He was between my legs, groin to groin, and when he stretched to grab for the remote, which I held over my head, his cock was hard against mine. The air was sucked out of the room, replaced with this charged energy I’d never felt before. We weren’t laughing or fighting anymore. He looked down at me, and I was staring up at him, and holy fuck, why did I lick my lips while eyeing his?
This sudden urge hit me to taste him, the wine on his tongue, and bury my face in his neck and feel his stubble against my cheek.
Nooooo. No, no, no, no.
“Eli…” Shaw said softly, touching my face, his thumb brushing against my cheek. My heart was thudding, and I wondered if he felt it, because I sure as shit felt his.
“Hi,” I said stupidly, and he smiled, this huge, ear-to-ear smile that I felt deep inside me.
“Hi.”
His black hair looked…velvety. My arm was rising. I didn’t know who was directing it, but I guessed it had to be me, and I fingered his locks and scratched his scalp gently.
He sucked in a sharp lungful of air, and then he was leaning in and I wasn’t going to stop him. I wanted it. Our lips were a breath apart, and my brain had turned off. I’d fried the motherfucker maybe. Just before I tasted him, there was a loud ringing. He jerked back as I raised my leg, and I accidentally kneed him in the face. He tumbled off the couch.
“Fuck!” he gritted out.
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”
Shaw grabbed his jaw.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. The room was a little fuzzy, my dick was aching, my lips tingling. There were too many thoughts in my head to concentrate on any one of them as the ringing kept going.
“I gotta get that. It’s my mom’s ringtone.”
Shaw stood, and I did too. “I’ll get you some ice for your face.” If anyone in the world was going to knee in the face someone they’d almost kissed, it would be me.
Shaw didn’t reply. He went to his phone on the bar. “Hey, Ma,” I heard him say as I rummaged around his kitchen to find a bag for ice. I refused to let myself think about what had nearly happened. “Slow down. I can’t understand you,” he said, which made my heart race even faster.
I found a bag and filled it, watching as he shook his head. “Where are you?” he asked. There was a pause before he said, “How many times are you guys going to do this?” Another pause. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but…don’t do that. Don’t put me in the middle of your drama with Dad. Do you need me to come and get you?”
I could hear her speaking. She was obviously yelling, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying, and then the line went quiet. Shaw sighed and set the phone down.
My stomach was flipping uncomfortably, my heart all soft and tender. I never would have expected to see this side of him.
“Well, they’re fighting again. This time she left him.”
“Do you need to go? I can go with you if you want. Should we go get her?”
He shook his head. “No. She’s at a hotel already. Plus, she’s pissed at me. I wasn’t understanding enough. They’ll likely be back together within twenty-four hours anyway.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Fuck. That hurt.”
“Oh shit.” I forgot I’d kneed him. “Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“Sit down, Shaw.” I didn’t give him time to turn me down. I didn’t let myself think. I grabbed his wrist and tugged him to the couch. Shaw sat, and I went down beside him, before pressing the homemade ice pack to his face. “I’m sorry.”
“For kicking my ass or for my parents?” He tried to laugh, but it didn’t ring true. It wasn’t the Shaw laugh I’d gotten used to.
“Both.” I was sitting sideways on the couch so I could face him. I held the bag there, quiet, watching, not knowing what to say. His phone rang again, but it wasn’t the same tone. “Do you need to get that?”
“No, it’s my dad.”
“Do they always do that? Put you in the middle of it?”
“My whole life. I don’t want to talk about them.” He reached over, grabbed my wrist, his fingers moving back and forth against the pulse there, making it skyrocket.
“What do you want? Whatever. I wanna help.”
He smiled, but it was a different smile from any of his others. A little sad maybe…a little shy and unsure. Whatever it was, I knew people didn’t see this side of Shaw often. He probably didn’t want me to, but I was there, and I was glad I was.
“I want to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with you, because it’s fucking awesome and you owe me. Have you seen it?”