Page 59 of Stick Work

“Are you nervous or something?”

“No, well…maybe.”

I step up to him, tug on his shirt, undoing the buttons to fix the mess. Not my smartest move, because the second I see his hard chest and abs, my brain short-circuits. What is happening to me? Wait, I know. Elias has turned me into a walking, talking nymphomaniac and I don’t hate it. Sure, I’ll hate it when this is over and I’m in need of an Elias fix and can’t just climb him like a pole any time I want.

I touch his body, trailing my fingers across his hard, warm chest, and he catches my wrists with a sharp inhale.

“Babe,” he warns, in a low command that is deliciously low and arousing. “If you keep that up, we’re never getting out of here.”

I blink up at him with feigned innocence. “You don’t like it.”

He shakes his head, chuckling under his breath, and even that sound does crazy things to my body. “You enjoy having me wrapped around your finger, don’t you?”

“Oh, is it this finger?” I ask and hold up my index. “Or maybe it’s this one?” I flash him my middle finger with a cheeky grin.

He grabs my hand, his eyes full of mischief. “How about all of them?” He takes them to his mouth and slowly, painstakingly arousing, kisses each one individually.

Alrighty then.

“Well you better let me go so I can fix this shirt and make it look like we haven’t been having sex all evening.”

His grin is easy, devilishly spreading across his face as his gaze softens as if he’s replaying last night on the sofa and all the ways we celebrated the holiday.

I poke his chest. “Focus, Elias.”

He blinks and shakes his head. “Right.”

“Now tell me, why are you nervous?”

He sighs. “I’m meeting your dad for the first time.”

I shrug. “I met your family.”

“Yeah, well I’m not as great at acting as you are, remember?”

I roll my eyes. “No acting needed this time. You’re Kalen’s best friend, and Dad doesn’t know we have anything going on.” I’m still convinced Gina does, and I’m glad she’s keeping it to herself. I stiffen, and put my hand over my stomach when I get a sharp, surprising pain.

“What’s wrong?” His gaze drops, his eyes narrowing with concern. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, pressing a hand to my stomach. “I just got this weird pain. Maybe all the junk we ate last night didn’t agree with me.” I scrunch up my nose, trying to downplay the unease. “Lasagna followed by fried…everything. Ugh, delicious, but clearly a bad life choice.”

“Do you have to go to the bathroom?” he asks bluntly.

Normally such a question from a guy would be mortifying, but with Elias, it’s not. “Not yet,” I tell him, but I’m not ruling it out just yet. Something strange is going on down there.

“Why don’t you lay down for a second? We have time. Even if we don’t, we’re not going anywhere if you’re not well.”

“Yeah, okay. I’m sure it will pass.” He takes me to his bed, and fluffs the pillow before I lay on it and curl up.

“Water?” he offers already halfway out the door.

“Yes, please.” He disappears downstairs and is back in record time, uncapping a bottle before handing it to me. His fingers brush my hair out of my face in a gesture so tender it almost makes me forget how queasy I feel.

“Thank you,” I murmur and take a sip.

“There’s a lot of sickness on the go right now.” He sits on the edge of the bed and watches me closely. “Do you think we should skip dinner at Kalen’s?”

I shake my head, even as my stomach continues to gurgle. I take a big sip and then sit up. My eyes go wide as I clutch my upset stomach.

---