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“Good night, Elliot.”
She walked away, and I groaned when I was alone again.
No matter how much I wanted it—I had, that wasn’t ever a question—I’d been avoiding this. Catherine had no idea what she’d awakened when she’d touched her lips to mine. She’d stoked the fire of my desire I’d kept carefully cold for a long time.
There was no going back.
My stomach was filled with flames, and I was burning for her.
Chapter Twenty-three
Catherine
Isatinthecenter of my walk-in closet, Joey-Girl beside me on a blanket, staring at my racks of clothing and shelves of shoes and handbags.
It seemed my new wardrobe had multiplied overnight. There were rows of shoes—sleek heels and funky boots. Purses with studs and chunky zippers. Ruffle-shoulder tops, knee-length skirts, cute cardigans, tailored slacks, andso manydresses. It was all my style but elevated.
I’d checked the pants. Sometime between us leaving the department store and me discovering everything in my closet last night, they had been hemmed to a perfect length.
So freaking thoughtful. But that was Elliot. Details like that never escaped him.
“Do you see all this, honey? It’s obscene!”
Joey kicked her feet and gazed up at the light fixture, her brow crinkled. She still loved the fan above my bed, maybe more than she loved me, but she was crushing on this light. It was a sweet mini chandelier, so I understood her infatuation.
“I know I told you all about not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but what about kissing one? Because I did, and I don’t know what the hel…vetica I was thinking.” I tapped her nose, making her smile. “You don’t know what I’m saying. Hopefully by the time you understand, Mommy will have her shitake together. See? I’ve stopped cursing so much.”
Not getting a lot of sleep wasn’t anything new to me, but last night had been worse than normal. I’d barely slept at all, tossing and turning, ruminating over Elliot’s complete lack of response to the feel of my lips on his.
Yes, he’d eventually kissed me back, but I couldn’t kick the gut feeling I’d screwed everything up. I’d changed things when they’d been running so smoothly the way they were.
The kicker was, I hadn’t even known I was going to kiss him until I did it. My brain decided to leave the chat, giving my instincts the reins, which was just unbelievable. My instincts could not be trusted.
Exhibit A,the baby who existed because my instincts had told me Liam would make a great co-parent.
Now I was sitting on the floor of my closet, looking at all my beautiful clothing, wondering how I was going to face Elliot again. I’d avoided him the whole day, taking Joey to hang out with Raymond and Davida and wandering around a park afterward.
But my stomach was rumbling. I needed to eat. I’d never been one of those girls who could skip a meal because Iforgot, and that had compounded since having Joey.
Avoiding Elliot was stupid anyway. We had to work together tomorrow. It was better to get everything out in the open before then.
“What do you think, Joey-Girl? Are you ready to go hunt down dinner?” Like she understood me, she found her hand and started sucking on her fist. “Don’t even try to act like you’re hungry too. You’re not fooling me. I just fed you, you milk monster.”
A throat cleared, and I turned to find a very amused Elliot leaning one shoulder against the closet doorway. God, was he a sight, all languid and relaxed, his long legs crossed at the ankle, hands in the pockets of his black joggers. Why did he have to be so handsome? His catastrophically good looks mixed with his random yet increasingly more common bouts of tenderness would be my downfall.
“It’s not nice to call your daughter names, Catherine,” he deadpanned.
“Well, she’s a milk-a-holic. I’m not going to pussyfoot around the truth.”
Laughing under his breath, he entered my closet and offered me a hand. I accepted, and his long fingers engulfed mine, pulling me upright. Then he crouched down and swooped Joey into his arms.
“Come on, Jo. We need to feed your mother so she can keep you flush with your favorite substance.”
“Enabler,” I grumbled, following behind them. “Didn’t we talk about your terrible eavesdropping habit?”
“I thought we decided it wasn’t eavesdropping.”
“No such decision was made.”
