Page 21 of Head Over Heels

With our eyes locked on each other, and my hand between her legs, I called out, “Yeah, we’re here.”

Ivy’s eyes closed, and she dropped her forehead against mine.

“Great,” they said. “We should be able to bring you to the closest floor shortly. He’s working on the issue down on the ground floor.”

“Thank you,” I answered.

I wasn’t feeling particularly grateful, though.

Would it be wrong if I told the guy to buzz off? Give us about twenty more minutes like this so I could find all my favorite spots to touch her?

Ivy slowly pulled herself off my lap, and my hand brushed against her thigh as she moved back to her spot.

My head banged against the back of the wall.

“Is, umm, Ivy in there with you?” the voice asked.

Her eyes widened. “I’m here.”

“Your mother-in-law is waiting for you. She’s been very worried. She just wanted me to let you know she’s still here.”

Ivy tucked her knees up to her chest and covered her face with her hands. “Okay, thank you,” she said.

I swiped my hand over my mouth.

Her mother-in-law. Right.

Looks like the date was over.

My hands itched to reach for her, but the moment was well and truly broken. There was no recovering it. No asking her out for a drink after this. No moment when I could sneak another kiss and hope for another date. A phone call. Anything.

“Probably for the best,” she said stiffly.

Her eyes were closed again.

I didn’t say shit because I didn’t trust myself to speak.

“I shouldn’t have…” Her voice trailed off. “You can’t really ever pretend to be someone different. And that’s not me,” she said. “I don’t … I don’t do things like that.”

My jaw clenched tight.

“I have responsibilities,” she continued. “Expectations. And I can’t just … I can’t ignore them simply because we …”

“Almost fucked on the floor of an elevator?” I finished helpfully.

She let out a shocked exhale.

It was the opposite of the white knight, but I couldn’t find it in myself to regret saying it.

“I don’t do shit like this either, Ivy,” I told her. “I don’t screw strangers as a habit, and I definitely don’t break up engagements.”

“I’m not engaged, no matter what she called herself,” Ivy said hotly.

The spark of temper was enough to soothe the snarling beast pacing behind my ribs. I wasn’t alone in this. The only reason she felt as pissy as me was from good old-fashioned sexual frustration.

With clanging metal and tools in the background, I bounced the back of my head against the wall again.

“You weren’t pretending to be someone different,” I said. “You wanted that. You. Not someone else. You climbed into my lap and tried to shove my hand underneath those lace panties of yours because you’ve never had someone like me touch you or talk dirty to you. Don’t lie to yourself that you were someone different because you wanted me to do all those things.”

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