The Last Thing She Wants (Chestnut Hills #1)

21

theo

Every evening, at five thirty on the dot, I knocked on Ellie’s door, ready to conquer the workout session of the day. Still making a conscious effort to work separately from me, she barely talked to me during the day other than the occasional email. To my dismay, the emails had become even more infrequent as she got nose down in the design phase.

Aware of this, it made it even more critical than before to show her nothing had changed between us. We were still best friends, regardless of our physical relationship. I had to keep trying to show her there could be more. For that reason, I hadn’t made another romantic move towards her, wanting to make sure she felt safe in my presence.

It’d been a week and a half since the events that I still so regularly thought about. I’d been dying to touch her again, even just to brush her hair aside. My father’s voice echoed in my head, telling me to keep her in my orbit. That meant making sure she felt comfortable enough to stay around me by not rushing things .

Seeing her in that hot pink athletic set again, though, I wanted to say to hell with it all and push her up against the stairwell wall and mold my hands around each curve. Zoning out, I dreamed about the way her ass must pop out of the skintight leggings when being tugged off.

Her voice broke me from my fever dream. “Theo, did you hear me?”

“Uh, the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell,” I answered in a serious tone.

She laughed, and I swore angels joined in, harmonizing in the most euphoric way. A moment passed before she started again.

“Theo,” she stopped half-way across the lawn and shyly pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as I stopped with her, “I haven’t…uh, I haven’t been able to…you know what, forget it.” Continuing to walk, she laughed nervously.

Grabbing her arm, I held her back from retreating.

“Haven’t what?”

“It’s silly,” she waved a dismissive hand, “forget I said anything.”

I eyed her suspiciously, sensing and hoping that she was about to share that she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about me, either. I took a step towards her, placing my front against her back, reveling in the softness of her butt against me.

Stoking her arm gently, I leaned down to speak into her ear. “Nothing you have to say to me is silly. Every word you’ve ever spoken to me has been etched into my memory. You are very important to me, and to be frank, I hate it when you dismiss yourself like that. Please never do that again, or I might have to punish you.”

I caught the hitch in her breath and the flush in her cheeks. Stepping around her, I held the door open for her into the leasing office. Walking down the hall, past the wall of glass separating the leasing office, a head of blonde caught both our attention .

Shock registered in both of us at the sight of Lucy Evans handing someone a package. A small gasp came from Ellie.

“What the fuck?” she said rather brashly, catching me off-guard. In an instant, Ellie was bounding into the office, waving her hands and making faces. Even though I was no lip reader, I knew enough about body language to tell that she was both angry and baffled.

I watched the silent movie through the glass pane, cement binding my shoes to the ground. Lucy placed her hands over her chest, shaking her head in disagreement. With that, Ellie departed, wagging her finger at Lucy. Rushing back up to me, she met me chest to chest.

Before I registered her next move, she grabbed my face, smashing our mouths together. I didn’t have a moment to realize what was happening. What I would have loved to have been a steamy make-out session became a sloppy, tongues flailing, lips sliding, hot mess.

“Oh god, oh god.” Ellie pulled away as quickly as she’d arrived. “I don’t know why I did that. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Ellie,” I said, trying to calm her.

“Look at you. You didn’t want that,” she motioned to my stunned face.

I reached out to her, but she took a large step back. “Ellie, I did want that. I was just surprised.”

She put her hands up and walked backwards out the front door.

“Ellie, don’t do this!” I called out, rushing out the door to follow her. She was already half across the lawn when I called out again. “Ellie, please! Don’t run away again!”

The door to our apartment building slammed shut when a gaggle of silver hair and florescent swishy jackets walked past murmuring.

“A mess, that one is,” Speedwalking Gang Member Three declared.

“Mind your business, Doloris,” I said, fed-up with the situation entirely, garnering gasps from the group .

Looking over, I locked eyes with Mrs. Hudson, who gave me a wink. She looked back at the group, defending me. “Oh, hush now, girls. There is clearly a love story unfolding right in front of our eyes. Best not to cast judgement. We all have done crazy things for love.”

I calculated the meaning of the word love. I’d been attracted to, infatuated with, and in awe of Ellie. Mulling over all the feelings, the way my body involuntarily responded to her, and the need I felt for her…I supposed that yes, Mrs. Hudson was right.

With a grateful nod in Mrs. Hudson’s direction, I turned, returning to my original path to the gym, not even glancing at Lucy as she gave me a wave.