“I missed how red you get when you’re horny,” he whispered so low that I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly.
“Pardon?” I stuttered.
“You, Devlynn Price, are horny.” He said it slowly, enunciating every word so it would be hard for anyone to miss.
I got up quickly, and the chair I was sitting in fell back on the floor, causing all the eyes in the room to land on me.
Elis laughed, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, staring at me intently. I didn’t know what to say because his words were true, and I hated that they were.
Instead, I silently grabbed my bag, gave Elis one last look, and stormed out.
Chapter 9
Elis
“Eighteen: the kitchen. Nineteen: the dining room. Twenty and twenty-one: the living room. Twenty-two: master suite.” I hummed the words as my eyes traveled the dark iron bars of the balconies spanning the top floor of the building.
I hadn’t seen Devlynn in the few days since she’d stormed out of the coffee shop. I hadn’t meant to elicit that reaction, but I did love rattling the fuck out of her at every opportunity.
My eyes once again followed the line of windows on the top-floor apartment.
I wondered if she’d ever let another guy into her home like she had me. The notion sent a bolt of rage through me.
“Where are you, Devlynn Price?”
I hated that I kept finding myself here—with her or waiting for her. I’d grown accustomed to her schedule: a run first thing in the morning—rain or sun. A coffee from the bakery on the corner on the way home. It wasn’t that I was stalking her. It was simpler than that. I just kept…gravitating here.
I groaned when I reached the corner of 5th Avenue, my eyes on the Tiffany wall now wearing a fresh coat of white paint. I remembered the look on my mother’s face when Dad had presented her with a Tiffany blue box every year for her birthday. In the later years, the gifts grew bigger, glitzier, more ostentatious, and my mother loved them. I should have known then he was up to no good, asking for silent forgiveness with every diamond-encrusted gift.
The doorman of Devlynn’s building opened the door on a cab, and my girl stepped out.
My girl.
“She’s not your girl, idiot.” I verbally kicked myself for the mistake as I sprinted across the street, narrowly avoiding her cab speeding out of the valet entrance. He crushed on his horn and threw me the finger before skittering off the curb and onto the street.
I shook my head, straightening my black jacket and mouthingfuckerat the driver.
“Hey, Elis. Are you okay?”
I smelled the soft scent of her floral perfume before I laid eyes on her. Her tender words of concern wrapped around my barbed edges like a warm blanket.
“Fine,” I spat, turning to narrow my eyes at her. “Where were you?”
Her grin dropped on one side, and she removed her palm from my forearm as she turned, quilted backpack staring me in the face. “What’s it to you?”
“I didn’t come here to watch you walk away from me.” I caught her elbow, forcing her to stop and look at me.
I liked the rattled look on her face. Found myself wanting to see it while she was naked and writhing underneath me.
Her chin tipped up, and her eyes narrowed. “Maybe you came to watch me? I’ve seen you out there at the edge of the park.”
I shook my head, no excuse except the truth. “I wanted to see you. Come with me.”
She assessed me slowly, pressing her full lips together before she glanced up to the top of the building, to the sky, and then back to me. “Why?”
She waited, but I said nothing.
“Whatever this back-and-forth, love-hate game you’re playing is about, I’m not here for it. I don’t have time. I didn’t then, and I sure as hell don’t now.”