Page 107 of Change My Mind
“No.”
I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was pouting.
“If you give it back, I can do something fun with it,” I teased. The leg I had hooked over him brushed his erection. Eli huffed, but he let go of my arm. I rolled onto my back.
“You’re left-handed,” he said around a huff of a laugh.
I made a sound of mock shock. “Is my right hand that uncoordinated?”
He half-heartedly shrugged. “The difference is noticeable.”
“Huh, I guess that is good to know.”
“Don’t get a complex about it. I just meant that I knew you were tricking me into letting your arm go with the promise of fun, because you value your job or something weird like that.” He laced his fingers with mine over the duvet and kissed the back of my hand.
“Don’t act like you aren’t gagging to get back in the kitchen. You get angsty when you’ve been away from it for too long. I don’t think you’d make it another day without going in.”
“So tempted to make a gag joke right now.”
“Go ahead, make your jokes, see how much gagging that allows in your future.”
“Did you forget that I said I can live without that? You’re much better threatening to take these hands away from me.” He kissed my hand again before I gently extracted it from his hold and hid it under the duvet.
“You’re mean,” he pouted. Then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I think we might need to talk about Josh.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do, but he was right.
I sighed. “What about him?”
“He seems like the kind of guy who is going to keep coming back around. I know you said that you haven’t seen him all week, but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to leave you alone.”
“Are you worried that he’ll wear me down?” I tried to tease.
He pushed himself up to rest on his elbow, looking down at me. “No, I’m worried about you. He muscled his way into that Halloween party and took advantage in a room full of people. What’s to say he won’t try that again? In a place where there are significantly less people.”
Oh.
I pushed myself up on my elbow. “Becky gave me his schedule, so I know when he’s supposed to be around and when he isn’t. And if the times we are in our offices align, then my office door is locked. I’ve been careful about it. I will keep being careful about it,” I reassured him.
Eli was silent for a moment.
“I’m now worried that was incredibly overbearing and annoying.” Eli flopped back onto the bed. I shifted until I was straddling his thighs, the duvet discarded completely.
“It wasn’t. You had a valid concern, and you are well within your rights to express that. Do you feel better about it now?”
“I trust that you have it under control. And I still refuse to believe that it’s Monday.”
I smiled. “It’s probably a good thing. I don’t think I have anything left. Might need another week to recharge.”
“I don’t think you could last another week,” he said as he ran his hands up my outer thighs.
I mock gasped. “How dare you! I definitely could. You were for sure closer to breaking than me. Although Idid have an interesting moment during a tutorial on Lady Macbeth on Tuesday. No, I will not be explaining; figure it out for yourself.”
Eli laughed loudly.
“Tell me what the seminar was on, so I have the context, and I will report back with my findings tonight.” He seemed lost in thought as his thumbs swept up and down my thigh crease. “Why are you and Clara so obsessed withMacbeth, by the way? Don’t think I haven’t noticed the copious amounts of notes you have about it for your thesis, and I still don’t think I’ve found all the copies ofMacbethin Clara and Jesse’s flat.”
I pinched his nipple. “I need you to not say that name again for the rest of the day.”
