Page 23 of Ex- Factor
This man.
This man was mine.
I just wasn’t ready to admit it to him yet.
Chapter Twelve- Silas
“Are we going to talk about the kiss?” I asked, leaning against the kitchen counter, watching her pour oat milk into her coffee—after I’d already told her she didn’t need caffeine after work, because she’d be up until two or three o’clock.
Eshe didn’t even blink. “Are we going to talk about why it’s Wednesday and you’re still in my house, even while I’m at work?”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a sip from my mug and shrugging. “I live here now.”
She rolled her eyes and turned toward the fridge. “You don’t live here, Silas.”
“I kind of do,” I argued—and had facts to back it up. “I’ve slept here four nights in a row, cooked twice, took the trash out… I went online and changed my mailing address.”
“—You didn’t change your mailing address,” she cut in, shooting me a look over her shoulder.
I grinned. “Yes I did.”
I had, because I was planning to spend all my free time with her—and I had important mail.
She walked past me without responding, because she knew I was telling the truth. Her heels clicked against the tile. She was dressed in a soft green blouse and high-waisted pantsthat hugged her round ass and made it real hard not to reach out and grab her.
She smelled like vanilla and wet pussy. The last part might’ve been my imagination.
I stepped in front of the door before she could leave. “So we’re really not going to talk about the kiss?”
Eshe raised one brow. “You mean that it happened?”
I dropped my voice, inching a little closer.
“That kiss changed my whole brain chemistry. I can’t think straight since it happened. I see you when I close my eyes. I taste you when I’m eating food. My body reacts to you before my mind does—like you rewired me. You kissed me once, Eshe, and now every cell in my body thinks it belongs to you. And all you can say is it happened?”
“I’m going to make you get out of my house, Silas, if you keep bothering me about a kiss. You can’t be this dramatic about a kiss.”
“I can. And you’re gonna miss me.”
“I doubt it.”
She pushed past me, and I stood there grinning like an idiot.
I liked her when she was being mean and dismissive. It meant She was avoiding her feelings, which meant she had some for me.
I let her go shower, knowing she wasn’t about to make me leave. I’d find a reason to stay either way. I liked her coming home and me being there. I hadn’t planned on staying this long, but every morning when I thought about going home, the idea felt dumb. Quiet. Empty.
Eventually, I followed her to the bedroom. I knocked on the bathroom door.
She cracked it open, head poking out, hair tied up in a scarf. “What?”
“I want to talk to you about something serious.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Right now? While I’m showering?”
“You can shower while I talk,” I said, leaning against the doorframe. “I won’t look.”
She looked skeptical but pulled the door open wider. “Fine.”
