She jumped, the sound breaking hard through her fantasies.
There was more scratching, this time on the carpet beneath the door, followed by more angry feline noises.
“Oh, you damn cat!” she growled, wiggling out of Eli’s hold and sitting up. And she was almost grateful Toby had come to the rescue then, because it had saved her from revealing her fairly intense neediness.
She stood and looked down at Eli, who was staring at the ceiling, all naked and muscle-y and as hot as ever. Then she turned and went to the door, flinging it open. “What?”
Toby sauntered in, and his eyes seemed to go straight to Eli. “Don’t judge,” she said to Toby. “You don’t have balls. You don’t know what this kind of drive does to a person.”
Eli laughed, a deep, male sound that was much more relaxed than he generally was. “Do you always talk to your cat?” He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed and she was sort of struck dumb by the whole display.
His body in motion, regardless of the motion, was a beautiful thing. And naked? It was mouth-dryingly, pantie-dampeningly beautiful.
“Yes, yes, Eli, I do talk to my cat. And please be advised,” she said, crossing her arms beneath her bare breasts, “that I won’t allow for anti-cat speech in this house.”
“Anti-cat thoughts?”
“Forbidden. The thought police are here. Assimilate or be destroyed.”
“I didn’t understand any of that.”
“It’s a good thing you’re nice to look at.”
“Nice to touch, too, I hope,” he said, standing and walking toward her.
Her heart stuttered. “Do you have to ask?”
“Doesn’t hurt to be told.”
“Touch. Taste. All of the above. I very much enjoy the many attractions your body has to offer.”
“Possibly the strangest compliment I’ve ever received.”
“Well, that gives me a new target to aim for. Something weirder than that.”
“I look forward to it.” He bent down and picked up his clothes, shaking them out, tugging his underwear and pants on.
Her heart sank. She was so much more disappointed by the fact that he was leaving than she should be. She’d just been thinking she needed to get rid of him. Reclamation of space and all that.
But now he was vacating her space. And that was different.
At least it felt different for some reason.
He tugged the tan shirt on over his head and collected the overshirt and tie, and put them into the bag the condoms had come from. Then he went for his boots. And she just stood there naked and watched, which was hugely stupid but she couldn’t really bring herself to stop watching him. Or to move and get dressed. She didn’t want her lacy underthings or her dress back anyway.
She wanted jammies. And she wanted to cry a little bit.
She felt like an alien being with way too many feelings had crawled into her ear and then chewed his way from her brain stem, down her neck and into her chest, where he’d made a comfy home and decided to force his emotions on her.
Yes, that was what she felt like. Foreign, and completely out of her depth. And she just wasn’t used to feeling that way. She kept herself out of situations that made her feel this way for a reason.
“See you tomorrow,” he said, all casual and like his skull hadn’t been cracked by the thundering pleasure that had just rolled through them both.
“Uh...okay.”
“I can’t stay,” he said, not looking at her.
“No,” she said. “No, I know. I mean, I wasn’t going to ask you to. I was going to ask you to leave, actually. But I didn’t have to because of the cat, and then you got up, and now you’re going so I didn’t have to.”
Sure, Sadie, ramble. That’s convincing and doesn’t sound at all weird.
“Okay,” he said slowly.
“Don’t say it like that. I’m fine. I don’t sleep with guys. I like my space, just like you do. And we made rules. Rules on the street corner. In front of God and everyone.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sadie.”
Two days in a row. That was intense. It was, she realized in that moment, a violation of her usual relationship conduct. She’d never been in a relationship where she felt the need to have sex that often. It was healthy and good to have nights alone, and to have time to herself and...and...he was talking sex tomorrow. Probably the next day, too.
And she was going to say yes.
“Okay. Tomorrow. Do you work?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be patrolling the highway mainly, but I always come to town for coffee and lunch.”
“I was going to stop in on Alison again. So I’ll be in town tomorrow, too.”
“Maybe we can run into each other when I get coffee,” he said.
