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15
Autumn
EVERY TIME ELI shifted in his chair, I held my breath. He hated attending conferences. If it weren’t for wanting to win me back, I was sure he wouldn’t have come to this one. From the moment we woke, he’d grumbled about ditching it and spending the day traipsing around the city. His suggestion was more than a little tempting, but I was in Manhattan on business. Not on vacation with my ex-husband. Plus, we had Cindy and Louis with us. I didn’t want them going back to SJI and gossiping about us. Though I knew they would talk about all our PDA. Keeping our hands off each other was impossible.
Another speaker was introduced—the last before lunch. Then I could get my grumpy man out of the building. I just hoped an hour break would be long enough to turn his mood around.
Eli made a growling sound in his throat. “For fuck’s sake, another algorithm speech,” he hissed, not quite low enough for others not to hear. A few heads turned. My face heated, probably turning red.
“Please behave,” I whispered. “We’re almost done with the first half of the day.”
“We’re done for the day after this.”
I bit my tongue. Now was not the time to tell Eli he was full of shit and being a baby.
Louis and Cindy looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Of course Eli didn’t care what anyone thought about him. He was the most self-assured and cocky man I knew. Well, his cousins were not far below him. Perhaps it was in the Morgan family bloodline.
“How about pizza for lunch?” I needed to get his mind on something else. The monotonous speaker was losing my attention, which only meant Eli might storm out of the conference room any moment.
His head slowly turned toward me, his blue eyes narrowed. “We’ll eat in our suite.”
“What?” I leaned into him. “Cindy and Louis are having lunch with us.”
“No they’re not.” He rubbed his knuckles along my hip. “After the torture of this morning, I need more than food.”
I faced the speaker, willing myself not to clench my thighs together. If I did, it would all be downhill from there. Eli would win.
“Pizza or a sandwich?”
He growled low. “Neither.”
Shit, he was so not going to give in. “We’ll see about that.”
His warm breath was on my ear. “Yes, we will, Boo.”
Fuck, my clit throbbed. This man was incorrigible.
I ignored Eli as best I could the last twenty minutes before we broke for lunch. I wouldn’t even turn in his direction.
The bastard toyed with me the entire time too. Grazing his fingers along my thigh, tugging at the hem of my skirt, pushing his knee into mine. These were all the things he had done back when we were in college. He’d wear me down and take me back to my dorm room to fuck between classes. I had rarely eaten lunch and had dropped ten pounds our first year together.
The room erupted into chatter and clapping. I must have zoned out.
“Let’s go.” Eli was out of his chair and pulling mine back.
I stood, collecting my notepad and pen, and shoved them into my messenger bag. “Eli, we need to eat lunch with Cindy and Louis.”
He gripped my waist. “I need you. Badly. We don’t need to be at the conference. We know all this shit. Have Cindy take notes if you want.”
I rolled my eyes and noticed his jaw ticking. “Really? How is that fair to her? This isn’t a vacation. It’s work. We’re having lunch with our colleagues.” My heart raced as I held my breath, waiting on his response. Sexual frustration rolled off him in waves. But he was a grown-ass man. A professional. He could keep his “needs” in check, and I would reward him for his patience later.
The tips of his fingers dug into my waist. “Fine. Let’s go eat.”
“Thank you.”
He put his hand on my lower back, guiding me out, and grumbled, “You can thank me later.”
The smile plastered on my face hurt. Cindy hadn’t shut up once while we ate our pizza. Her excitement over the Big Apple was a bit over the top, but it was her first time here. She was embracing what I’d calledcomfortable chaos,and for that, I was glad. New York City wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
