Protecting Ellis (Loved by the SEAL #1)

Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Trip wasn’t sure if it was them cleaning the window or dinner together, but something changed between them that had him leaving the awkwardness behind and feeling more comfortable with Ellis. After dinner, they were back in his car but he didn’t start the engine.

“Everything okay?”

Her soft voice washed over him like cool water. He wanted this woman in his life. There were issues, like he was a SEAL and military life wasn’t perfect. Before meeting Ellis, he’d not wanted to get involved. He liked being single, but Ellis changed things.

He turned to look at her, taking her in. “I want to walk you up to your apartment and kiss you when we get back home. I know I have no right to come in, and I’m not asking for anything more than a kiss this time.”

She reached out and put her hand on his leg, and damned if her touch didn’t send a shiver through him. All through cleaning the window and then dinner, he’d kept his cock in check, but with her hand on his thigh, it was too much to control.

“I want your kisses and more.”

Her eyes stared right into his soul, pulling him in. He wanted to grab her and take both of them to his back seat. He wouldn’t, not in this public place.

“You’re driving me crazy with your touches. Tonight, it will just be a kiss. Next time, it may be more. Come tomorrow, I have to go back to work, and life takes over. I may not be able to see you much.”

Her fingers pressed into his thigh, making his cock grow harder. “I understand. We both have lives and work.”

“If we can, I’d like to have dinner on Wednesday or Thursday. Would that be good?”

She nodded. “I’d like that.”

He started the engine and drove home, his mind staying on Ellis instead of wandering toward work like it usually did when he drove. When they arrived, he got out and ran around the car to take Ellis’s hand. He followed her up the stairs, wishing he was going up to her place instead of to his apartment.

When they arrived at her door, he checked around, making sure her place looked undisturbed. At least her ex hadn’t come around here and done something stupid like try to break in.

She keyed open the door, and she stood in the doorway. He wanted to step inside with her but knew better. His kiss was gentle. The intensity building inside had to stay low, or he would do something he would regret. He cupped her cheeks instead of her ass and kissed her with all the intention he had of making this relationship last.

Pulling away from her was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. She blinked up at him, desire shining in her eyes so strong he almost tossed away his promise to himself to take it slow. He wanted to touch her and kiss her everywhere, learning what she sounded like as he brought her to orgasm.

Instead of pressing her up against the wall or walking her over to the couch, he stepped back. His cock was so hard he had to force control.

“I’ll see you later in the week. Be careful.”

She nodded and squeezed his hand. “You, too. Have a good week.”

“I’ll text you tomorrow to make sure you get your car back.”

“Thank you.”

Her husky voice almost made him break his resolve. Stepping away was so difficult, but he needed to make sure this relationship lasted. Getting his dick wet wasn’t the goal. Having her in his life for years to come was what he wanted.

Once downstairs, he prepped his food for the week that he’d bought this morning after working out. He finished washing his clothes and putting them up while making sure he had everything prepared for the week. He did his weekly check of his go bag. It probably wasn’t necessary, but he never wanted to be caught needing the bag but not having something essential. He had a go bag at work, too, that he checked on Monday mornings. He liked being prepared for anything.

Ellis had caught him off guard. He’d been totally unprepared to feel so much for her after such a short time. The first time he saw her, attraction had fired. But this felt like more than basic attraction.

After a quick shower, he stretched out, wishing Ellis was warming his bed instead of doing whatever she was upstairs in her apartment. He rolled over, trying to get comfortable, but his dick was hard again. Just the thought of her in the bed above him, her naked body twisted in the sheets, made him ache to feel her.

It was useless to keep tossing and turning. He wasn’t going to sleep without jacking off.

Ellis tried to sleep, but her mind kept going to the fact that Trip was in bed right below her. His kiss had left her wanting more. Cleaning her place hadn’t taken away the desire. Maybe he would be a dud in bed, but she imagined he knew how to please a woman.

She bet he wouldn’t leave her to her own devices. No, Trip would be the kind of guy to make sure she was satisfied.

Sleep wouldn’t come, but she would. With her hand down her panties, it didn’t take long. After the intense orgasm, she fell asleep fast. She woke to her phone buzzing and reached over, trying to turn off the alarm, but it wasn’t an alarm. It was Bennet.

She answered without thinking and immediately regretted it. “What?”

“You bitch. Sending the cops to question me. I’m going to make sure you?—”

Ellis ended the call and blocked his number. She was done with him. It wasn’t how she wanted to wake up, but her alarm would ring in a few minutes anyway, and she had things to do.

As she sat down with her first cup of coffee, she checked her phone, trying to figure out how his call had rung through. She determined that she had him as an emergency contact. Now, with his number blocked, he wouldn’t be calling her anyway unless he picked up a burner phone. She changed her emergency contact to Ginger, that way no one would think to contact Bennet. It was something she’d overlooked which could have been devastating. Just thinking of Bennet being called if she had an emergency turned her stomach.

Dwelling on his stupidity wouldn’t help her get ready for work. She finished her first mug of coffee and set up her travel mug for her second cup. Once she was at her studio, she began preparing for a shoot she needed to work on. The customer was set to arrive at ten. She was thankful that Trip had helped her clean the front window of the offending message.

The paint had been annoying, but at least he hadn’t broken the window to her shop. She could have lost equipment and product if the window had been taken out.

