Elliot cocked an eyebrow and I even found that sexy. It was positively mortifying what my hormones were doing to my body. I was glad no one could read my mind, because they’d be having a good laugh at me and my vagina’s expense.
“Is that so?” he mused as he pressed me against the bathroom door, pinning me with his hard body. “I wonder why that is? Care to let me know?”
Woman up, Noah. It’s now or never.
I cleared my throat and looked at his nose, because I found I didn’t have the courage to look him in the eye as I broke my own heart.
“That’s why I asked you to come here while my parents are away for the weekend. I need to tell you that I’m breaking up with you.”
For long seconds, the room was covered in a veil of silence that prompted me to look up into Elliot’s eyes. All playfulness had vanished from those ocean blues, and a flicker of what I gauged to be worry lingered. Time ticked by as he said nothing. He just stared down at me intensely and unblinking. It was like he was trying to answer his unspoken questions with his powerful gaze.
Eventually, he said, “What?”
I blinked repeatedly as I tried to focus on his words and not his touch.
“I’m fed up wi-with you,” I stammered, as his hands on my waist squeezed ever so slightly. “We’ve been going on dates for five months. One, two, three, four, five months, and you’ve not asked me to be your girlfriend yet.” I dug my fingers into the muscles of his back as he pressed closer to me. “The trial pe-period is over, you aren’t getting a subscription to this body so . . . so we’re done.”
His shoulders sagged almost instantly, and the fear in his eyes faded and gave way to a teasing glint. “Ye think I don’t want you long-term?”
“That’s exactly what I think . . . You don’t have to look so bloody relieved about it either!”
He chuckled. “You’re peggin’ me all wrong, gorgeous.”
“Am I really?” I quizzed. “You look mighty pleased that I’m ending things.”
“I’m pleased that ye’ve got me intentions messed up, otherwise I’d likely be on me knees right now beggin’ ye to give me another chance.”
My brows shot up with surprise. That was not what I’d expected to hear.
“What?”
He didn’t answer me with words; he dipped his head and latched his lips on to my sweet spot instead. My eyes rolled back as Elliot sucked on my neck, using just the right amount of pressure to draw a slight moan from my parted lips. I slid my hands up his back to his neck, and finally tangled them into his thick, inch-long, chocolate-brown hair. He slid his tongue from my neck up to my face, and the second he plunged it into my mouth I was at his mercy.
I lifted one leg and hooked it around the back of his knee, and I felt a thrill dart up and down my spine when I sucked on his hot, wet tongue and heard a slight growl come from his throat. He pulled back enough to break our kiss, but not enough to be out of my reach.
“Elliot,” I panted as blood rushed through my veins. “Please.”
“D’ye know why I agreed to come over to your house, knowin’ your parents weren’t home this weekend?”
I tried to kiss him again, but he only let me suck on his lower lip, which was hardly enough for me. I wanted more of him. All of him if I could have it.
“D’ye know why?” he pressed, moving his lips out of my reach. “Because they went away last month, and I never came over. Why d’ye think I came over today?”
I couldn’t think of anything other than dirty, dirty things.
“Tell me,” I pleaded as I brought my lips to his neck. “Please.”
“Because I wanted to be sure that I loved you.”
I froze, my mouth pressed against his skin. I felt his heart beating rapidly as my lips skimmed over a pulsing artery. He pulled back to look down at me, and I stared up at him with wide eyes and my mouth agape. His lips twitched, and his dimple creased in his cheek. He pressed his forehead down against mine and silently waited for me to say something. Anything.
“D’you mean it?” I whispered as my eyes stung with sudden tears. “D’you really mean it? Because if you don’t, you’d better get out of my house right now, Elliot.”
He tightened his hold on me and rubbed the tip of his nose against mine.
“I love ye, sasanach. I’m sorry it took me a while to realise it, I’ve never been in love until I found you. I wanted to be certain about how I was feelin’.”
“And you are?” I asked, my heart pounding against my chest. “Certain about how you feel, I mean.”
“I am.” He smiled gleefully. “I know you like the back of me hand. Ye can be anxious about things that ye can’t control and that’s not a bad thing, it just means that gettin’ reassurance every now and then from people you care about helps ye relax.” He brushed strands of hair behind my ear. “I wanted no doubts in my mind about how I feel for you. I wanted to tell ye I loved you, and for you to not doubt me when I said the words. I love you, Noah.”
His words hit me with the force of a train, and in that moment I knew what true happiness felt like.
“Elliot,” I whispered as tears fell from my eyes and meandered down my cheeks. “I love you too.”
“You do?” He smiled, the dimple I loved so much deepening. “So much that you’re breakin’ up with me?”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
“You never asked me to be your gi-girlfriend and I knew I already loved you. I had to pr-protect myself somehow, I didn’t want
