Kissed My Rival, Hear His Mind novel · Chapter 7 of 32

Chapter 7: Twelve Past Midnight

Craig got out in Rittenhouse, and Eli rode on alone to Fishtown.

He got as far as his own front step.

Maggie's light was on upstairs, and he could hear her through the window singing along to a true-crime podcast.

He stood on the step with his key in his hand for a long moment.

Then he turned around and flagged the cab that was still idling at the corner.

"Northern Liberties," he said. "Again."

The driver looked at him in the mirror.

"Rough night?"

"The best one I've had in years," Eli said, and meant every word.

At twelve minutes past midnight he pressed the buzzer for 4B.

Declan didn't ask who it was.

The steel door clicked open on its own.

Eli climbed four flights with his pulse in his ears.

The loft door was already open.

Declan stood in it in his shirtsleeves, collar undone, barefoot, with his hair damp.

He looked at Eli.

"You said no," Eli said.

"I said no thank you."

"That's not the same."

"No," Declan said, quietly. "It isn't."

"Don't speak. Don't speak or I'll beg."

Eli stepped over the threshold, and Declan shut the door behind him and turned the lock.

The loft was one long room with brick walls and tall windows full of rain.

There was a drafting table by the glass, and a bed at the far end with grey sheets.

Eli got three steps in before Declan's hand closed around his wrist.

"Eli."

It was the first time Declan had ever said his first name out loud.

It went through Eli.

"Say it again."

"Eli," Declan said, lower, and pulled him in by the wrist until Eli's chest hit his.

Declan's mouth came down on his.

There was nothing cold left in it.

Declan kissed him.

His tongue pushed into Eli's mouth, slow and sure, and Eli's hands went up into Declan's wet hair and gripped.

"Yes," said the voice in Eli's head, wrecked. "Yes. Yes. There you are. Oh, God, you're here."

"Bed," Declan said against his mouth.

"I can walk."

"Then walk."

Declan took Eli's jacket off his shoulders and dropped it on the floor.

He took Eli's belt in both hands and walked him backward down the length of the room by it.

The backs of Eli's knees hit the mattress.

"Sit."

Eli sat.

Declan stood over him and started on his shirt buttons, one at a time, with maddening care.

Eli tried to help.

Declan caught his hands and put them flat on the sheets on either side of him.

"No. Let me."

"You're slow."

"I've waited a long time. I intend to be slow."

Declan peeled Eli's shirt off and looked at his chest.

His palm spread across Eli's ribs, hot and steady, and Eli's breath went out of him.

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