Page 46 of What We Keep
It’s not going to cool yours, girl, my mind taunted me. I ignored it.
Of course, he sat down across from me again. I was pretty sure he did that just to torture me. When his eyes met mine, I got hot all over. My nipples perked up, pressing against the thin fabric of my T-shirt. I felt his gaze dip down, and when it lifted back to mine, there was a sly gleam there.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Elsa
When Haven walked into the apartment a while later, I ordered my hormones to stand down and my belly to stop feeling all hot and tingly. I’d hustled over here after dinner, if only because I was trying not to behave like a silly girl with a crush and linger near him. He toed his boots off by the door and began walking across the room before stopping a few feet away.
“What?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” I countered.
I knew my cheeks were red because the heat was burning me up inside. Honestly, it wasn’t fair. Haven was one of those guys who looked maddeningly hot without even trying. He was the definition of lumbersexual. My God—at the moment, he was wearing jeans so faded and soft that they molded to his muscled thighs as if the fabric itself had a thing for him.
When he lifted his big, strong hand—a hand that had touched all the parts of me, a hand that I knew felt good everywhere—to run it through his hair, his shirt lifted a little at the bottom. That faded navy T-shirt illuminated the blue of his eyes.
I swear, clothes for this man were made just to show him off. His broad shoulders, his lean, muscled chest and back. I mentally shook my thoughts back to my point. His T-shirt hitched up just high enough that I got a teasing peek at his muscled abs. I didn’t even know how it was possible, but the heat cranked hotter inside me.
He dropped his hand, and his now mussed hair was even sexier.
“Elsa, you have…” He circled his hand in the air. “I don’t know… a look. Are you okay?”
Fair question. I wasn’t okay. Not at all. I needed him to slake the need pounding like an impatient fist on a door into my heart and body.
I wanted him naked and buried inside me, but first, I wanted the foreplay because, holy hell, Haven Silver gave good foreplay.
“I’m fine,” I squeaked.
I stood by the kitchen counter and backed up as he approached. I could have sworn his eyes darkened, but that had to be all in my head. By the time he stopped in front of me, I could hardly catch my breath, and my pulse had snapped loose from the thin tether restraining it. I questioned if it was possible for me to survive the pace of my heartbeat. Maybe I would just die from it, and then I wouldn’t have to deal with a broken heart. Haven was going to ruin me.
“I don’t think you’re fine.” He paused, shaking his head slightly before his lips kicked up in that half grin that sent my belly into a crazy swoop. “To clarify, you are fine, but I don’t think that’s what you mean.”
I managed to roll my eyes, and then suddenly, I lost the capacity to play it cool.
“Haven...” My voice had a frayed edge. “I’m worried. This is getting more complicated than I could have imagined when I said this could get complicated.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” His voice was soothing, and my heart felt splayed wide open because, sweet hell, I didn’t need this man to try to comfort me. I suddenly wanted to cry.
“I feel really good with you. I like you, and I’m afraid.” I blinked, silently praying not to cry.
He stepped closer, lifting a hand to palm my cheek. His big, strong, battered touch was so gentle. When he trailed his thumb along the edge of my jaw and across my bottom lip, I wanted to curl into his hold and stay there forever.
“I like you. A lot. That’s a given, sweetheart,” he murmured in that gruff whisper that sent pinwheels of heat dancing over my skin and emotion twisting inside my heart.
His smile was gentle, twisting my heart more sharply. I thought maybe I saw something like what I felt in his eyes, but I wasn’t confident to believe in it. When he lifted his other hand and slid it through where my hair fell over my shoulder, one of his fingers spinning in a circle as he idly played with my hair, I could hardly contain myself.
“You know what I mean,” I whispered.
The heat in his gaze didn’t fade as he dragged his thumb slowly across my bottom lip. “I know what you mean.”
“What do we do?” I whispered.
“I don’t want to stop,” he said.
I knew this was reckless and unwise. Because I was that girl—the one who always fell for the wrong guy. In this case, it was beyond foolish because usually, I fell for the assholes. But Haven wasn’t an asshole. He was just a good guy whose life had dealt him a few too many gut punches.
“I really don’t want to stop,” he added.