After doing the initial setup, she stepped out into the main area of the shop, seeing the woman who worked for her. “Gloria, it’s good to see you today.”

“Hey. I see we had some issues on Sunday.”

“Ugh. I’m glad nothing happened on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll get a recording of him spraying the word on the front. Then I’ll be done with him.”

“I’m sorry you’re dealing with his crap.”

“Yeah. At least he’s not showing up when I’m not here.”

“Have you thought more about what you’re going to do with the storefront?”

Ellis blew out a breath. “I need to look at the numbers again. I hate the idea of closing the shop altogether, but maybe it’s time.”

Gloria nodded. “A lot of artists are doing online-only shops.”

Ellis let go a heavy sigh. “I could go to that. I probably need to work harder on getting into galleries. I don’t like shipping and boxing up stuff which is why I don’t have a huge online presence.”

Gloria snorted. “Yeah, I get that. I do enjoy it, though. It gives me time to listen to podcasts. What would you do with your studio area if you closed?”

“I’d have to rent a space where I could do work if I want to continue to do that. It does bring in money and pay bills. I don’t know how far from downtown clients would be willing to go. I need to figure some things out, but it looks like my client is here. I’ll chat with you later.”

“Sure thing.” Gloria went back to dusting while Ellis led the client to the back so she could set up.

Doing product photography wasn’t bad. It took special equipment, but the products never jumped up and ran away like the wildlife she liked to shoot. Working in nature was her favorite, but product shots like this paid bills. She enjoyed the challenge of shooting wildlife and hoped she could do more soon. Of course, if she didn’t have the lease for this space, she could spend more time away from the studio.

After finishing the shoot, she went through her email. Luckily, Gloria took care of the orders, so she didn’t have to wrap and box photos for shipping. She was left with the task of weeding out spam messages from people trying to get her to enter nonexistent photography contests that scammed people out of money.

At the bottom of the list, she saw a note from the building manager. They’d been contacted by the cops and sent over the video showing the person spraying the paint. She wanted to know who had done it, but building management hadn’t sent the video to her.

Instead of getting mad, she pulled up her accounting software and stared at the numbers. It didn’t make much sense to keep this lease, which would end in less than three months. She could send a note today so her lease didn’t renew.

Worry filled her. What if this was a mistake? She made some money, but not a lot from sales out of the store space. But leaving this spot would cut off one more tie to Bennet. He wouldn’t know where to harass her. A part of her believed that if she left this space, Bennet would leave her alone, but she also knew the man was persistent as a bad cold and wouldn’t care if she had this storefront or not. He would just keep bugging her.

Close to four, she received a call saying that her car was ready. At least that had worked out okay. She’d needed new tires and had been planning on buying new ones in the next few months, anyway. This was just earlier than she’d planned.

She texted Ginger, telling her she’d gotten her car back. Her phone rang, and she picked up on Bluetooth. “Hey, girly.”

“How are you doing today?” Ginger asked.

“I’m good.”

“Good, that’s it? I guess you haven’t slept with Trip.”

Ellis snorted a laugh. “No. We’re taking things slow.”

“I want details, and I want to meet him.”

“You can probably meet him this weekend.”

“You two come over. I want to see how he deals with having a kid around.”

“Gosh, throwing him right into the fire.”

“You need to know this stuff. What is he like under stress?”

“I’m sure he’s perfectly fine under stress.”

“Girl, you’ve got to test these things.”

Ellis chuckled. “Yeah, when Bennet failed the baby stress test, I should have known.”

“Yeah. Next time, listen to me.”

“I will. Now then, how are you doing?”

“Good. Kent is heading out on a business trip next week. I’m not looking forward to spending the week alone.”

“I’ll come over and keep you company.”

“Good.”

“I’m thinking about giving up the storefront and just doing a studio.”

“Really?” Ginger sounded excited.

“Yeah. Why does that make you happy?”

“Because it has been a headache for you. Think about it. You have to have someone staff it, and it hasn’t been easy to keep good people on. Gloria is your fourth employee.”

“Yeah. I hope she’ll stay on.”

“Well, she only works part-time. You’ll have enough stuff for shipping to keep her busy.”

Ellis sighed. “I’m going to have to start contacting galleries.”

“Trust me. They’ll be happy to have you.”

“I hope so.”

“We need to take a trip somewhere interesting. Somewhere you can take some photos and a place I can relax.”

Ellis snorted. “You wouldn’t know what to do if you got hours to relax.”

“That might have been true before the baby, but I’m tired. I need some relaxation.”

“We’ll figure out something after Kent gets back.”

“Sounds good.”

Ellis pulled into the apartment lot, and it sounded like Nick needed Ginger’s attention. “I’m home now. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“I want a photo of that sexy man you’ve been seeing.”

Ellis chuckled. “I’ll send you one if I get one.”

“Now then, I don’t believe for one second you didn’t take a photo of him.”

Ellis laughed. “You’re crazy. I’ll talk to you later.”

She ended the call and glanced around, not seeing his car in the lot. While her car had been in the shop, they’d installed an alarm system, which would at least sound if someone messed with her car. The tracker was gone, which she was thankful for. Now they just had to figure out who had slashed the tires. She thought it had been Bennet, but it could have been anyone.