy, the kind he’d break his back and work his fingers to the bone in order to keep. Thought I had that once. Been lookin’ for it ever since.”

Holy shit. “Eli…Dios mío, what game are you playing?” I whisper around the ball of shock clogging my throat. This man does not pull any punches. He says what he wants to say and is one hundred percent serious when he lays it down.

“Who says I’m playin’?” He grins right as the doorbell rings. “Stay here. I don’t want you anywhere in sight.”

I couldn’t move if I wanted to. His words stun me into thoughtful silence.

After a few minutes, Eli comes back in with three pizza boxes in his hands.

“¿Tres pizzas?”

He shakes his head. “Nah, one has boneless chicken wings.”

I’m pretty sure if I look in a mirror right now I’ll see my eyes bulging out of their sockets!

He sets down the three boxes, opens a lid, and pulls out a cheesy, toppings-loaded slice before eating half in one bite.

“So, no plates?”

He frowns. “You high maintenance, Spicy? That’s going in the con column.”

I jerk my head back and stare at the man as if he’d told me he was married, had a wife, a child, and a dog named Sparky.

“The con column? What’s in the pro column?”

He grins the sexiest grin I’ve ever seen on a man to date. And I am a self-proclaimed professional when it comes to logging men’s sexual attributes. His grin is special. The corner of his mouth lifts up, making his lower lip puff out enticingly. A tiny bit of moisture glistens on the edge. His left cheek rises, allowing a wink of a dimple to appear. For me, that dimple’s appearance has the same result as a meaty steak to a hungry dog. Lust city.

I wiggle in my seat and grab a slice. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Nope.” He keeps chewing and grinning. “How ’bout I tell you when I’ve added them all up, yeah?”

I adjust my seat next to him to ensure not a speck of my body is touching his. No need to poke the beast, though I kind of want to. Desperately even. Anything to take away the sick, twisted feeling in my gut that came with a text from my vile ex, Antonio. Finally, I break down and slide my phone toward Eli, showing him the text message.

He scans the text, his jaw tightening. I can almost hear his teeth grinding before he asks me a completely random question. The last possible thing I’d assume he’d ask after reading what Antonio sent.

---