Page 44 of Elevating Eve

Jonathan brought Eve’s hand up to his lips, kissing the backs of her knuckles. “Soon,” he promised, sure the enormous hotel would be able to find something for them.

Sure enough, Ethan looked up with his over-the-top smile all of ten seconds later. “How long were you planning to stay with us?”

“Just tonight.”

Relief filled the young man’s eyes. “Excellent. The Signature Villa is available, but for tonight only. A large wedding party will be checking in tomorrow afternoon, taking all the villas.”

It was the smallest of the three villas, if he remembered correctly. He hadn’t stayed here in a while—not since he realized being a rich, hotshot CEO didn’t make him too good to sleep at his parents’ house when he visited. Everyone in the family had been relieved when he toned down the douchey behaviors a little bit.

“Sounds perfect,” Jonathan said, not caring how big the space was, as long as they had as much privacy as possible.

Ethan typed and clicked away on his computer for a couple of minutes, then swiped the credit card. A printer farther down the counter spat out a receipt. “If you’ll just sign here, Mr. Hale,” he said, sliding the page, a pen, and both cards across the countertop.

Scrawling his signature on the line at the bottom, Jonathan handed back the pen and picked up his cards. He slid them into his wallet as the receptionist made two keys for their villa, slipping them into a little cardboard envelope with the hotel’s logo on the front. Ethan grabbed a Sharpie next, using it to circle their villa on a map of the property, confirming that Jonathan remembered correctly.

“To get to your villa,you need to?—”

“Thank you, but I’ve stayed there before,” Jonathan interrupted, taking the keys and map from the counter. “I appreciate your help.”

With Eve’s hand still clasped in his, he went back outside, where the valet driver dutifully waited beside Lucy’s Mercedes. He hoped to God this was the car his mom had used to pick them up from the airport, and his suitcase was still in the trunk. Eve told him the other day she’d brought it with them from Denver but forgot it in the car when they arrived at the house. It had only just occurred to him that he’d need some supplies to bring all the plans forming in his mind to fruition.

If not, he’d make do. He always did.

“Thank you,” Jonathan said, handing the kid another fifty when he took the key back. He helped Eve into the passenger seat, closing her door for her, then slid back behind the wheel.

“You rented a whole villa just for us?” Eve asked, sounding bemused.

“With what I intend to do to you for the next several hours, trust me, you’ll be glad we’re not sharing walls with anyone else.”

He glanced over in time to see her blush furiously in the light of the setting sun. Turning to look out the passenger side window didn’t quite hide her small smile.

God, he hoped she was right—that she truly could trust him, and he wouldn’t somehow fuck this all up. Because she was sure as fuck right about the rest of it. The caged energy sparking inside him would come out soon, one way or another. Better to release it in a controlled way, deeply pleasurable to them both, than to let it explode out of him on its own.

Jonathan pulled into one of the spots outside their villa. He put the car into park but left the engine running. “Before we go inside, we need to go over a few things.”

Frowning up at him, she asked, “Like what?”

“Most importantly, I need to know you’ll truly be okay.”

“Jonathan—” she started, sounding impatient.

He held up a hand to stop her. “I know what you already said, and I heard you. But I just...” The sentence trailed off as he tried to figure out what to say.

Communication and honesty.With his dad’s advice ringing in his mind, he knew exactly how to solve this issue.

“Early in their relationship, my parents did this thing to make sure they could always believe each other. They had a special code word, and if one of them said it, the other one had to be completely honest, no matter how hard it was.” In that moment, he realized he never found out what their special word had been. He’d have to ask his mother soon.

The frustration left her eyes, and a smile tugged at her lips. “You want us to have a code word, too?”

Eve didn’t merely understand his desire—she wanted this as much as he did. He could see it in her eyes. “I think it would help us both learn to trust each other in a way we haven’t really trusted anyone else before.”

Stretching across the center console, she pressed a warm, soft kiss against his lips. “I chose the safeword,” she said, eyes bright as she pulled back. “Your turn.”

He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. “Huh,” he said after several seconds. “This is harder than I thought. Now I feel bad for always making my subs choose.”

Her answering laugh eased some of the pain and anger still roiling around inside him. “Try not to overthink it.” She held up her hand, showing him her father’s ring. “I just wrote down the first thing I saw.”

“Okay, okay,” he said. “The first thing I see. That makes our official code wordmost beautiful woman in the world.”

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