Page 67 of Sext Addict

I jutted my chin up defiantly. His stunning blue eyes were a challenge as he continued to grin down at me.

“I’m not giving up.” I poked at his firm (how was it always sofirm?) chest again.

He moved his face even closer so all I could see were his eyes and all he could see were mine. Our lips were inches away.

“Give up,” he murmured.

“You give up.”

His eyes narrowed. “Concede.”

“Never.”

“I won’t accept defeat.” His breath brushed over my skin.

“No. I’ll nev—”

Ellis closed the distance between us and pressed his lips hungrily against mine. I threw my arms around his neck, pulled him even closer, tangled my fingers in his hair, and kissed him back. His lips parted, and I parted mine, eager to taste him, and—

Someone behind us loudly cleared his throat.

Pulling apart, we each turned to find the bartender standing a short distance away with a tired expression on his face, backpack slung over his shoulder, arms crossed.

“Yeah, can you guys, like, do that outside or something? I just want to go home and watch Netflix with the bottle of wine I slipped into my backpack.”

Cheeks warming, I untangled my hands from Ellis’s hair and let my arms slip from his shoulders before clearing my throat and stepping back. He pushed back the strands of hair that had fallen seductively over his eyes and stepped back as well, glancing over at me before reaching into his back pocket. He pulled out a hundred and handed it over to the bartender.

“Sorry, man,” he said. “We’ll get out of your hair.”

I mumbled a “Thanks, dude,” and hurried after Ellis to the exit of the conference hall.

Once outside, Ellis stood on the sidewalk at the circular entrance and looked at his phone. Probably getting an Uber, I figured.

I felt a sense of sadness wash over me, mixing with the arousal that still spun around in my veins. He wasn’t going home and leaving me alone, was he? No—he couldn’t. We’d kissed. After all these years of being friends, we’d finally kissed. Somehow that kiss, even without tongue, felt more intimate than even Ellis watching me get slammed by Cade and Jamie.

“Hey.” I moved to him, fidgeting with my fingers to combat the sudden swell of nerves. “So, uh are you telling Uber to take us to my place?”

Ellis sighed, but didn’t respond. I shivered in the slight evening breeze. I held my elbows and waited for a response. Still, he didn’t speak, and my emotions grew jangled. Something wasn’t right.

“Tessa,” he finally said, stuffing his hands into his pockets and avoiding my gaze. “What I did in there…the kiss. I shouldn’t have… Ugh. Sorry, kiddo, but that was a mistake.”

His words were like a knife in my heart. “A mistake?” I asked, voice barely audible.

Ellis remained silent, kicking at invisible pebbles on the sidewalk.

“A mistake?” I repeated, feeling more and more incredulous as the word played again and again in my mind. “What do you mean, amistake? I don’t understand. I—”

“You don’t need me to help you be brave anymore, Tessa,” Ellis said. “Look at all you’ve done these last few weeks.”

“But Ellis, that’s—”

"That was all you, Tess. All you, not me.” He stepped close to me and rested his hand on the side of my neck, thumb brushing along my cheekbone. “I kept coming to your rescue all these years, thinking you needed me. Hell, I wanted to be needed. But each time I bailed you out, I wasn’t really helping you—I was not allowing you to find your own strength.”

“I don’t see it that way,” I argued.

He shook his head. “It’s true. When you decided to do this sex study, I was against it. I thought you’d get hurt. But look at you—you found two guys who genuinely care about you. And you did that all yourself.” He sighed. “You don’t need me. I’ve been holding you back. I know that now.”

“What are you talking about, Ellis?”

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