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“Tell me that if you are taking anyone to your bedchamber tomorrow that it will be me?” He leaned forward.
I closed the distance to brush my lips over his. “Can I think about it?”
“You have been.” He kissed my throat. “For years. As have I. Why delay? We’re here.”
“In a tiny car,” I said softly. Despite the skills I knew he undoubtedly had, I wasn’t going to try to do anything in his little convertible. The gearshift between us, and the lack of a backseat didn’t leave too many options. Even if the seat were to recline enough, I wasn’t sure there was room for the things I wanted.
“Name the place. I’ll bring the handcuffs,” Eli tempted.
I shoved the thoughts of Eli at my mercy back and leaned away with a loud sigh.
“I’m just grateful that my mother worded the bargain like that. Can you imagine if she’d said a word other than partner? I’d never be unbound. Fae literalism actually worked in my favor. Put that one in the books. A faery bargain working out on the bargainer’s side doesn’t happen often.”
Eli gave me an incredulous look, but he said nothing as he pulled the car out of the parking spot and rejoined the flow of traffic. I felt a bit unnerved by it.
He kept his silence until he arrived at my building.
When he parked, he looked into my eyes, and said, “Sometimes, my tiramisu, you are an absolute fucking idiot.”
My mouth opened, but no words came.
“Faery bargains do not benefit the bargainer. Not truly.” He caressed my face. “We play to win, and you, my love, are lying to yourself. The words—and your own magic—know what your infuriatingly obstinate self denies.”
I met his gaze for a moment. “You are my business partner and friend, and I . . . care about you a lot . . . and want to fuck you. That’s all.”
And Eli laughed. It was a joyous sound, but I wasn’t in on the same joke, apparently.
“What?”
“That’sall? My dear, surely you realize that my people marry with far less compatibility. You count me as a friend and a business ally. Youcarefor me and want me. Our interests align. Our sexual compatibility is intense enough to make you run from me. And you would fight the mistress of the risen-dead for me. How can you not see that we are perfectly matched?”
Romantic partner? Magic choosing? I mean, I wasn’t exactly new to powers-beyond-my-control fucking with my life. . . but I wasn’t a picket-fence kind of woman. I reallyreallywasn’t ever going to be the marrying sort.
And I was dangerous.
This couldn’t happen.
Eli caressed my face. “I do not think your magic or the bargain misunderstoodat all, Geneviève.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I steppedout of the car and was instantly folded into Eli’s embrace. There wasn’t anything magical about a hug, but there was a sort of magic to finding someone who felt like home. In my heart of hearts, I admitted thatthiswas why I had to push Eli away. Losing him would tear a wound in my heart that couldn’t heal.
But there was a perfection to the way I felt as Eli held me that I didn’t think existed anywhere else in my past—and I feared it would never exist with anyone else. We simply fit. Dear Goddess, we fit. There was a point at which total denial was impossible, and I was finally there. I closed my eyes, let myself not think, and simply feel.
“I am terrified,” I whispered.
“I know.”
“I want you,” I whispered against his throat.
“And I want you.” He leaned back and stared into my eyes.
“So . . . we boink like bunnies? Risk our friendship for some orgasms?” I tried for light, but I sounded panicked even to myself.
“I give you my vow, Geneviève Crowe, that I will not stop being your friend if we ever start and then stopboinking.”
The air felt thick as he spoke, as the magic that rode in his words floated beside us. I felt the magic press into my skin. “Eli of Stonecroft—"
