Page 69 of We Own Tonight
I tell Eli a little about our childhoods, which makes me laugh. We were not all that bright back then. I don’t know how we didn’t land ourselves in jail. My mother would’ve beaten my ass if she knew half the dumb stuff we tried. Kristin was always the goody two-shoes out of our clique, and our parents allowed us to do anything as long as she was there, too. I guess they hoped she’d somehow talk us out of it, the problem was, we usually talked her intothings.
“Wait, you actually tried to hop the fence to get into BuschGardens?”
“It was a dare.” If you told Nicole and me that we couldn’t do it, we found a way. “Nicole’s boyfriend worked there and said it wasimpossible.”
“Did itwork?”
We pull into Eli’s driveway and he parks the car. He looks over, waiting for me toanswer.
“You saw firsthand how well we climb fences. We’re no better now than we werethen.”
Eli’s deep laughter fills the car, and he slaps the steering wheel as he lets it out. “That was the best thing I’ve everseen.”
I roll my eyes and cross my arms. “It was self-preservation.” It was dumb. I know it, and I can’t imagine how ridiculous we must have looked to someone else. At least I wore pants that day, otherwise, I’d have been even moremortified.
“Fromwhat?”
“From realizing I just slept withyou.”
Eli shakes his head at my rationality. “I’m not sure if I should be offended. It was definitely a first for me, though. Having someone sneak out after I gave them multipleorgasms.”
I wish I could go back in time to change many things, but that isn’t one of them. Sure, I could’ve done things differently, but my last few months would be verydifferent.
“Let me ask you this, if I’d stuck around that night, would we be sitting heretoday?”
He goes quiet and runs his hand through his hair. “I wish I could say yes, but you walking out that night is what made me determined to know you. I’ve never had thathappen.”
“No one would dream of running from the Sexiest ManAlive.”
He chuckles. “Youdid.”
I lean over the center console so we’re face to face. “I would do it the same all overagain.”
“Yeah?”
“Yup, because I’m here with you now, and I know if I’d stayed in that bed, you wouldn’t have chasedme.”
Eli’s eyes soften, and he gives one of his cocky smirks. “I guess we’ll never know.” He moves closer until our breaths become one as we both take in thismoment.
I lift my hand, tangling my fingers in his brown locks without moving my gaze from his. I see the shift from contentment to fear and then to adoration. Is he afraid of us? It’s twice today that I’ve seen something troubling him. There’s a part of me that wants to ask him, but I pretend I don’t seeit.
My gut fills with dread because I know it’s the wrong choice. I’ve felt this before, and I acted on it. I used to beg Matt to talk to me, to tell me what he was feeling. Each time I tried, he pushed me away more. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. For all I know, it’s nothing, yet somewhere inside me, I don’t think that’s thecase.
Eli leans in, touching his lips to mine. I work hard to let whatever I saw go and focus on right now. Our futures are undefined, and if I set us on the wrong path, we’ll crumble. I have to walk it with him and hope that we can endure the potholes anddetours.
He pulls back, resting his forehead on mine. “Let’s go inside. I want to get you in myarms.”
“Sounds good tome.”
We exit the car, and he seems to be back to normal. The sun has set, and strategically placed lights illuminate his house. It looks like a freaking palace. The grandness of it all hits me the same way it did the first time. I don’t think it’ll ever fade. With my hand in his, we tour the house again, only this time he shows me all therooms.
On the second floor, he shows me his six guestrooms, all are double the size of my master bedroom at home, with a bathroom, and decorated with extreme detail. There’s no way he chose this stuff, I can only imagine how much fun Nicole would’ve had inhere.
When we enter his room, I almost pass out. It isn’t a bedroom; it’s a small house. There’s a sitting room at the far end with a full living room set up, off to the left is a fireplace that’s see through on both sides. Eli leans against the wall watching me as I walk around the room, trying to take it allin.
“This is incredible,” I say withawe.
I continue looking around the other side of the fireplace. There’s a master bathroom, if you can call it that, that leaves me speechless. The Jacuzzi tub sits off to the right, and there’s a shower taking up the entire back wall. I swear at least ten people could fit inthere.
