Page 93 of Elevator Pitch

She catches me staring and smiles sweetly. Peeling back the mask and giving me a glimpse of that radiance she hides fromthe world. I yearn for her familiarity and I don’t care who knows it. In fact, if she’d let me, I’d take her out in public every chance I get to prove exactly how grateful I am to know her. How much I cherish every moment of her precious time. For now, I will worship her with action, not words. I don’t wish to scare her off, but I plan to draw this out and make the best out of every single second I’ve been granted.

She removes her shoes when Cliff settles down. He grabs himself a plush animal from his toy bucket and curls up with it in his bed. Once he’s distracted, she joins me in the kitchen.

She slips in behind me to wash her hands while I start unloading the food bags. I turn around too quickly to grab bowls and we collide. Instinctively, I grab her, wrapping an arm around her waist and I press her into me. I look down at her and her body is tense before she eases into my touch.

She stares at my shirt with raised brows and says, “Good reflexes, sir.”

“Why, thank you. I can’t have you falling for me just yet. I’ve grown accustomed to you giving me a hard time.”

Selah blinks up at me with those big brown eyes and says, “I’m easily impressed by fictional men. Real ones must work much harder for my time.”

“Don’t I know it?”

She chuckles to herself.

“What do we have here?”

She peers over my shoulder towards the island. I let her go and instantly miss the warmth of her touch.

“Well, I wasn’t planning on sharing, but I think you’re cute enough that I’ll allow it this time.”

“So, you think I’m cute?” she challenges, mischief in her stare.

I poke her nose and add, “Plus I saw your plate at the restaurant and you didn’t eat hardly enough to sustain what I’d like to do to you. Come sit.”

I point to the stools across the island and she climbs up,keeping her eyes on me. I grab utensils then bowls from a nearby cabinet and start opening the containers, listing off what each dish is and asking her what she’d like to try. Once she makes her choices, I fill up a bowl and add a fork before I slide it gently across the counter. I do the same for myself and eat standing up. She takes her first bite, unable to hold back the moan of approval.

I look forward to hearing more of that from her tonight.

“Is it good?”

“Are you used to hearing women moan when they aren’t enjoying themselves?” she asks, her tone laced with sarcasm.

I take a moment to entertain her, rubbing my chin to appear in deep thought.

“I can’t say I’m used to that. However, I am curious to hear all the soundsyou’recapable of making.”

I return her gaze and she covers her mouth, hiding the grin across her face before waving me off as she continues eating. We enjoy a comfortable silence while taking turns catching each other staring.

I can’t help it. She is so fucking beautiful.

“So, there’s still a lot that I don’t know about you, but I came here tonight with the intention of sleeping with you.”

I feign surprise.

“I don’t think you came here to sleep, baby,” I tease.

“Fine. I came here with the intention offuckingyou.” She draws out the word while holding eye contact.

There she is. My dirty girl.

“That’s more like it. Good to see you being honest about what you want. Ask away, Princess. A question for a question. How’s that sound?”

“I can do that,” she agrees.

The first round of this game is off to a hilarious start because on Selah’s first turn she asks two questions and one pertains to my birthday. I share that I’m thirty-one and a Pisces, hoping that’ll suffice. I refuse to share the date, but I’m honest and tellher that I hate my birthday. I didn’t consider that being her next question, but she surprised me. I remind her it’s my turn, when she finds another question from my statement about disliking my birthday. She rolls her eyes and apologizes.

I tsk. “We’ve been through this. Take it back.”

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