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“Oh, they’re in the closet in the hallway outside the bathroom door.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Do you… ah… want to take this?” he asked politely.
“Oh yes. Thank you, you’re so kind.”
She tried to tuck the towel under her arm to take the tray, then realized she couldn’t do it without risking losing it altogether. She also realized that Ezreal couldn’t manage the bulb shaped door handle while he was holding the tray. The stairs were too narrow for them to stand side by side and he was already blocking her way, but unless she went back down the stairs…
Ellie sighed. She’d rather not bump int anyone else, and it was too late to worry about her modestywith Ezreal now.
“If I, er, squeeze past you, I can open the door,” she suggested, nodding towards it.
“Oh, good idea,” he replied and promptly hitched the tray higher so she could duck underneath his arms and shimmy by in the tight confines.
The towel snagged, and she thought she might lose it. She was pretty sure he’d gotten an eyeful, but she tried not to think about that. Except her X-rated bathroom fantasies chose that minute to charge full steam back into her mind and the memories of the very naughty things she had recently imagined with Ezreal, and both his brothers, had a whimper of mortification escaping from her lips.
She scrambled to get the door open and heard the rattle of the teacup as she pushed past. Probably not the best move with a pot of boiling water above her head, but her mind hadn’t been in the right place at that moment.
Ezreal followed her into the room and Ellie made a dash for the bath robe she’d left on the foot of the bed, pulling it on haphazardly over the top of the towel with her back to him, until she’d finally made herself decent and tied the belt.
When she turned back, Ezreal had put the tray down on a small bedside table and took a step back without looking.
He bumped into her and spun around. His sinewy, hair roughened arms darting out to stop her from stumbling.
“I’m sorry…”
“Sorry, I…”
They both said again.
This time Ezreal laughed. “We don’t seem to be getting off to a very good start here, do we?”
She smiled back at him, liking that she had to tip her head back to look at his face. All too often men were the same height as she was. Sometimes shorter.
She felt an unexpected little flip in her stomach and ducked her head, but he tipped her facebackup with a finger beneath her chin and tucked the long ropes of her damp hair behind her ears.
He stared at her for a long minute, his hands still enclosing her shoulders, and she could feel the heat emanating from him.
“Thank you for thinking of me, Ezreal,” she whispered, staring up at him and into those dark, bottomless eyes.
“Ezra,” he murmured back. “Call me Ezra.”
Ellie nodded and held her breath as he feathered his fingers down the side of her jaw. He sucked in a breath and looked at her lips, and for a moment she thought he might kiss her.
Then a raucous yell killed the moment, and he pulled away from her as another set of feet clattered up the stairs.
“Ezra, where are you?” a cutesy, high-pitched voice demanded. Then she was there, standing in the doorway - Ellie thought maybe this one was Carly, - hands on hips, looking at the two of them through suspicious, narrowed eyes.
“I thought you wanted to go for a walk? Did you change your mind?” she asked, making it clear that he had issued the invitation. “It’s such a beautiful, romantic night,” she added coyly, holding out her hand.
Ezra looked guiltily from one of them to the other before settling his gaze on the stupidly pretty Carly.
“Of course. I was just making sure Ellie was settled.”
He turned to her, and for a moment she wondered if she’d seen a fleeting hint of regret in his expression. “Goodnight, Ellie.”
“Goodnight,” she replied, politely including the two of them.
