“I remembered when we watched Animal Planet, your eyes were glued to the sea turtles.” I took her hand, leading her toward the tunnel.
She lifted her head, her eyes following the sharks swimming over us. “Hello.” She laughed, turning so her back pressed against my chest as she watched the stingray hover right above her.
Wrapping my arms around her waist, I kissed the side of her head. “You look beautiful when you smile like that,” I whispered.
She held on to my arms. “Thank you, and thank you for this. It’s really romantic.”
“Like something out of your books?” I teased.
She turned back to me, her eyes serious. “Exactly like that. I’m just waiting for you to kiss me.”
“Happily,” I said before my lips brushed against hers. Her hands went around my mouth and I held her waist, pulling her as close to me as possible. I loved how she fit against me, how she moaned against me even then. Breaking away, I rested my head on hers.
“How long can we stay here?” she asked me.
“Until you get hungry. Then I plan on making you a late dinner.”
“You don’t have to do all of this.”
“I want to.” I kissed the top of her head. “Let’s go, we have to see the sea turtles at least once.”
“I’ll race you,” she said, breaking free of my hand and running.
“You want to race?” I chased after her, catching her with absolute ease, lifting her up and over my shoulder.
“Damn it, I forgot you run.”
She laughed hysterically as I held her. Spinning us both around, I laughed too.
Guinevere
It was around eleven when we got back to his place. He said he was off the next day, so he didn’t care if we stayed up until dawn. His driver, I had found out, wasn’t just his driver; he was responsible for all of Eli’s cars because Eli was a collector. I thought he had showed me the coolest one, but he said he would save those for another date—I was just glad there would be other dates.
When I told Stevie I was dating Eli, she was both happy and worried about me. She was worried I was moving too fast and would get hurt, but at the same time happy I was moving forward at all. I couldn’t explain what it was about him, me, us together—we just worked, and yet it felt like everything about us was totally opposite.
He stood in front of me in simple jeans and a nice button-down shirt, a towel over his shoulder and an apron around his waist as he fried some of the tomatoes. He had a whole master chef thing going and he looked so sexy that way.
Taigi stayed by my feet, just resting, already fed and now fighting sleep.
“If you are trying to impress me, it’s working,” I said, reaching for one of the fresh sliced tomatoes he had cut.
“Did you think this kitchen was just for show?” he asked, readjusting the heat of the oven and sliding the chicken back inside.
“Honestly, yes. When do you have time to cook, anyway?”
“I have days off. Why don’t you cook?” He continued slicing the ham as thin as possible.
“I cook decently, especially if I have a set recipe to follow, but I’m not as talented as you, it seems.” I tried to grab another tomato but he beat me to it, eating it himself.
“I could teach you…for a small fee.”
“A small fee?” I opened my mouth as he fed me a small bite of the bread he had hand-seasoned. Safe to say, I moaned, it was that good.
“Yes, you have to promise to make those sounds afterward…all night.” He kissed me, quickly licking his lips.
“Are you trying to seduce me, Doctor?” I wiped the corner of my mouth.
His eyebrow went up. “Is it working?”
“I think I’ll just keep you guessing.” I grinned, reaching into my bag when my phone rang. The number looked familiar but there was no ID. “Guinevere Poe.”
“Gwen, it’s me. Please don’t hang up,” he shouted into the phone.
I did anyway and dropped it beside me, looking back to Eli, who just stared at me.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yep. It was no one important—” Before I could even finish, my phone rang again and vibrated against the counter.
“Do they know they aren’t important?” he asked softly, placing the fresh cut lettuce in a bowl.
“It’s Sebastian.”
“I figured. Want me to answer?” he questioned.
I couldn’t tell at all what he was thinking. The phone stopped, and I let out a sigh of relief, only to have it start ringing again.
“Please make him stop. He called before, and I told him I didn’t want anything to do with him. For some reason, he doesn’t believe me.” I grabbed the phone and handed it to him.
He smirked, wiping his hands before taking it. “How can I help you, Sebastian?” he questioned.
I wished I could hear him on the other side.
“I’m going to have to stop you right there, because we had this conversation already. What my girlfriend and I do is none of your business.”
I walked around the counter to Eli. He looked at me oddly as I squeezed between him and the counter, kissing up his neck. He pressed up against me.