“Eli…” I moaned, louder than necessary.
Eli placed his thumb on my bottom lip, his eyes never off of them. “Sebastian, if you’ll excuse me, my girlfriend is begging for my attention.”
“I’m begging for a lot more than that,” I said to him, and I was sure that was the last thing Sebastian heard before he hung up.
I watched Eli’s hands go on either side of me after returning my phone to my bag. “You called me your girlfriend.”
“Aren’t you?” he asked, gripping my breast. “You are only seeing me, aren’t you?”
Licking my lip, I nodded.
“Then by definition, you are mine. Just like I’m your boyfriend. Now I am tempted beyond measure to take you right here. But, I promised you dinner.” He moved his hands back down. “So you are safe until then.”
“Are you sure?” I said, reaching for him.
He bit his lip, glaring at me.
“Because what your body and mouth are telling me are two different things right now.”
“Thank God,” he muttered to himself when the timer went off.
Laughing, I backed away, allowing him to finish with his cooking. “Saved for now, but the night is still young,” I said, moving to get the wine.
“When I first kissed you, I thought my appetite for sex might put you off. Yet, you are enjoying yourself as you tempt me every step of the way,” he said, grabbing plates.
“Would you prefer me to be nervous? Pretend I don’t like the way you bend me over and—”
“You are evil.” He kissed my lips. “I like it.”
I kissed him back, and bit his bottom lip. “Good. I’m too stubborn to change now.”
“Let’s eat, we can talk about that later,” he said, moving to the dishes.
I watched as he took his time, like the perfectionist he was, putting everything together elegantly on the table. It looked better than if we had ordered it off a menu at a five-star restaurant and tasted just as good.
“Grab the salad?” he said, moving toward his dining room.
“We are eating in your dining room?”
“That is where people usually eat dinner, Guinevere,” he said, placing my plate on a silver mat on top of his black wooden table. The whole table was already set up for two, with wine glasses and a pitcher of water in the center.
“You really went all out,” I whispered when he took the bottle and salad from me, placing them on the table before pulling out my chair.
“There is even vanilla ice cream in the freezer.”
“Don’t you hate it?”
“But you believe it is the cornerstone of ice cream, remember? And this isn’t really going all out. When I go all out, you will know.”
“Honestly, I thought you would make hamburgers and we would watch Animal Planet together again. What is this? It smells good.”
“It’s just chicken with prosciutto and tomatoes over polenta,” he replied.
I was tempted to point out that he had said just before that description.
“What kind of first date would hamburgers and Animal Planet be?”
I shrugged. “You’ve just done so much today—”
“Good, you’ll always remember how amazing I am.” He winked.
There’s that ego. Saying nothing, I took a bite. I kind of wished it didn’t taste as delicious as it did. I could feel him staring at me, waiting. Chewing slowly, I reached for the glass of wine.
“You are trying so hard not to compliment me right now, aren’t you?”
“I really am. It’s so good.” I caved, cutting into more of it.
Eli
Because I’d cooked, she refused to let me help clean up. Instead, she made me sit where she had at the counter, placing the gloves on her hands and getting to work.
“Guinevere, it’s fine—”
“I had a really amazing night. You wouldn't let me do anything, so please at least let me clean up.”
Raising my hands in defeat, I sat back down, noticing the book that hung out of her bag. “What are you reading?” I asked.
“A collection of poems by W. H. Auden.” She scrubbed.
“May I?” I asked, already reaching for it.
She nodded.
Taking the book out, I flipped to the page she had dog-eared. I noticed how worn the spine was, to the point that if I closed the book, it would still open right back to this page. She must really love it. Smirking to myself, I cleared my throat, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her look up at me. I read, my voice barely over a whisper.
“And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing under an arch of the railway: Love has no ending. I’ll love you, dear…I’ll love you till China and Africa meet, and the river jumps over the mountain, and the salmon sing in the street, I’ll love you…till the ocean is folded and hung up to dry and the seven stars go squawking like geese about the sky…”
Even with all my dramatic pauses, it took only two minutes to read. When I looked back up at her, she had stopped doing the dishes. Her brown eyes were warmer than ever before, and the corner of her lip turned up slightly.
“You win.”