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I gave her a hug. “I’ll see you in the morning, kiddo.”
I’m sure Hailey assumed I was walking down the hall to the guest bedroom. Instead, in my long T-shirt and bare feet, I searched the apartment for Hollis. The kitchen was empty, and he wasn’t in the living room.
I peeked into his bedroom and saw he was just emerging from the bathroom. He’d changed into a fitted, white T-shirt and sleep pants. His feet were bare.
He spotted me in the doorway.
Wiping the moisture out of his hair with a towel, he said, “Come here, you.”
Hollis took me into his arms, and I became completely lost in him. Straight out of the shower with a fresh coating of aftershave, he smelled so damn good. That was to be expected. What wasn’t to be expected was the rampant beat of his heart.
I still wasn’t sure what Hollis was doing with me, what his intentions were. But his heartbeat may have been my first real clue that this wasn’t a game to him anymore.
“How come you showered? I feel dirty now.”
“I had to...relieve some tension. But to be honest, I don’t feel like it did much.”
Hollis definitely still seemed tense. We both clearly wanted the same thing on a physical level, but we couldn’t go there tonight.
That left us not really knowing what to do with each other.
“I love you in my shirt,” he said.
I rubbed my arms. “Thank you for letting me borrow it. It’s so soft.”
He stepped back. “That reminds me. I bought you something.”
My brow lifted. “Yeah?”
He reached under his bed and took out a pink bag. I recognized that it was from La Vivienne, a pricey lingerie store. He looked uncharacteristically shy as he watched me open it.
Inside were silk thongs in a rainbow of colors.
“Hollis, these are so...expensive.”
“The woman at the store swore they were the softest.”
“Yeah, but you must’ve paid three hundred dollars for undies you’re just gonna end up wrecking.”
“It’ll be worth it.” He winked.
“Want me to try one of them on?”
“You don’t have to.”
“But do you want me to?”
“Fuck, yes,” he said immediately.
I slipped out of the red lace ones I was wearing, leaving them on the floor. Hollis stared down at them.
Then I carefully ripped the tag off a pair of cream-colored panties and slipped them on.
“These feel amazing.”
Hollis’s pupils were dilating. I knew he wanted to see them on me, but his long T-shirt was covering my bum.
“You wanna see?”
His chest rose and fell. “Yes.”
I slowly lifted the T-shirt and turned around, exposing my backside. “How do they look?”
He didn’t say anything. I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear his breathing become even more labored.
He cleared his throat. “Worth every penny.”
“You like them?”
“Like? Like is not a strong enough word, Elodie.”
I turned around to the sight of him with an erection. I inched closer and wrapped my arms around him, pressing my abdomen against the hot bulge in his pants.
Running my fingers through his damp, lustrous hair, I said, “You’re a beautiful man.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“I’ve always thought so.”
I loved being able to touch him like this. I knew there was so much more to Hollis than his physical beauty. He was complex. I so wanted to know more about his past but was always afraid to broach that subject for fear of upsetting him.
Still, a huge part of me was terrified to take the next step without knowing the story of what had made him so guarded when it came to love. It seemed like necessary information at this point.
I took a chance and asked, “Will you tell me what happened with Anna?”
Hollis’s jaw flexed. Our eyes met, and he seemed to be searching for the answer to my question.
Eventually, he nodded. “Why don’t we go out to the living room? If we stay in here, I won’t be able to focus on anything but your ass in that underwear.”
I smiled. “Okay.”Chapter 29* * *Hollis – 6 years agoI was sweating.
The last time I was this nervous was the day I had to stand up to give my mother’s eulogy in front of a packed church. I shouldn’t be sweating now. I’d never been surer about anything in my life than asking Anna to marry me. We’d been together nearly ten years. We’d lived together the last five. She was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I had no doubt she would say yes.
Over the last few months, she’d given me subtle hints that she was ready. Well, as subtle as Anna Benson could be. We’d pass a jewelry store, and she’d point out a setting she liked. When Addison got married a few months ago, she’d mentioned on multiple occasions that she couldn’t believe she was getting married instead of us. Granted, Addison married her asshole husband after only two months of dating—so not many people could believe she was getting married.
