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“What?”
He put his bare feet on the stone floor. “My meeting was moved.”
“Out of town?” I questioned.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
He rose from the chaise.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m getting the itinerary in my email.”
He moved toward the glass door. “Wait, Vaughn. You’re just leaving?”
He faced me. His eyes looked darker than I had ever seen them. “I have to pack. I have to get my passport.”
“I thought you didn’t know where you’re going.”
“I always take my passport when I fly.”
“Oh.” My stomach twisted in knots. I didn’t want him to leave. I didn’t like his mood.
“Come on.” He reached for my hand. “I need to take a shower before I leave.”
I looked through the door. Greer was busy opening cabinets and arranging the food in the refrigerator.
Our fingers entwined with instant heat. He led me through the apartment. Neither one of us said anything to my roommate as we passed through the living room. She didn’t seem to notice. Vaughn locked the door and backed me into the bathroom. He turned on the shower.
“I don’t know when I’ll be back.” He brushed my hair from my shoulder.
“I don’t think I like that idea,” I whispered. My throat clamped with pain as if I could cry.
Chapter Seventeen
Vaughn’s eyes darted back and forth. “Elliot…”
“Yes?” I wondered if it was on his tongue too. The words that had struck me this morning on the balcony.
Words I hadn’t said to anyone before. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t felt them. I had. I had felt them more than once, but I was always too afraid to say them first. Maybe that was my mistake. I waited for someone else to tell me how they felt first. I hid behind the shelter of their words. I protected myself by not going first.
“Ell, I-I—”
I couldn’t stop it from happening. “I love you.”
There was silence between us. My eyes dropped to the floor. “Oh God. Was that not what you wanted to hear?”
He lifted my chin in the air. “I don’t think I’ve ever wished things could be different before.”
He crushed his lips to mine. I didn’t care that he hadn’t said it. I felt it. I felt it when his hands circled my body. When he stripped the clothes from my skin. When he lifted me into the shower.
He pressed my back into the wall. “Why now? Why did you say it now?” he growled. I thought I heard pain in his voice.
I was breathing so hard, I could barely talk. The water rushed over his back and between us. His hand pried my legs apart. I gasped when I felt him circle my clit. My mouth parted with a sigh.
“You don’t have to say it, Vaughn.” I bit my lip. “I just wanted you to know before you left. It’s ok.”
He held my eyes with his gaze. His body pinned me to the shower wall. His erection was solid against my hip. God, I wanted him. I wanted him inside me. This man I loved.
