She’d spoken to Maurice briefly after she’d shared the kiss with Elijah, telling him her fears and how she wanted more.
Maurice: He’s either playing hard to get, or he wants you a hell of a lot and is just afraid of how things went.
She thought about that after she read his text. He’d seemed more upset than frightened after their kiss before he hightailed it out of her house. But she hadn’t been very forthcoming on why she’d wanted to stop either. Telling him it was going too fast and that she was confused were all true. She hadn’t hidden that fact, but she also hadn’t really talked to him about the almost taboo nature of what they did. She sent another text.
Freya: How are things with you? Work going good? How about things with Sarah?
Maurice: Work is okay, but my mom keeps getting on to me about going out more. I guess having Sarah at my house all the time so we can watch Dr. Who re-runs isn’t what my mom thinks is good date material.
Freya laughed.
Freya: She doesn’t know you very well then.
Maurice: Or Sarah for that matter, since it’s been Sarah’s idea to watch Dr. Who.
Freya laughed again.
Freya: You’re happy?
Maurice: I am.
Freya felt so glad that Maurice had found someone and was happy. He deserved that and more.
Maurice: What are you going to do?
She knew what Maurice was saying even though he was going at it in a roundabout way.
Freya: I think I’m going to just go to his office, talk to him, and hopefully not make a fool out of myself.
Maurice: You won’t make a fool out of yourself by being honest. Any guy would love to have you by his side, Freya. If things were different between us… if we felt differently for each other, I’d snatch you up and not let you out of my sight.
She smiled at his text and started to reply.
Freya: You’re such a good friend.
The cell vibrated almost instantly with his reply.
Maurice: Ditto. Listen, if you want to talk, I’m here. I love you and keep your chin up. Go for the gold.
She outright laughed at that text.
Freya: Talk to you later.
God, Maurice was such a good friend, and she was glad they could still be this close after what they’d done together.
After setting her phone down, she leaned back on the couch and brought her wineglass back to her mouth to take a long sip. Yes, she’d go speak with Elijah since he was clearly avoiding her.
She’d tell him she was confused about where things were going but not because she didn’t want him or cared what other people thought. No, she was confused because she’d never felt this kind of attraction before.
He was older than she was, and they had a history, but despite all of that, she was going to push everything aside and go after what she wanted. And what she wanted, who she wanted, was Elijah Westgate.10Elijah hadn’t been able to get Freya off his mind, not when the feel of her lips on his and the warmth and weight of her body on him were engrained in his head.
But he was pissed at himself more for how he’d just left—how he’d totally ignored how he felt and ran from her and what they’d done—even if it was probably the right thing to do.
He should have stayed and spoken to her about it. He should have told her how he felt and what he wanted. But Elijah had seen the confusion on her face after it all, the confusion because he’d rushed all of this.
He’d touched her, kissed her … Fucking hell, he’d told her to touch his cock, and she had. It had felt incredible, so damn incredible that he’d wanted nothing more than to strip her naked and fuck her right there. He wanted to claim her, her body, and tell her, demand from Freya that she was only his.
These feelings were so wild, so untamed, that they frightened him on a deep, primal level. But despite his fear or the unease that he was falling for this woman head first, not even caring that he was going to crash at the bottom and never recover, he knew that running wouldn’t keep him away.
He turned and stared out his office window, resting his elbows on top of his thighs. He’d picked up his phone to call her a dozen times since he’d left her house but ended up hanging up before he’d dialed her number. And what made him feel even more like a motherfucker was the fact she’d called, and he’d avoided her. But he thought he’d been doing the right thing by giving her space and time to adjust to what they’d done.
It had been fucking hard to stay away, especially since he wanted her so damn badly.