Page 16 of Reluctant to Love

8

Roderick

There is nothing like sleeping and waking up next to a beautiful woman, especially when it’s Eleanor. Seeing her in the early morning, as the sunlight filters into room turning it from black to gray, is like a balm to my weary heart. It starts to heal the cracks that formed the moment she left.

I use these precious few moments to truly study her. Her black shorts reveal the familiar tattoos inked on her thigh. I think about the words newly etched on her skin.

Everybody has a chapter they don’t read out loud.

She’s hinted at secrets, at something so huge it could alter my feelings for her. What isn’t she telling me?

She stirs, shifting in the bed, and her t-shirt rides up her belly. Her curves have softened over the last few years and I hesitantly reach out a hand, letting it ghost over the slope of her hip.

“You better have a damn good reason for waking me up,” she growls.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” I stretch out beside her and wrap an arm around her body before planting a kiss behind her ear. “I have a long day ahead of me.”

She hums as she twists to face me and nuzzles her face against my chest. “I have to get ready for my meeting tomorrow.”

“She already loves your book,” I tell her. “Just be yourself and you’ll be fine.”

“How do you know she loves my book?”

“She might have mentioned it during our last meeting.” I hug her tightly and kiss the top of her head. “I wish I could stay in bed with you all day, but I can’t.”

“It’s okay. I rarely get this much peace and quiet. I can probably get a ton of work done on my manuscript.”

I smile at her perseverance. She never gave up on her dream of being published even though it seems as if the last few years have been difficult. I shift away from her but manage to steal a few kisses before I slip out of bed and head into the bathroom for a shower.

My lust and desire for her have clouded my thoughts and reuniting with Eleanor is quite challenging. How will we manage a long-distance relationship after four years apart and a tumultuous past? No doubt, trust is going to be an issue and I can’t prove myself trustworthy when we’re living far apart.

Which also means I need to figure out where she is living. In college, she was an out of state student but once our relationship ended, I lost track of her. I regret not chasing after her but at the time, I thought the best thing to do was give her space. If she wanted me, she would come back…at least, that’s what I kept telling myself. In reality, I was stupid enough to sign a divorce agreement that included stipulations about being involved with other women. Famke’s money made me a desperate man.

When I step out of the shower, I notice Eleanor sitting on the bed with her laptop perched on a pillow on her lap. She’s leaning against a stack of pillows and I can see white earbuds in her ears. Her fingers fly across the keyboard as she works. As I move around the room getting dressed, she ignores me. I throw a couple glances her way, hoping to catch her eye but I come away empty handed each time.

I check the time and realize if I don’t leave the room now, I’m going to be late for my first meeting.

“I hate bothering you, but I have go,” I tell her once she looks up at me.

She smiles and slips one earbud from her ear. “Sorry, I didn’t even notice you.”

“I realized that when you didn’t bat an eye at my bare ass.”

“I’m not interested in your ass, Roderick. Your cock, well, that’s another story.”

I lean down and kiss her lips slowly, a promise of things to come. “So, you’re thinking about my cock?”

“I plead the fifth,” she says with a grin.

“I dream about you, sweets,” I whisper. “I dream about sinking deep into your warmth, feeling your pussy wrapped around my cock. In four years, one thing has not changed – how badly I want you.”

Her cheeks bloom with pink and she swallows. “Have a good meeting.”

I chuckle as I leave the room, careful to adjust myself before I go.

As I step onto the elevator, I expect a day of boring meetings. Unfortunately, that’s not how the day went.

The first meeting of the day is with my agent, Caroline. It’s hard to concentrate on the meeting because I want to ask her about Eleanor’s manuscript and meeting.