Page 27 of Over the Moon (Rosewood River #3)

nineteen

. . .

Clark

My blood was boiling over the bullshit dinner I attended. The fact that Eloise thought they would think we were having an inappropriate relationship, only to have the owner clearly hit on her all night, right in front of everyone.

I’ve never felt this kind of jealousy before.

Sebastian Wayburn was a rich kid, who was used to getting what he wanted.

And there was no doubt in my mind that he wanted Eloise.

The same woman that I wanted.

The same woman who asked me to pretend that I hated her tonight.

I ran a hand down my face in frustration as I took another long pull from my beer.

I hadn’t had a cocktail at the restaurant because I wouldn’t have been able to put on that ridiculous show at the table if I’d had any booze in me.

There was a light knock on the door, and I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it, until it came again.

It was nearly 11:00 p.m., so I definitely wasn’t expecting company.

I pulled the door open, surprised to see Eloise on my doorstep, wearing that sexy-as-sin fitted skirt and blouse that dipped low enough to show a little bit of her white lace bra beneath it.

I’d taken every moment that she wasn’t paying attention to me to look at her from across the table. The table where I had to sit, pretend to dislike her, and watch another man take his shot.

“Did you walk here alone?” I asked, my words coming out harsher than I meant them to.

“Yes. I just left my father at the hotel. It’s Saturday night. There’s a lot of people out downtown still, so I thought you might still be up.”

I studied her. “Did you want to come in?”

She nodded. “Is that okay?”

“Of course, it is. You’re the one with all the rules.” I stepped back and motioned her inside. “Although I’ve got to say, coming to my house this late is much riskier than acting like we don’t hate each other at dinner.”

She moved past me, stopping once she got to the kitchen and turning around to face me. “I handled that wrong.”

“You think?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest and making no attempt to hide my irritation.

“I wrote you back in the notebook, but I didn’t have time to go back home and get it before I came here. So I just wanted to come tell you what I wrote in there today,” she said, clearing her throat and suddenly appearing nervous.

“All right,” I said, my tone softer now. I hated seeing her upset. “Tell me.”

“Well, I don’t think I want to tell you exactly what I wrote, because something hit me tonight while we were at dinner, so I think I’d rather tell you that.” She stepped closer to me, and I shoved my hands into my pockets to stop myself from touching her.

“What hit you tonight, Weeze?” I asked, my gaze locked with hers.

I was exhausted, and I hadn’t slept well in a few days. I hated this distance between us now.

“I should have thanked you for that date—the most amazing date.” Her voice shook. “Because it meant everything to me.”

“You thanked me that night. You don’t need to thank me again,” I said. “I’m not upset about you not thanking me for the date. I’m bothered that you want to act like it didn’t happen.”

“I know that it happened, and I wanted to say it to make sure you knew how much it meant to me.” She sucked in a breath. “This is uncharted territory for me, Clark. And I’m scared about all of it.”

“What are you afraid of?” I asked, fighting the urge to pull her close. If anything was going to happen, she was going to have to admit she wanted it to happen. “They don’t suspect anything, Eloise. I think I did a pretty good job of convincing them we can’t stand one another.”

She shook her head rapidly, and I startled when I saw a tear roll down her cheek.

“It’s not about that. I’m scared of my feelings.

I’m scared of how much I like you. I’m scared that you’ll reject me.

But then I’m scared that you won’t, and that doesn’t work either.

” She shrugged. “I’m scared that I think about you when I’m not with you.

I’m scared that I asked you to pretend that you hated me, and now you actually might hate me. ”

“Weeze,” I said, pulling her against me and wrapping my arms around her. “I could never hate you. I hate that the first woman I have real feelings for is the one woman I can’t have.”

She stiffened in my arms and then tipped her head back to look at me. “I think we should reconsider our options.”

“Yeah? How so?”

“Well, I was thinking about it at the restaurant. I hated how far apart we sat. I hated that we’ve barely spoken this week.

And I realized, sometimes, you have to take risks.

And maybe we just take a risk. We see where this goes for the next three weeks while we’re still here.

We work hard at practice, and then if we want to spend time together privately, we can do it without anyone knowing it.

Maybe this is the gift—being in this small town, where no one pays us any attention.

