Page 44 of Drawn By Dragonblood
I sat back, blinking, my jaw unhinged.
“I’ve offered him a trial period of four weeks,” Elijah continued, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, his pale eyes seeming to reach straight into my soul and tug in attempts to pull me closer. “I can get him started as soon as tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” My voice squeaked over the sudden tightness in my chest. “But how...”
“I have a computer lab down nearer the garage where he can work remotely—for me—until the government approves him to move onto what’s been contracted.”
I glanced at Jon who hadn’t yet torn his focus off Elijah. “But we need to go back to New York?” I tried for a statement but it came out more like a question. “I—I mean, I have to get those images into the magazine,” I offered the only reason we truly had to return home.
“Can they be uploaded to my computer and sent via email?” Elijah asked.
I nodded. “Yeah—definitely.”
“That you may do from the lab as well.”
“He invited us to stay here during the trial period,” Jon stated quietly, still not taking his stare off Elijah, but I could hear the excitement in his voice. “We would house-watch for him while he travels in the coming weeks.”
Zero thought for our tiny apartment and the life we’d built for ourselves in the city clashed with the idea of remaining in Elijah’s home. Our car could easily be retrieved and parked alongside Elijah’s Audi.
I stared at my husband, breath held, waiting for him to make the decision that I felt sure would change our lives. We stood together on the edge of that abyss, hand in hand. But rather than push like I longed to do, I left the choice to him as I’d always done, my fingers crossed.
“I want a contracted offer written up,” Jon eventually stated firmly. “I also insist on the right to counter any part that pushes my boundaries or doesn’t seem in mine and my wife’s best interests.”
I blinked at my husband. He’d been hurt by his friend firing him, but I hadn’t realized steel had slid into his spine.
“As you wish,” Elijah agreed quietly, his tone soft.
I almost snorted since my ears heard Westley from The Princess Bride.
“That’s it, then.” Jon stuck his hand out in a display of trust—for now. “I look forward to your offer.”
My pulse thrummed as time slowed, every beat of my heart loud in my ears…a gong declaring the time had come.
For change.
A dive into the unknown.
Elijah reached for my husband’s hand, their palms gliding together, creating static electricity that shot across my skin and lit me up from the inside.
Waves of heat radiated from the men, burning me clear through. I bit my lip as they stared at each other as though lost in their own little world. They didn’t war for dominance. Elijah held the alpha status as clearly as the freckles scattered across Jon’s nose and flushed cheeks.
He wanted Jon
My husband wanted Elijah.
I wanted them both.
The truth of all three statements settled inside as I studied them, and the feeling of absolute rightness, the same as when I’d first met Jon in seventh grade, slowly leaked through the cells of my body.
My heartbeat slowed to its usual strong cadence, my mind placid like the water of a pond.
We belonged to each other on a deeper level than seemed humanly possible.
Something stirred deep in my soul, far beyond mere arousal. A bone-tingling sense of awareness I couldn’t name or place. I clung to the addictive feeling, wanting to keep it as close to my conscience as I did both men to my body.
But how to bring up a conversation to explain my desires? How could I voice the topic of my fantasies without making Jon feel as though he wasn’t enough for me?
I can’t hurt him again.
