Page 214 of Champagne Nights

She reached into her purse, pulled out one of her business cards, and handed it to him.

“Email me the link to your site and what kind of design you’re thinking, and I’ll take a look.”

“Awesome. I’ll do that over the weekend.” Frankie smiled.

After a couple of hours of talking with Frankie, walking around the gallery, and looking at all the artwork and displays, it was time for us to leave.

“This pizza place around the corner makes an amazing deep dish. Shall we?” I held out my arm to her.

The corners of her mouth curved upward as she gave me a nod and wrapped her arm around mine.

During dinner, we talked about many things. She told me about her family, her father’s passing, and how close she and hermom were. We talked about Abigail and the relationship I had with her. I rarely talked about her because, to this day, I still missed her, and it was hard. But with Ellie, I wanted her to know all about Abigail and what a beautiful person she was.

After we finished eating, I hailed us a cab since I’d told Christian to take the rest of the night off.

“Would you like to come up?” she signed.

I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but I wasn’t ready to let the evening end. When we stepped inside her apartment, she turned on the lights and set her purse down.

“I want to show you something,” she signed.

Grabbing my hand, she led me down the hall and opened the door to a room on the right. When she turned on the lights, an array of artwork sat up against the walls, and a piece in progress sat on an easel next to the window.

I looked at her with a smile. “This is your work?”

The corners of her mouth curved upward as she nodded her head.

“They’re beautiful,” I signed as I walked around the small room.

“Thank you.”

My eye caught the attention of one painting that sat in the corner. It was of the ocean with a beautiful sunset glistening over the water and a woman with long blonde hair standing at the shoreline.

“Is this you?” I pointed to the woman in the painting.

The smile on her face grew wide.

“I love the ocean, and my dream is to one day live in a house on the beach and watch the sunrise and sunset over the water every day,” she signed.

“That’s a beautiful dream, Ellie.”

I stood in front of her and placed my hand on her cheek as our eyes stared into each other. This woman had captured myheart in so many ways that it frightened me. Taking my finger, I softly ran it across her lips. I couldn’t hold back any longer, and I needed to feel her mouth against mine. The look in her eyes told me she wanted me to, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop if I did. The urge consumed me, and I couldn’t stop myself no matter how hard I tried. Leaning in, I brushed my lips against hers. The magic I felt was indescribable. Her lips parted, and our tongues met with gratification. The soft kiss I desired instantly turned passionate as my hand wrapped around the nape of her neck. My cock rapidly rose, and I needed to stop before things got out of control. As much as I wanted to take her to bed, I couldn’t. I broke our kiss and placed my forehead against hers for a moment, trying to calm my heavy breathing rate.

“I should go,” I signed.

“You don’t have to,” she signed back as her eyes pleaded with me to stay.

“I’m sorry, Ellie. I can’t stay. Not yet, anyway. I’ll text you. Okay?”

She gave me a nod as disappointment filled her eyes. Turning around, I headed out of the room and stopped dead in my tracks when I heard her voice.

“Goodnight, Henry.”

Slowly turning around, I stared at her for a moment. Walking over to where she stood, I placed my hands on each side of her face and pressed my lips against hers. I broke our kiss and held her face in my hands while I gazed into her beautiful green eyes.

“Why am I just hearing your voice now?”

“Because I need to feel comfortable with someone before I let them hear me speak,” she said. “And I feel comfortable with you.”

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