Page 76 of Those Who Are Bound

Elliott

“You’recompletelyemasculatingme,”Jonah complained as he leaned back against the bar, arms folded over his chest.

Elliott chuckled, shaking her head at him before she stuck it back in the ceiling of the event space. She stood on a ladder, repairing one of the speaker wires.

“I could do that for you, you know,” he continued.

She smiled to herself; she could feel him watching her, devouring her from the neck down as she stood on the ladder, one foot a rung up from the other, her knee bent outward. She wore her denim cutoffs and a fitted white V-neck T-shirt along with her hiking boots.

Elliott leaned back to look at him again. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of opportunities to prove your masculinity in a more… impressive fashion.” She winked and disappeared again.

“Better believe it,” he assured her.

With a low chuckle, she teased, “I’m a quivering pool of naked desire.”

He let out what sounded like a tortured growl.

“Besides,” she said, her voice an odd echo through the roof. “I had a real electrician show me how to do this stuff.” Her head half-peeped out again as she queried with mock skepticism, “Who taught you?”

He chuckled. “YouTube.”

“Uh-huh.” She laughed and returned to her task. “Thank you for the offer, though.” After a few more minutes, she asked, “Will you please throw the switch? Let’s see if I got this thing working.”

She heard him walk over to the closet with the electrical panel. A switch was flipped, and she immediately looked to the wires she’d spliced and rewired as music boomed through the space. She made a small motion of a fist pump, then replaced the ceiling tile as she took a step down on the ladder.

“Thank goodness that’s all it was. My work here is done.”

“Very impressive.”

She let out a self-conscious half laugh. “If speaker wires impress you, then my toilet skills will blow you away.” Then she let out a full laugh. “Wait, that didn’t sound right.”

Jonah turned off the sound system and closed the closet door. “Where does the ladder go?”

Elliott dismissed it with the wave of her hand. “I can get it later.”She faced him fully and gave him her undivided attention. Because he’d arrived while she’d been on the ladder, she hadn’t properly greeted him. So she said, “Hi, Jonah.”

“Hi, Elliott.” He approached her and glanced at the ceiling tiles. “How often are you rooting around up there?”

“Too often. No matter the pest control we put in place, mice love to get up there and chew on the wires.”

Jonah slipped a hand around her waist, pulling her to him. She came easily, resting her hands on his chest, feeling the heat of him through his blue short-sleeve button-down shirt. He lowered his head, lips lightly skating over hers before caressing her mouth open to sweep his tongue inside.

Elliott fell against him. God, this man; just a kiss from him, and it was like she’d stepped on a live wire, like she’d spliced the wrong wire in the best possible way. His touch, his taste, his smell; it transported her. If his kiss alone could do this to her…

She moaned and balled her fingers against his chest. He nipped lightly at her lips, taking the bottom one between his teeth before easing back, his forehead on hers as he stared down at her. “I love kissing you.”

Her cheeks pinked as she looked back up at him; she tensed.

He gave her a small frown of concern. “Panic?”

Elliott gave him a small shake of her head, not breaking the contact. “That’s not panic.”

“Good.”

“Just… new.”

He grinned. “Good.”

Elliott smiled back. She knew he liked the idea that he could do something new to her—for her—but that wasn’t why she said it. It was new, his affection; it wasn’t an act.

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