My dad and Randall don’t suspect anything, so let’s see where this goes. ”

“Is that what you want?” I asked, tucking a piece of hair that broke free behind her ear.

She nodded. “It’ll probably be a disaster, and we’ll go back to the city knowing we at least let things play out. And if by chance we still like each other then, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

I was stunned that she was saying this. It’s everything I wanted to hear, but I never thought she’d actually allow herself to go there. “One day at a time. No pressure. Hell, if you want to just hang out as friends and spend time together, I’m fine with it.”

“That’s not what I want.” She shrugged, her teeth sinking into that juicy bottom lip.

“What do you want, Eloise Gable?” I said, leaning down closer now. Her breaths came faster now.

“I’m feeling something I’ve never felt. And it might be dumb and risky, but I don’t care. I want to spend the night with you. I want to spend the next three weeks with you. And I want to let myself enjoy this feeling. Even if it doesn’t get to last forever, it’s okay.”

I reached behind her, palming her ass with one hand and lifting her off her feet, as her skirt bunched around her hips and her legs came around my waist.

“That’s all I needed to hear.” I tugged her face down and kissed her.

She pulled back, one hand on each side of my face. “Take me to your bedroom.”

I searched her gaze. “There’s no rush.”

“We’ve got three weeks to do whatever we want, and we’ve wasted enough time already.”

I nodded, pulling her mouth back down to mine as I walked down the hallway toward my bedroom. I set her down on the bed, hovering above her. “This is an unexpected turn of events.”

“I couldn’t stand how distant we were this week. Even if this can’t go anywhere when we leave Rosewood River, I want to savor this. Whatever it is, I want to enjoy it right now. Life is short, and it hit me tonight that I’ve been being ridiculous.”

“I can’t argue with that,” I smirked.

She swatted at my chest. “I was talking to my dad after dinner, and he was telling me that my mom would be so proud of the woman I’ve become, which of course, got me in all my feels.

We talked about how much we miss her, and he said that it’s okay to miss someone, even all these years later, because it means they impacted your life.

Dad said that even though grieving her loss has been horrible, he’d rather have had an hour of wonderful, than a lifetime of just okay. I’ve had a lot of just okay, you know?”

“What are you saying? Are you over the moon for me, Eloise?” My voice was all tease as I ran the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip.

“Don’t get cocky, Hotshot,” she chuckled. “I’ll say this… Not everything has to last forever to be worth doing it. So I’m going to try your whole one-day-at-a-time philosophy and just enjoy it. For once in my life, I don’t want to overthink everything.”

“Yeah? I like the sound of that.”

I’ve always been a guy who believed in taking things one day at a time. Not overthinking everything. Yet, here I was, knowing one day would never be enough with this woman.

I already wanted more than one day.

Maybe even all of her days.

She raised her arms over her head for me to take her blouse off. I pulled back and found the hem of the silky white fabric and lifted it over her head.

“Damn, I’ve dreamed about these tits more times than I can count.

” My fingers traced over the thin white lace, and her nipples hardened beneath the tips of my fingers.

I slipped one strap down her shoulder, my knuckles gliding across her silky skin as she arched her body up toward me.

I leaned down, taking her hard peak between my lips, and she groaned.

I flicked it with my tongue before slipping the other strap down her shoulder and moving to the other breast. Back and forth, over and over, as she squirmed beneath me.

I pulled back to look at her, her cheeks flush and lips parted.

“I could stay right here all night,” I said, my voice gruff as she reached up and ran her fingers along the scruff of my jaw.

“I want you right now. No more waiting,” she said.

“There’s one thing I need to do first.” I slid down her body, reaching behind her for the zipper on her skirt. “I want to taste you, beautiful.”

Her eyes widened, and her breaths came faster. She gave me the slightest nod, but I could see the nerves there.

“Have you done this before?”

“I haven’t. It’s just never been… requested,” she said, which made me chuckle. Because how the hell had no one ever gone down on her?

“Well, it’s being requested now,” I said. My voice was all tease as I pressed my erection against her. The thought of being the first man to bring her this kind of pleasure did something to me. “I want to make you feel good. Do you trust me?”

Her lips turned up in the corners. “I do.”