Page 12 of Hazel and Elijah Find Out: First They F*cked Around

“No!” My eyes grew so wide, they nearly fell out of my head. I didn’t know what was more shocking, the idea of him being myside piece, or the fact that he thought I could finesse something like that. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

He straightened, his broad shoulders squaring in his dark denim coat. “Then what’s up with the ranger guy I saw you with?”

“Dennis and I had a casual thing, but it just ended, actually.”

Elijah took a tentative step closer to me. “People around town don’t seem to think it was casual.”

I chewed my bottom lip. “Well, most of the people around here have a very traditional sense of what spending time with someone means.”

He exhaled, and his breath glinted silver in the white light for the briefest moment. His green eyes locked onto mine. The force of them sent electricity along every inch of my skin. A smile grew on his lips, and I remembered the feel of those lips on mine, my neck, my chest. All of me. My heart skipped and raced against my ribcage.

He leaned close enough for his shadow to drape across my chest and the lower half of my face. I shifted closer, as if there was a string tied between us, and he was drawing me to him inch by inch.

I knew that it was just as cold as it had been when I stepped out of the building, but the energy around us had shifted. If I wasn’t a woman of science, I would have sworn that the air was warmer. Maybe the sun had even come out, defying all the laws of physics.

His lowered voice whispered through me, suggestive and playful. “So, what do you wanna do with my body?”

Chapter 5

Elijah

“So,whatdoyouwanna do with my body?” I fucking loved the way Hazel looked at me. She had the richest, roundest, brown eyes lined in long eyelashes. There was the slightest hint of something wild and unfed concealed in her buttoned-up exterior. Feeding that untamed piece of her had become a point of fixation. But now that I got the opportunity to really take her in, I could see the darkened skin under her eyes and how her cheekbones were more prominent than they had been last year.

I liked hearing she was single… a lot. But I wanted her to see me as more than just a man in her bed. Of course, the suggestive question I’d just asked didn’t really lend to that impression.

“How long do you got?” She tilted her head, and her buttoned-up personification slipped. I wanted to peel it away like the bulky coat wrapped around her, but there were a few things I needed to understand first.

“I’ve got a while. Let’s get you outta the cold and get you some food. What’s open right now?”

She blinked, her eyebrows lifting. “That is not what I was expecting for you to offer.”

“Come on, what do you want?” I nudged her tennis shoe with the toe of mine.

She dropped her gaze to the zipper of my pants, then back to mine.

“To eat, Hazel.”

She lifted an eyebrow.

I chuckled, my mouth pulling to one side. For a second, I considered pressing her against the side of my car and kissing her, long and deep. Nothing more than that, not while we were lit up with a spotlight overhead. Just enough to remind her that what simmered between us would ignite with the slightest friction. Just enough to make her dizzy and breathless. Just enough to settle this persistent need tearing through my veins.

It was torment to close even more space between us, but I couldn’t stop myself. She had wrapped me up in so many knots, and I wanted to tie a few of my own. She stood completely still as I bent low enough to nearly brush my lips on her ear. “Benji’s should still be doing food.”

Her surprised breathy laugh puffed through the scruff on my jaw.

She seemed caught between irritation and entertainment, but I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “You want me to drive?”

“Fine.”

I held her door open and waited for her to scoot onto her seat. She watched me round the hood of the car with an arrogant grin on my face. The smile didn’t leave as I turned over the engine.

“Feelin’ pretty impressed with yourself, aren’t you?” she asked.

For a moment, I considered saying something flirty, something that wouldn’t let her see the truth of my good mood. It took bravery to be vulnerable when I said, “I came here tonight thinking you were seeing someone else—now I know you’re not. It’s good news for me.”

I turned the car onto the empty road, my hands sweating on the steering wheel.

She lit up the entire car with a grin so beguiling it made me feel like I was driving under the influence. Just like that, my honesty was worth it.

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