Page 80 of For You & No One Else (Say Everything 3)

She flattened the open book against her chest and gave him a look. “Are you trying to stop yourself from making jokes about my romance novels?”

He laughed. “No, Eli.”

She tilted her head in a skeptical-prosecuting-attorney kind of way. “Then what?”

“If you must know, my lady,” he said, feigning a British accent to go with their reading material, “I had an impure thought about you in that bed and got…stiff. So I’m trying to be a proper gentleman and be discreet about it.”

Her gaze flicked downward even though he doubted she could see much in the low light of his room. “Oh.”

“Sorry about that.” He flicked his hand at the screen. “Go on.”

But she didn’t pick up the book. Her teeth pressed into her bottom lip. “Can I see?”

“See—” His blood heated.See.She wanted to see that he’d gotten hard. This wasn’t what he’d intended by telling her, but he wasn’t hating this turn of events. “Think I’m lying?”

She shrugged a shoulder, the move coy. “You could be.”

He reached out and switched on his lamp to the low setting, bathing the room in warm light, and then rolled fully onto his back again. He dragged the covers down, maybe taking a little more time than necessary, and watched Eliza watch him. When he moved the covers down to his thighs, revealing the now fully tented boxers, Eliza let out a sharp little breath.

“Not lying,” she said, her voice carrying a little grit.

He wrapped his hand around himself, fabric pressing against sensitive skin, and a shudder went through him.Hell.His own hand shouldn’t feel so erotic, but knowing Eliza was watching seemed to turn his hand into hers in his mind. “Not lying. I have no self-control apparently. Viscounts really do it for me.”

She laughed, a low, musical sound. “To hell with viscounts.Thisis really doing it for me.”

The words were like static electricity against his skin. “Yeah?”

She nodded.

He gave himself a lazy stroke. “Show me.”

She rolled her lips together and put the book aside, jostling the phone. “I want to,” she said when she turned back to the screen. “Like Ireallywant to, and I feel like I can trust you, but having been burned by a video recently, I don’t think I’d be able to relax enough to do anything R-rated on camera.”

The words rang clear, cutting through the haze in his brain. Fucking hell, she was right. The privacy expert was about to have video phone sex on an unsecured connection. Being around Eliza turned him stupid sometimes. He dropped his hand to his side. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”

“You’re thinking with something,” she teased.

He snorted.

She considered him for a moment, her eyes narrowing. “Turn off your video and put your phone next to you.”

The words caught him off guard. “What?”

“Put it next to you. I’ll do that, too.” The video turned off. “We can lie next to each other and…listen.”

“Oh.”Oh.“You sure?”

“Turn off your camera,” she said, voice soft. “And take off those boxers.”

A rush of pure, hungry heat went through him. He reached out and clicked off his camera. “You’re my new favorite friend, Eli. Have I told you that?”

“Ditto,” she said, her voice drifting into his bedroom. “Now it’s your turn to tell me a story. Tell me exactly what you’re doing…”

He reached down. “I’m sliding my boxers off.” He balled up the fabric and tossed it to the floor and then opened his bedside table’s drawer. “I’m getting what I need to make things nice and slick.” He grabbed the little bottle of lube he kept in there, and then stretched out on the bed, taking himself in his hand and closing his eyes. “And I’m thinking of you.”

Lately, that was all he’d been doing.

Her breathing got a little more audible on her end, and he could tell she was getting undressed too, could picture how unbelievably sexy she would look putting her hands on herself, showing him exactly where she most liked to be touched. He’d never wished more that teleportation was possible.