Not His Bride Anymore novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The First Night

He did not say a word in the car.

He drove with both hands on the wheel and his jaw tight, and I watched his knuckles in the passing light.

I kept my hands in my lap so I would not put them on him.

We rode the freight elevator up to the ninth floor with a foot of cold air between us.

The doors rattled shut.

The numbers climbed.

On the seventh, I could not stand it anymore.

I reached out and hit the stop button with the flat of my hand, and the whole elevator shuddered and went still.

"Ainsley."

"Rule one," I said. "Nobody is watching."

"No."

"So you're not allowed."

"No."

"Say it."

"I'm not allowed to touch you," Elliot said, and his voice was rough, and he did not move.

I put my hands on his chest and pushed him back against the steel wall.

He let me.

I kissed him until my lungs hurt.

His hands came up, and he stopped them an inch from my waist, and I felt them shake.

"Touch me," I said.

"That's against the terms."

"I'm breaking them."

"You're angry."

"I'm furious. And I want you to." I bit his bottom lip, and he groaned against my mouth. "Tell me to stop. Dare you."

He did not tell me to stop.

His hands closed on my hips, and he turned us so that my back hit the wall, and the cold metal bit through the velvet.

He pushed his thigh between my knees.

I gasped.

He kissed my throat, my collarbone, the hollow under my ear.

I dragged at his coat and his shirt until I felt the heat of his skin.

"Elevator," he said against my neck, ragged. "Ainsley. There's a camera."

"Then get me to your door."

He hit the button.

We did not make it past the door.

He got the door open and kicked it shut behind us.

Then I was against it, with his mouth on mine and my hands in his hair.

"You said you hadn't decided," I said. "About the zipper. Slow or fast."

"I've decided."

"Which?"

He turned me to face the door.

He swept my hair over one shoulder.

He put his mouth against my bare back, between my shoulder blades, and I heard my own breath hitch.

The zipper began to move.

It moved slowly, one soft tooth at a time, with his lips following it down my spine.

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