face him. “You really don’t get this independence thing, do you? How would you feel if your mother did everything for you? If she cooked her meals for you, chose your clothing, told you where to live…?” She waited for some sign that she was getting through to him but he just looked back at her as if he were still trying to figure out why her father wasn’t taking better care of her.
His hands on his hips, he glared right back at her. “No. I get it. I just know that I wouldn’t let my daughter live like this.”
She sighed and shook her head. “I think you just contradicted yourself, Gaston.” She finished drying the last of the dishes and started wiping down the counters. When she finished all the other areas, there was only the section where he was leaning against and she glared at him. “Excuse me,” she said with sarcasm. “And by the way, I’ve already eaten. Don’t you have some place to go? Like your own place?” she asked pointedly.
He laughed softly. “Trying to get rid of me?” He could see the slight shaking of her hands as she held the towel. She was just as aware of him as he was of her.
He reached out and pulled her closer, taking the towel out of her hands and looking at her fingernails, his thumb rubbing against the nails.
Elana wanted to curl her fingers up, to hide the broken nails that hadn’t been filed or buffed in years. “I think you should go.”
“I think I should kiss you.”
She tried to pull back, but he wouldn’t release her hands. “I think that would be an extremely bad idea.”
“Why is that?” he asked softly. His hands shifted from holding her fingers to wrapping gently but firmly around her wrists, pulling her towards him.
Elana wanted to fight him, but his touch was sapping her strength and her mind had stopped functioning efficiently about two minutes ago. Her whole body felt heavy, needy and desperate.
His thumb rubbed the underside of her wrists gently, sending tingles of excitement up her arms, then shooting down her body to pool in the pit of her stomach. “Your heart is pounding out of control, Elana. You want this too, don’t you?”
“No. You’re misinterpreting my reactions,” she said frantically.
He smiled slightly as he shook his head. “I don’t think so. And I’ve wanted to kiss you from the first moment I walked through your door. You’ve wanted that too, haven’t you?”
She took in a shaky breath and closed her eyes. “Gaston, why are you doing this?” she begged, wishing she could simply step back from him but her fingers were already resting against his massive chest, itching to touch him, to feel the strong muscles underneath the fabric of his shirt. “We couldn’t hold it together the last time. Why are you even trying to pretend that it will work this time? We don’t like each other which is kind of the whole point, isn’t it?” Her brain ordered her feet to step out of his arms, but for some reason her feet were ignoring her brain’s commands.
His hands ran up her back, sending shivers everywhere. “I don’t think our bodies care what the point is. I think both of us just want to alleviate this burning need that has flared up between us.”
“I care,” she said, but he ignored her. His mouth covered hers, pushing away all the other arguments she was going to make which would give her the strength to push him away. She couldn’t even claim that she resisted his kiss because as soon as his lips touched hers, she was lost, desperate to feel his touch and lifting her head to meet him.
He wasn’t asking this time either. His mouth was demanding, the pressure increasing when she seemed to pull back. But he’d been misinterpreting her actions because she wasn’t pulling back, just shifting her head and her body to get a better angle, to deepen the kiss. Secretly, she’d longed for this ever since earlier today when he’d kissed her before their lunch. She’d wanted to see if it had been real, if the feelings he’d evoked within her had been as intense as she’d remembered. And she hadn’t just imagined those feelings. In fact, now that they were alone, in her apartment without the possibility of interruption, she thought that perhaps this kiss might be more intense.
Her fingers splayed over his chest, moving upwards around his shoulders and