On the heels of that, Tobias leans over and begins murmuring the rules in my ear and now I’m so hot, I feel like I’m sweating everywhere. The stimuli is hitting me from all sides, continuing on for the longest forty minutes of my life. I almost dive out of my seat when halftime arrives. “I’m going to get a water,” I say in a rush to Tobias. “Do you want something?”
When he doesn’t answer right away, I glance up at him from my phone and find him blatantly staring at my ass with a wolfish expression. “Ehm…” Does he seem rattled? He drags his fingers through his hair twice before answering. “No. I mean, yes. And I’ll get it for you.”
“That’s not necessary. I need some air.”
An eyebrow wings up. “We’re outside, love. You have to go inside to buy drinks.”
I wave my hands around, nearly dropping my phone. “You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t.” He closes the distance between us, a smile playing around the edges of his mouth and oh, yeah, he knows exactly what he’s doing. What he’s been doing. And the predicament I’m in. “Explain it to me, Elise.”
His mouth is so…there. “I was never this horny before,” I complain, letting my head fall back on my shoulders. “Take me back.”
“To your place? Thought you’d never ask.”
“No, you miscreant,” I fire back, smacking him in his shoulder. “To a time when I could think straight. Maybe there is a program for this kind of thing. Man detox.”
“My God.” He reaches out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “You are fucking adorable when you’re disgruntled.”
I storm up the stairs in a horny huff and he follows, hot on my heels. “Tobias—”
“I’m supposed to protect you,” he interrupts, as if anticipating my protest. “I’m under strict instructions—and I always follow the script.”
I stop abruptly, which is totally my mistake—one I possibly make on purpose thanks to my traitorous hormones—and Tobias runs into the back of me. Before I can fall to my knees, he wraps a forearm around my hips to steady me, pulling me upright and we just sort of stand there, me concentrating on not having a spontaneous orgasm while he breaths against the side of my neck, his perfect machine of a body molded to the back of mine.
Feeling this way in public is new to me.
Feeling this way for this man is ten times as startling…because it’s more than physical.
All this time, I’ve been able to think of Banks, Tobias and Gabe as separate people. They are a circle that isn’t fully formed around me, because of my dislike of Tobias. A broken circle. But some foreign intuition tells me that once that breach is repaired, the circle will close and lock me in. Is that why I’m resisting him so hard? I’m terrified of what the full circle will mean in terms of commitment? And what happens when a fissure forms again? Which one of us will cause it? It’s hard enough maintaining a friendship or romantic relationship with one person and it’s always over too soon. That’s why I avoid them.
But three?
The imminence of the circle forming completely scares me.
Employing every ounce of my will, I pull away from Tobias. “If you could grab me a water, that would be great. I’m just going to take a walk.”
“Elise.”
His voice is like gravel, but I ignore the flutter in my stomach and keep walking.
I walk the perimeter of the stadium, stripping off layers of clothing, periodically checking my phone to see if Karina called or emailed, but there’s nothing. I use the restroom, even though I don’t need it. My spiked temperature probably evaporated any potential pee in my body—and I have no idea how I’m going to live through the second half of this rugby match.
When I peek into the stadium and see there is only six minutes left until the game resumes, I groan, turn away from the pitch…
And I lock eyes with a woman who is standing right behind me. She is medium height, well dressed, her brown skin glowing youthfully, despite her age.
“Excuse me,” I mutter, starting to bypass her.
I’m not sure what stops me. A familiarity about her?
I don’t think we’ve ever met, but there is something in the staunch set of her jaw and fiercely intelligent eyes that gives me pause. She has stopped halfway up the tunnel leading to the field, seemingly hesitant about entering to watch the game.
“Do you need help finding your seat?” I venture, sort of surprised at myself. Up until recently, I was definitely the kind of person who minds her own business.