If only life were that simple.
“I can practically hear the wheels churning. What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”
“Nothing.” She smiled to try to deflect. No way was she going to fess up that she had been thinking about them.
“Chelle.” His tone made it very clear that he was not buying what she was laying down.
“What?” she asked innocently.
“I think we need to talk.”
Crap, he beat her to it. Well, since she couldn’t come up with anything to say anyway, maybe she didn't even deserve to go first. She might as well hear him out. Pssshhh.... even though she would bet her last dollar she was not going to like what he said.
She looked up into his hazel eyes…nope, not one little bit.
“I care a lot about you…”
Not a good start! She wanted to crawl under the table and hide.
“I want you to know that I wish things were different…”
God, she wanted to throw up.
“I wish I could be what you need, what you deserve…”
Whoa, she needed to stop this train and fast. It was headed straight into Humiliation Station and Chelle did not plan to still be riding it when it pulled in.
Think, think, think!
Perfect! WWSD to the rescue!
“What I need is just this. No strings. No expectations. I just want to enjoy our time together while we’re here.”
Please please let it be at least a few more days, she said to herself.
She continued, “When I go home, I return to reality. And reality is that in Harper’s Crossing, we are just old friends. You’re my brother’s best friend. Nothing more, nothing less. This is my break from reality. You are my break from reality. That’s what I need.”
Riley was quiet. He looked as though he was battling with what she was saying. He didn’t look quite convinced that she was telling the truth.
She was so ready for this conversation to be over! She just wanted him to drop it. Not knowing what else to do, she stood and cleared the plates.
As soon as she did, Riley stood and started clearing the rest of the table. He looked conflicted. She hated seeing him like that. He had had enough conflict in his life.
She wanted him to be able to look back on these few days they had spent together with nothing but fondness. Nothing but happy - or, better yet, HOT - memories.
A bell went off in her head. Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! That’s exactly what she needed to do! Make more memories of the HOT variety. She could do this. She could be bold.
She stripped out of her shirt and began walking towards the bedroom door while unbuttoning her pants. She heard nothing but absolute silence behind her as he stopped clearing the table. She could feel his eyes on her.
“I’m gonna take a shower, care to join me?” She didn’t look back, her heart was pounding out of her chest.
She heard the clatter of plates being dropped back on the table, and then Riley's footsteps as he moved to follow.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that, in fact, this was going to happen after all. She really didn't want to leave things with Riley on this note of angst. She wanted to experience at least one last night of bone-shattering ecstasy. She wanted to put just one more memory of pleasure, of their bodies connecting, into her consciousness before this beautiful time came to an end.
In addition to that, she felt pretty proud of herself. During their previous encounter (well, encounters – plural, if you wanted to get technical – it was four times!) Riley had been the one driving things. Now she was taking the initiative, and she liked the little rush of excitement it gave her.
She had never thought of herself as a particularly sensual person before, or a particularly sultry one. She'd never thought of herself as being especially sexy, per se. It wasn't that she didn't have a good idea of how she looked – she realized she was reasonably attractive. She didn't have low self-esteem or anything – she liked her face, and she liked her body.
It was just that she had never thought of herself as one of those women that exuded sex appeal. Some women just did, it poured off of them effortlessly, in waves. Like her friend Amber – that girl walked into the room, and even 90-year-old guys dropped their jaws to the ground and said, “Hubba hubba.”
Chelle had always kinda wished she was that way. It was why Samantha was her favorite one on Sex and the City! But, since she was far more of a Charlotte in real life, she had resigned herself to the fact that it was never going to happen. She was always going to be the pretty one, the cute one – but never the sexy one.
But now – With Riley – she felt like the sexiest woman that had ever lived. She did feel it coming off of her in waves. It was like a power that she stepped into, like a certain magic that she was only able to channel when he was in the room.