Page 15 of Single Mom's Secret Diary
“Salt, soap, and a bit of latex from your gloves,” I tease him.
He frowns. “How is that better?”
“I’m kidding. Here, let me show you the difference.”
I turn the tables on him. “Close your eyes.”
I wait for him to do as I say, which only takes a couple of prolonged seconds. I dip my fingers back into the cooling chocolate and wipe a little across his full bottom lip.
He grabs my wrist and envelopes my finger with his hot mouth, suckling a little. His eyes blaze at me, brightening that pale green as his pupils dilate.
The intensity and proximity have me breathing heavily.
His chest rocks, too, nostrils flaring again as he tips closer. My finger slowly pulls free from his mouth.
I swear he’s seconds away from dropping his mouth over mine. God, I want him to. Even if we’re out in the open and it’s such a bad, bad idea.
A throat clears behind him, and I rise to my tiptoes to see Ezra in the entryway. His brow lifts in question or challenge, I’m not really sure.
Busted.
9
Ezra
Seeing Wyatt so close to Avery sends a pang of jealousy through me, especially when she peeks over his shoulder and her pupils are blown wide. Whatever they were doing, I want to be doing it with her instead.
It’s a strain on my day to keep from crowding her. To leave her alone. I allow myself to bring her coffee in the morning, when she’s most likely to glower at me instead of fight with me. Although if you ask me, I will take fighting with her over nothing.
Knowing both of my friends are attracted to Avery makes me a little more desperate to pull out ahead. I have the biggest hurdle.
Wyatt turns toward me, his chest heaving a little, but he’s otherwise his usual intense self. And Avery has gone back to glaring. It doesn’t matter. I can’t convince my body that she’s not mine. Not after what we shared.
“May I steal Avery for a moment?”
Wyatt nods, shares a look with Avery, and leaves us. Her arms fold over her stomach, feet wide in a power pose. I want to gather her up and pin her against the counter.
“Follow me, please?” I try not to order her around. She doesn’t need me to tell her what to do. It’s not like she’ll do as I say simply because I say it.
After a second’s hesitation, she steps behind me, and I escort her to my office and close the door behind her. We’re closer than usual, a mere foot from each other, and the air is charged. She looks like she wants to murder me.
It’s reminiscent of the first time we met. A challenge to prove I’m not some sloppy idiot who can only think with my dick. That’s not the part of me in control.
Her arms are folded again, creating a barrier that keeps me from pressing her against the door. “Yes?”
Her question is breathy but stern, and I catch the small twitch of betrayal at the corner of her mouth.
“Ezra?”
I’m staring. My plan didn’t make it this far. I just want to kiss her. To hold her captive until she tells me what I did to deserve her running out on me in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye.
I lean closer, arm above her head on the door, ready to trap her. But her shaky breath closes my eyes, briefly taking me back to the one she made when she invited me inside. I’d let myself go, allowed myself to be hungry and show it to her.
Because I’ve wanted her since the moment I laid eyes on her, and it’s only gotten worse as time’s gone on.
Avery’s always seen more of me than I expected. She didn’t roll her eyes when I dropped ten-dollar words into a conversation. Never distracted or redirected me from geeking out over something just because she didn’t know anything about it.
Although I imagined she was ready to shut herself off from me the moment I did something that revealed my nerdy side, she remained open to me the entire time.
