I bit my lip. Could I? Could we?
“I am not doing Jell-O,” I said firmly.
He released a very dramatic sigh. “You don’t have to,” he said. “But you could order me to. If you wanted.” Then he winked at me. “Maybe I’ll just lie back and dream about that for a while as I nap.”
Lord. Now he’d put those images in my brain. Him stepping out of a pool of cherry Jell-O. Me licking it off. And then…
I flipped on the air-conditioning. This was going to be a long, hot drive.
Chapter Thirteen
Jake
I couldn’t sleep. It had nothing to do with the rumble of the car or that every bump shot new pain through my ribs. It was all Ellie. I could tell by the way she shifted in the driver’s seat that she was thinking about tonight. About what she might demand of me and how I would say yes toeverything. Hell, knowing that made my jeans uncomfortably tight.
But there was something else that lingered in my thoughts, as well. Something that made me relax, even as I spun elaborate sex fantasies with her in the starring role.
I had pointed out a flaw in her thinking—that she started from a place of failure—and she hadn’t bitten my head off. She hadn’t fought what I’d said beyond a cursory glare, and better yet, she seemed to accept my advice. Or at least, to think about it.
That was huge in my book. A person who listened to advice? Who didn’t spend her days pointing out what was wrong with me? My God, she was the rarest creature on the planet. I didn’t even mind that she wasn’t all that interested in baseball. I had plenty of those people in my life. What I needed was something different.Someonedifferent. And Ellie fit the bill in spades. She was simply Ellie—a girl with a career and a level head.
And I was going to do such wonderful things to her tonight.
Except I had to wait. Ellie wasn’t someone I could rush. Which meant I had to close my eyes and try to breathe some calm into my raging dick and burning ribs. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to pass the time.
Once we arrived in Indy, I gave her directions to my favorite Italian place for the dinner I’d promised her. It was a hole in the wall, but they had the best lasagna in town. And the owners—Mr. and Mrs. Garza—were huge baseball fans. They’d seen the news, of course, so they fussed over Ellie and me, giving us the private room in the back, then threw in dessert on the house.
It was not a meal that led to seduction. We were both going to be too full to do everything I’d been thinking about on the drive here. But I wanted to take her there anyway. It was a warm, homey place, and the Garzas loved me. I’d grown up with their son. Since Ellie had shared her family with me, I wanted to show her a glimpse of my upbringing, without actually letting her meet my real family—who were guaranteed to kill any romantic inclination.
The evening went perfectly. By the time the tiramisu was gone, she was laughing with Mrs. Garza over that time Manny and I had gotten sick after eating a full pan of it. And I was feeling so warm and happy, I barely noticed the ache in my ribs.
But then Ellie looked at her watch, and I took that as an excuse to leave. I knew she wasn’t working until tomorrow night, but I was anxious to get her home and into bed…in the most lascivious ways possible.
We left, and I was already thinking of where I was going to kiss her first when she cut into my thoughts with a low, quiet question.
“Scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?”
It took me a minute to process her words, but then I slowed my steps to look at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Your ribs. I know they’re hurting.”
They were. But I didn’t care. “I took a pill—”
“An hour ago. I saw. But you’re still wincing when you laugh and you couldn’t sit still for the last ten minutes. You need to lie flat and rest. Let yourself heal.”
“It’s nothing. My ribs are bruised. I have meds. It’ll just take some time to heal.”
“Which requires rest.”
She was right, but I wasn’t willing to give up on my plans for tonight. “I’m fine, Ellie. I thought we’d do something else.” I gave her my best sexy look. The one that photographers had caught on camera and labeled me the hottest player in the league.
She didn’t even blink. “You said I should practice expecting a yes answer. So Jake, may I take you home and put you to bed?”
I grinned. “Yes.”
“And then leave you to rest?”
I winced. “I can rest with you beside me.”
