Page 37 of Change My Mind
“Skateboard. Less judgement. And less likely to favour one side and lead to an imbalance.”
A soft breath of a laugh escaped him. My mind ran through some of the ways I could maybe get him to make that noise in a different context. “Of course, you thought about it in those terms.”
“Do you think we should have sex?”
I brought the trolley to a stop. My feet rooted to the ground. Embarrassment flooded my veins, and a prickly heat followed. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud. But the pressure of not addressing the elephant in the room meant that it was right there at the front of my mind.
And now it was out there, and I couldn’t take it back.
“I didn’t?—”
“Yes,” he cut me off. My mouth closed. My brows furrowed.
“What?”
“I think we should have sex. Just once. It will get it out of our systems, and then we can go back to how it was before the menu tasting. Friends. Flatmates. Whatever. No more weird, sexually-charged hallway rendezvous because the mystery will be unveiled, and therefore it becomes boring.”
I nodded, running my fingers over a white rug that looked nice, but I knew the moment it was on the floor, I’d spill something that would stain it.
“Just once,” I said.
Eli reached behind the white rug I was fondling and pulled out a dark red one that matched one of the colours in the cushions already in our trolley.
He threw it in.
“Just once.”
Twenty-Five
ELI
There was a thread of tension running between Addie and me as we walked the twenty-minute journey back to our flat. We were laden with bags, just the wrong side of heavy for arms already exhausted by an hour of rock climbing.
Our legs were moving quickly as we ate up the ground. She kept throwing glances my way, and I was doing the same.
Now that we had addressed what was clearly simmering between us, the possibilities felt endless.
But they couldn’t be. No matter how much a part of my brain wantedallthe possibilities, we had both agreed to just once.
A way to get it out of our systems.
As we approached the red brick of our flat, our pace managed to get even quicker. She dropped two of her three bags, full of cushions and a rug (that I think I hated, but she clearly loved, so I could grow to do the same) and pulled her keys out of her bag. She missed the lock the first time and took a steadying breath before tryingagain.
Our flat was sun-warm and bright when we stepped into it, dropping our haul messily into the hallway. While we toed off our shoes, we kept sneaking glances before we both straightened up and faced each other.
Addie’s chest was rising and falling quickly. A bead of sweat made its way down her neck and between her breasts before it disappeared under her sports bra. Her eyes were a shade of green that I couldn’t identify because it was getting eaten up by the black of her pupils.
I took a step forward. She took one back.
Rinse and repeat until she was pressed against the back of the sofa. Her hands clasped around the leather.
I ran a finger along her arm, and she shivered at the touch, until I reached her neck. I curled my palm around the back of her neck, and the other one came to cup her face.
“Can I kiss you?”
She didn’t answer verbally. Instead, she tilted her face to bring her mouth onto mine. Her hands wound into the hair on the nape of my neck. I swept my tongue along her lips before she opened her mouth and let me in. This kiss felt frantic but measured. Fevered yet perfect. The feel of her lips against mine was the sweetest feeling in the world, and I wanted more.
Addie broke the kiss first, her hand running down my back before it came around and cupped my cock. She squeezed gently, and my hips pressed into the touch.
