He didn’t blame her for needing to ask. There wasn’t any shortage of available women at his clubs, and nine times out of ten the publicity shots that made the paper pictured him with at least one model-beautiful woman per arm.
But that was PR. Truth was, the club bunnies, while convenient, weren’t particularly difficult to resist. Especially the regulars who put in enough hours to know the staff by name, hitting the lulls where they could strike up a conversation while pouring down their drinks.
“I won’t go out with any other women.”
Elise flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling, wearing an amused look of concentration. “So how does it work, then? I call you up when I want …”
Again she seemed at a loss for words, but the devil in him wouldn’t help her out of this one.
“… a distraction.”
Letting out a bark of laugher, Levi rolled over her and, catching her jaw in the cup of his palm, leaned in for a taste. “That’s one way to put it. Or you could say a date. Dinner maybe? I’m starting to feel cheap.”
She coughed a little, that sexy red blazing into her cheeks even as she lay naked beside him. “I—oh, no—I guess I didn’t mean—Darn it, stop laughing!”
He wanted to, but for some reason, whenever he was with Elise, he just couldn’t.
“YES, I get that it wasn’t much of an introduction to the family,” Elise assured, winding her way through the throngs of book lovers populating the annual Printer’s Row Lit Fest.
Ally huffed beside her, one hand resting lightly on Dexter’s head where it peaked above the front flap of his baby sling. “He hung up on me.”
Wrestling against the grin pushing at her lips, Elise offered an acknowledging nod. “Yes.”
“Called me. And then hung up,” she snapped, her diligently nurtured outrage at a high-polished shine. “How did he think I’d feel about that?”
“At the moment, I’m not sure the impression he was making was foremost in his mind.”
Stopping at a cozy booth beneath one of the enormous white tents running down the center of Dearborn, Elise scanned the bounty of titles on offer, once again wishing she had more than this single hour to spend at what was essentially the largest free outdoor book fair and literary event in the Midwest. But she had two classes that afternoon, with a few hours of working the club’s child daycare in between.
Ally cleared her throat in indication she was waiting for Elise’s full attention.
Getting it, she prompted, “He said he was your boyfriend.”
Pulling her mouth to the side, Elise wagged her head a bit. “We’re exclusive. But the kind of emotional connection and relationship potential you and I would normally associate with that word … it’s not really what he had in mind.”
Ally’s eyes went wide and she gently covered Dexter’s tiny pink ears. “You’re talking about that full-body meltdown thing again, aren’t you? Oh, my God, is this just about sex?”
“No.” Elise bristled, even knowing she’d asked the question herself. She thought about the call she’d gotten between classes the day before. Levi inquiring what she was wearing and just how tight it fit in certain places … but then segueing into questions about the various jobs she’d held. Wanting to know which had been the best, the worst, and why. And then he’d had her in stitches as he’d shared the same with her.
It wasn’t just sex. Only— “I don’t know exactly what it is, Ally. Except it’s fun and it feels good and I just couldn’t help myself.”
Ally cocked her head to the side, affection and concern shining in her eyes. “Be careful. I know you’re going into this with your eyes open and all, but this doesn’t really sound like you. And I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Elise shrugged, tamping down any evidence of her own worry. “I seriously doubt I’ll have a chance to lose my head. Between our schedules and the probability of the novelty wearing off fast, there just won’t be time.”
Seemingly satisfied, Ally gave an understanding nod and they moved on to the next booth.
Then, all nonchalance and eagle-eyed, “So you didn’t see him yesterday.”
“Well, no, I did. But everything just happened the day before. It was the whole newness thing. I’d be surprised if I saw him again this week.”
Elise wasn’t going to call.
Fingers drumming the tabletop, she found her gaze once again pulling toward the digital readout over her oven. Eight thirty-six. Two minutes past the last time she’d checked.
Her legs crossed one way.
Then the other.
Picking up her fork, she pushed at the long-cooled vegetables on her plate. Gave up and swept the plate off the table to take to the sink.
She followed the steps of her routine. Washing her dishes. Stacking her plate back in the cabinet. Cleaning the sink and wiping the countertop.
Eight-forty.
Shoot.
She absolutely was not going to call Levi. She’d seen him six days in a row since trying to hire him. They’d even worked out a schedule for Bruno. He’d been coming by to pick up the puppy beast before she left for her afternoon classes and then meeting her back afterwards. Spending a few hours making her shiver and moan, and simply reminding her what a spectacular arrangement they had, before heading back to the club for the night and leaving her to either sleep, or, on nights she offered a late class, dropping her off.
But today she’d had to pay back the hours she’d swapped earlier in the week, and hadn’t seen Levi at all. He’d picked up Bruno using the spare keys, and kept the beast at his place with the plan to bring him back tomorrow.
Which was fine.
Except apparently her body hadn’t gotten the memo and had been working itself into a heightened state of readiness since almost the moment she woke that morning, thinking about the sound Levi had made when he’d taken her in the shower the day before. That low groan was all hunger and need, and the memory of it had her belly hollowing and her toes curling as a ripple of goose bumps raced across her skin.
This was ridiculous. It was one day.
She could go one day without him.
No matter how good he made her feel. No matter how hard he made her—
One day.
It would be easier to get through if she was tired and could just sleep off the rest of the hours.
Only walking past her bedroom door, she found there were two problems with that. The first, she wasn’t tired.
