Eli couldn’t form an answer as Sarah immediately rutted her hips, starting slow then picking up speed as her own pleasure coursed through her. She grunted, holding herself up by her fists into the mattress, trying her hardest to keep upright and hold off her own orgasm until Eli came again. Crashing their mouths together, Sarah palmed Eli’s breast, squeezing and rolling a nipple between her fingertips.
Eli went first, and as soon as Sarah felt her tighten, she relaxed to let her body tumble over the edge. Breathing heavily, Sarah fell to her side and laughed as she pressed up into Eli’s warm body. “I think we should do that more often.”
“Definitely.”
Sarah kissed Eli’s cheek and turned her head slowly to kiss her lips. “I missed you.”
Eli closed her eyes and pressed their foreheads together. “I wish you had told me you were coming. I could have warned you about the people staying here.”
“It’s not a problem.”
“But it is. You don’t want to be known.”
“Eli, it’s not a problem. You have a business to run. I’m not going to monopolize your time and have you lose business. I mean, I want to take all the time you have for the next thirty-three hours, but I’ll take what I can get.” Sarah skimmed a hand down Eli’s side, finally resting it on her hip.
“I wish you’d told me you were coming.”
“Eli, you said I knew where the keys to the house were. You don’t have keys to the house.” She propped her head up on her hand, elbow planted firmly in the mattress. “If you don’t want me here, tell me and I’ll leave. Trust me, I can go right back, but I’d much rather be here.”
“No, don’t go.”
Sarah flopped onto her back. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong.” Eli twisted, sliding her leg over Sarah’s. “Nothing at all. I just wish I’d known you were coming, so I could rearrange some things and take some time off, have someone else do some of my chores.”
“I want to make something very clear.” Sarah stared at the ceiling, knowing she had to say it, but not quite sure what words to use. In some ways, she wished she could sing it to Eli, but songs and lyrics weren’t always the best way to communicate.
Eli rested her head on Sarah’s shoulder and traced random designs on her belly. “What is it?”
“I’m not here for a quickie. I want more from this. I want you.”
“You have me.”
“No, I mean, I want a relationship.”
Eli tensed. Sarah had known, somewhere in the back of her mind, that this was not going to be an easy conversation, that the struggle of Sarah being gone well over half the time was going to be a big stumbling block. Hell, it had been in every relationship she’d had in the past fifteen years, but she had never wanted to be near someone like she did Eli. She’d never wanted to sacrifice to be with someone like she did with Eli.
“Please don’t—don’t do that.”
“Do what?” Eli’s tone had a bite to it.
Gnawing on her lip, Sarah sat up on the bed and rubbed her hands together. She should have called Kara first and asked her what the hell she was supposed to say so she wasn’t at such a loss for words. “Don’t turn away from me.”
She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on them. Eli stared at her from the bed, her braids still nearly perfect and flung out to each side of her. Any time they’d had sex before, Sarah had taken them out, but she hadn’t even thought about it this time. All she could do was get her hands on Eli, let her know how much she was wanted.
“I want a relationship. I will come here more often. I promise. It might be quick trips like this, which is going to be incredibly hard, but I want to make this work, Eli.” Tears swam in the corners of her eyes as fear and nerves reared their ugly heads in her stomach and in her chest. She didn’t know what she would do if Eli said no. She didn’t know what would happen if she was turned away.
Sarah held her breath as she waited for an answer, or any kind of response. When she got none, she shoved off the bed and grabbed the clothes she had in the room before stalking out to the living area to collect the rest of them. She had her pants on and was tugging her shirt over her head, her bra somewhere she couldn’t find when Eli emerged from the room, a throw blanket wrapped around her.
“I don’t see how it would work,” her voice was so soft.
Sarah let out a painful grunt as she scrounged around. “So what were all that texting and calls then? We’ve been talking for weeks now. I haven’t seen you in months, and you tell me to come here. You tell me to show up and that I’ll be welcome.”
“And you are always welcome here, Sarah.”
“As what?” Sarah’s voice rose, and she knew Eli was going to be embarrassed if the family upstairs heard their argument, but she couldn’t stop it, couldn’t hold back. “What am I to you, Eli? Because you have never really shared that.”
Eli’s face remained blank, not that Sarah could read it anyway. Sarah shoved her bare feet into her boots and grabbed her jacket from the floor. Anger was the only emotion she could focus on because if she thought about the hurt, she would shatter into a million little pieces.