Page 44 of Ruined
Licking my lips, I tilted my head slightly. “Why do you call me that?”
His fingers trailed down my arm before wrapping around my elbow, “Think about it…You tell me.” And with that, he sauntered off leaving me with no other choice than to follow him through the house to a glass door that led to their backyard.
I stepped through the sliding door and paused. To my left, Molly sat at a light wood table set for three, a vase containing bright yellow daisies proudly standing in the middle. A carpet of green stretched out in front of me, I couldn’t see it, but the unmistakable sound of trickling water filled the air. The wordbeautifuldidn’t do this place justice at all. It wasn’t hard to envision what it might be like to wake up to this every day or how blissful it would be to set up my easel and paint until the sun disappeared behind the trees.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Sometime during my musings Eli had sidled up beside me, his hand gently pressed against my back. With him so close, touching me, I could barely breathe let alone think. “Wine, beer, soda?”
If I was going to make it through dinner, I needed to keep my wits about me. “I’ll take a soda, thanks.”
When he didn’t move away, I cocked my head only to find him studying me. The way his darkened gaze bored into me had almost every nerve in my body coming alive. For a moment I thought he was going to say something, but then he subtly shook his head as he walked back into the house.
I joined Molly at the table where she had one of the draw-by-numbers books spread out in front of her. “My mom got me a book kinda like this one when I was about your age.” Leaning my elbow on the table, I cradled my palm in my hand.
She smiled without looking up. “I love it.”
It took a lot longer to completely relax than I thought it would. By the time I was on my third soda, Eli and I had fallen into the same easy conversation we’d had a few nights ago. Every couple of minutes, Molly would hold up the book to show us what she’d done. The pride I saw on Eli’s face as he praised his daughter over and over again simply melted my heart.
“I better fire up the grill, you girls must be starving.” Eli scooted his chair back then pushed to his feet. Turning his attention to me, he said, “I wanted to make pasta, but Molly here insisted that you’d prefer burgers.” His broad shoulders rose and fell in an apology.
It was impossible to keep my smile from spreading. “She’s right. I’ll take burgers over pasta any day of the week.”
A while later, I eagerly bit into what looked like a juicy burger. It was confirmed when after only one bite, my chin and fingers were covered in sauce. Molly let out a loud squeal of laughter while she wiped her own face.
Instead of feeling embarrassed, I laughed along with her. I reached for a napkin but never got the chance to clean the sauce from my face, Eli’s thumb swiped across the side of my mouth. This time, heat did creep into my cheeks, especially when he cleaned off his finger with his tongue. “Mama always says if you ain’t making a mess while…doing anything, you ain’t doin’ it right.”
Laughing, I brought the napkin to my face. “She’s a smart woman.”
With a stupidly sexy grin playing on his lips, he nodded in agreement before scoffing off the rest of his food. Molly made sure that there weren’t any silent moments; excitedly telling me about an upcoming camping trip.
Long after our dinner had been demolished, we were still huddled around the table, chatting away. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. A weird sense of belonging rolled over me chased by a rush of fear.
I had no business feeling like this; they weren’t mine and deep down I knew I was no good for them. Not with my history and definitely not with John still out there.
What if I just confided in Eli?It wasn’t the first time I toyed with the idea of baring my truth to him. There was a possibility that he could help…but it was also possible that once he knew everything, he’d look at me differently.
That was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.
“Hey, Mols,” Eli’s voice sliced through my thoughts. “It’s getting late. You have school tomorrow and you haven’t even washed your hiney yet.”
Molly crinkled her nose, “Oookay.” She scooted her chair back, shoulders hanging, she walked around the table, eyeing her father every few seconds. I had to chew on my cheek to stop myself from laughing.
She made it to the sliding door, then abruptly spun around and sprinted back. I didn’t know what I was expecting but it definitely wasn’t her throwing her arms around my neck. Pulling her close, I hugged her right back.
“Thank you for my presents.” She beamed at me as she pulled away. “I hope you’ll have dinner with me and Daddy again.” Before I could say a word, she was skipping into the house.
Behind me, I felt the heat of Eli’s gaze burning a hole into the back of my head. At a loss as to what to do, I pushed to my feet. “I should probably go.” Scanning the table, I took in the dirty dishes and discarded glasses. “But let me help you clean this up first.”
Without waiting for his answer, I started to gather up the plates, my actions halted when his fingers curled around my arm. “I didn’t invite you here to clean.” He paused for a beat, then leaned in. “If you really need to go, I’ll walk you to your car.”
Eli was so close, if I tilted my head slightly our lips would touch. I was so tempted to do exactly that, to lose myself in the feel of his mouth on mine. So damn tempted. The only thing that stopped me was the thought that Molly might emerge from the house at any moment.
Not trusting myself to speak, I simply nodded. His fingers lingered a while longer before his hand dropped, and he started wandering toward the house. After sucking in a breath, I hurried after him until I could fall into step next to him.
Side by side, we walked in silence. It was only when we reached my car that he spoke. “Thank you for coming tonight.”
“I had fun.” My smile was genuine, my words true.
Turning his head, he glanced at the house behind him before setting those dark eyes on me again. “Let me take you out tomorrow night.” He took a step forward, I wanted to take one backward when I felt the cold metal of the car against my back. Slowly, he lowered his head until our noses almost touched. “To be clear, sunshine, I’m asking you out on a date.”
