But Sully frowned. “What about Maple Street?”
Ah, so I beat Anne to the punch.
Great.
“Your mom has suggested—well, more like asked—if I’d want to move in there. For now. Or, I don’t know how long. A while. We didn’t get too far into it, but?—”
“Wait.”
I’d been looking just about anywhere but at Sully. I gave in, though, when I heard the pinch in the tone of his voice. When I glanced to my left, he was rubbing his forehead like I’d given him an instant headache.
“You’re going to…move into my house?”
“Well, I—” When he said it like that, it did sound questionable. “Not if you don’t want me to.”
He gave me a look like,“Why the hell would I want you to?”
At least that was how I interpreted it.
Again, valid.
“Do you still go there often?” I asked.
He raised a brow. “Do you remember how I felt about your red dress?”
I flushed, suddenly hot all over. “I…yes.”
How the hell could I forget the things he’d said while rolling a condom—an apparentlyfaultycondom—over his cock and giving me a look that wasn’t too unlike the stare he was shooting at me now.
The hue of Sully’s eyes darkened, and the languid way they moved over me made my insides turn to liquid—something molten. “Then why the hell do you think I’d voluntarily go to a place that has the floor in question?”
“The floor in question?”
It was annoying that I couldn’t follow his train of thought quite as easily anymore.
“The floor I distinctly remember throwing that dress onto, El.”
I sucked in, trying not to think about that night, when we’d gone out for my birthday dinner and then driven to Maple Street because we’d known it would be vacant for the night. No roommates to deal with or siblings or anyone. Just us and the place that had once meant everything.
“Right.”
Fuck, maybe thiswasa terrible idea.
I wassograteful that the light in the car was dim. I could hold out hope that maybe he wouldn’t be able to tell how pink my cheeks were.
“So you’re not there much.”
I said it like a statement, but Sully still gave me a sullen “No.”
Nodding, I cleared my throat. “Well, your mom knew I was going to tour apartments today, and she mentioned it as an option. I told her I’d only consider it if you’re okay with it. And if you’re not, that’s really okay, too,” I said, and I was proud of how many words I’d strung together. And so calmly.
“Eleanor,” he ground out, and just as I’d expected, I had no idea how to read the way he said my name. “I…this is…”
He shook his head, struggling to find words. He didn’t seem upset, but he certainly didn’t seemhappy, either.
When he couldn’t seem to finish his sentence, I prompted, “Just sleep on it, maybe? We both can. And we can talk tomorrow.”
He might not want to talk to me tomorrow, but that was unavoidable. I still needed to tell him the rest of, well, everything, but I didn’t want to spill it now and then have him agree to me moving into Maple Street because he felt like he had to. Because he felt like it was best for the baby. I wanted to know what heactuallythought first, just to see. And maybe if he got the chance to talk to Anne before that, too, she’d be able to get a better idea of what his thoughts were about it all.
