Page 46 of Rain Delay

Right. Yet.

Before I speak, I’m stopped by the sound of heels clicking on the wood.

Eliana walks in the kitchen and I’m rendered speechless.

Holy fuck. She looks fucking gorgeous. Her hair was curled, and she was sporting a pair of black leather pants with a red top. The outfit hugged her in all the right places.

I had to fight back every single urge to go to her, put my hands all over her. But, I was going to be a gentleman. I clench my hands to my sides before shoving them in my pockets.

Liam whistles. “Someone’s looking to get laid,” he says towards Eliana who scowls at him, hitting him upside the head.

“I hate to break it to you, Liam, but your wet dream isn’t coming true.” She patted his cheek before walking past me, brushing my shoulder. “Sorry.”

I shake my head. “N-no, you’re fine…” I stammer. Why the fuck was I getting nervous around her?

Eliana looks up at me. “You okay, shortstop? Cat got your tongue?”

I clear my throat, nodding. “Yeah, fine.” I reply, leaning closer to her. “You’re making it really hard for me not to make it obvious that I’m looking at you…”

Her cheeks flush a shade of pink. “Maybe that was the goal,” she smirks, walking over by the other counter where her other phone was charging. “When are we leaving? Do I have time to get a quick email out?”

I nod. “We’ll go whenever you’re ready, boss,” I say, my voice still sounding nervous and timid. How the fuck did she expect me to not have my hands all over her tonight? Looking like that? I was going to be in full defensive mode tonight whether she liked it or not.

She gave me a small smile before she sat down at the kitchen table, getting right to work.

I must’ve been staring for a period because Liam comes up next to me, patting my shoulder which causes me to jump.

“You make it very obvious in the way that you’re staring that you’d do anything to get her in your bed with you right now,” He says as walks past me and over by Eliana. “Excuse me? You’re distracting my friend.”

Eliana looks up at him, pulling her eyebrows closer together. “Sounds like a personal problem,” She turns her chin up at him.

“Wait, I like her,” Liam smiles. “She’s witty.”

“That mouth gets her in trouble,” I say, looking over at Eliana, who’s blushing slightly.

“I don’t need to hear about your bedroom escapades, Mitchell.” Liam says as he walks into the living room.

“As if I didn’t have to literally hear yours when you lived here,” I spit back, watching as Eliana gets up to go put her laptop away.

He must’ve noticed the way I was staring as Eliana walked back up the stairs, because he was smirking, slow and knowing. “You gonna be weird all night, or are you gonna pull it together before we leave?”

“I’m not being weird?”

“You’re being weird.”

I exhaled sharply. “I’m fine, Liam.”

“Right,” he said, dragging the word out. “That’s why you’ve checked her out at least ten times in the last two minutes.”

“I have not –”

She came back down the stairs and my eyes went right to her again. Her gaze met mine, and she flashed a small smile at me – like she knew I was staring at her, but wasn’t trying to make it too obvious.

“You, uh…” I cleared my throat, dragging a hand over the back of my neck. “You look –”

What was the proper word to describe how she looked? Because beautiful didn’t seem like enough. Like trouble, maybe? Because she was causing a lot of it for me.

“Great,” I finished anyway. Liam choked out a laugh that earned him a deadly glare from me.