Page 136 of Stolen Voices

He takes in my naked form, and his eyes linger on my tits. He visibly swallows and his Adam’s apple bobs, begging for me to lick it.

Water drips down my body as my nipples pebble and my body shivers. From the chill or his stare, I couldn’t tell you.

“Be right back.” Eli slips out of the bathroom and returns with two towels in his hands. He opens the shower door and wraps one towel around my shoulders, tugging it tight. “Turn around.”

I follow his directions and turn. He uses the second towel to pat-dry my hair.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Eli grumbles, his voice gritty. He spins me around, grips the towel covering me, and tugs me to his chest. “Go on and get dressed before I do something I’ll regret.”

Disappointment washes over me. “But—”

He presses his lips to mine in a tender kiss before leaving me in the bathroom to get dressed.

Did I not do the towel thing right? I’m going to have to ask Rylann.

My mind is a flurry of confusion and anxiety as I dry off, blow dry my hair, and get dressed. I opt for a pair of baggy ripped jeans and my favorite lavender crop hoodie. When I finally return to the living room, I find Eli sitting on the couch with his laptop out.

“Hey.”

Without hesitation, Eli looks up from his laptop, places it on the coffee table, and pats the spot on the cushion next to him. “Join me.”

“Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?” I ask with a nervous laugh. Eli grins and shakes his head at me as I do as he asks and take the spot next to him. I place my hands in my lap and fiddle with my thumb. “So?”

Eli tilts my chin to the side, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Are you okay, Cal?”

I shrug. “Yeah, I just feel weird about the whole towel thing. I’m sorry. I, uh, didn’t mean to scare y—.”

He interrupts me with another chaste kiss. “Get out of your head, princess. You and your body are sexy as fuck. I want you so badly it hurts. My cock is so hard for you I can barely sit.” To prove his point, he puts my hand on his zipper, where his rock-solid shaft is trapped. He grips my wrist, removing my grasp from him, and entwines our fingers together. “Please know I will play along with your little seduction games soon. Because, believe me, next time I’m going to lift you off the ground, push you up against the tile wall, ram my cock inside you, and fuck you senseless.”

My heart skips a beat, and everything in me melts like hot chocolate syrup on a sundae. “Promise?”

“Always.” He kisses my forehead and runs the pad of his thumb over my lip. “Will you go out on a date with me?”

“What?” I gasp, shocked. Eli wants to take me on a date. My inner goddess does a shimmy and climbs that pole again. “I mean, hell yes, I want to go on a date with you.”

Eli throws his head back and laughs. “Good answer.”

“But how? The whole point of hiding out in Pine Hills is that no one knows where I am.”

“You leave all the details to me.” He sounds so sure that my worries disappear in a snap.

Eli would never let anything happen to me. I mean, he caught me from a fifteen-foot fall, endangering his own life, just to save me. There’s really no one I trust more.

“Really?”

“Yeah, sweetheart.”

“I’ve never been on a real date before,” I admit.

“What about Ian West?” Eli grumbles.

“Why, Elijiah Miller, are you jealous?” If he only knew the truth.

“Of that pretty boy?” He scoffs, and mumbles obscenities under his breath. “Never.”

Oh my, Eli really is jealous.