Ava

I didn’t want to get out of bed for work the next morning, but it made it easier to do so after breakfast in bed delivery by an exceptionally attractive gentleman started my day. As I finished off the last bit of orange juice from the tray, Elijah picked it up and moved it, crawling back into bed with me before I could talk myself into finally getting up.
“This was a bad move,” I whispered, sidling up beside him. The warmth of his near-naked body cocooned me, and I shivered with pleasure. “How will I ever get to work now?”
“You can stay here with me,” said Elijah softly, caressing my cheek with the tips of his fingers. “You can tell work to screw it and stay by my side all day long.”
“If wishes were horses,” I sighed, closing my eyes to bask in the sensation of Elijah’s hot body against mine. “Katie would kill me. No, she’d fire me, then she’d kill me.”
Elijah chuckled, meeting my lips with his own. “One of the unlimited things I love about you,” he murmured. “Your work ethic.” He pushed himself off the bed with a groan and stood up with a wink. I watched him go, naked back muscles flexing and tensing under the morning light and considered walking out of a job for the first time in my life just to stay in bed with this God-like man and relish in the company of utter bliss.
“Fine, I’ll quit,” I said with a giggle, following Elijah out of bed. I headed for the shower, allowing my pajamas to fall off as I went. Elijah beat me there, already warming up the water for us. Smiling, I hooked the hem of his boxers and yanked them down until he was fully exposed, hungry for me, and I for him.
“Ava,” Elijah said, pulling my focus back to his face. He caressed my cheek, taking my chin between his fingers as we stepped into the spa-like shower under the sizzling warmth of the water. Our bodies pressed together as one. I closed my eyes, breathing him in under the steam of the water. I could have stayed there for the rest of my life. “Woman,” Elijah said. “God, I fucking love you.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered, reaching, hungry for him.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for finding me, Ava.”
I chuckled. “Didn’t you kind of find me, Mr. Trevino?”
God, I needed him inside of me now.
As the water streamed over our hair and faces, leaving tiny droplets behind on our skin, Elijah titled his head to kiss me. I moaned, sinking into him, the sizzle of the water intensifying the sensation by thousands. He tasted so good and so familiar, so fucking hot. I couldn’t understand how I’d ever lived without this man a day in my life.
“Elijah.” Panic coursed through me suddenly, a panic so abrupt that it caught even me off guard. Just thinking about the fact that I couldn’t live without him now terrified me. What if—?
“Hey,” he said, guiding my face to look at his. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?”
“Nothing.” I smiled too brightly for either of us to believe it, but he didn’t say anything for a long moment. He only watched me, held me against him in a comforting embrace.
“You know you can tell me anything,” he said, his voice cool and confident—safe. I chuckled into his bare, dam chest and shook my head.
“It’s nothing,” I promised as Elijah reached for my shampoo bottle. He emptied a bit into his hands, suds it up, and began to massage my scalp. I moaned, pressing into him.
“Nothing?” he urged. “It didn’t seem like nothing.”
Soap bubbles trailed from my hair and down my back and ass. Elijah picked up the bathroom loofah and gently scrubbed my skin, his rough, large hands stunningly gentle and kind against my body. He kissed me, and I soaked in the taste of him.
“Just me and my insecurities,” I whispered, pressing my forehead against his. “Don’t mind me. I’m a mess.”
“A hot mess, maybe,” he teased, and a soft sigh escaped my lips as he reached for the bath oils, massaging them into my wet skin. God, this was complete bliss. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
“As much as I want to stay here forever and never live life again, I must leave.” I tilted my head back with a sigh as Elijah rinsed the soap from my skin, trailing his lips up and down my skin as I trembled with desire. I almost thought fuck it to my job for a second, but then shook my head.
Katie would bury me and my career at this point.
“Love you,” I teased, opening the glass door to step out, leaving Elijah and me aching for release. Sometimes, that made it all the better when we finally could be together.
“You’ll be my death yet, woman,” he said, sticking his head out after me. I turned and kissed him once more, biting his lip until he groaned with want and pleasure. Then I pulled away, reaching for a towel before wrapping it around my midsection.
“Adios, azucar,” I purred. “Hasta la proxima.”
Elijah raked his eyes one last time over me before pulling his head back into the shower's steam. “Adios, bebe.”
***
The ambiance of my morning with Elijah was shattered as soon as I walked through the doors of Meadowbrook. I was greeted by screaming—shrieking, really, and I recognized Sara’s wails. Outside the doors, police cars were parked out front, lights flashing.
Shit.
“Ava.” Sandy greeted me at the door, panting and out of breath. “I’m glad you’re here. Sara is having another fit.”
I dropped my purse and phone on my desk and followed Sandy through the back doors and into the cafeteria, where we found Sara pacing the floor, knocking over chairs as she went, fuming. Two police officers stood far from her, hands on their hips as though they knew exactly how to handle this. Behind the officers stood Katie, and with Katie were two people I recognized as Katie’s parents. We’d only met once or twice, but I vividly remembered not liking them.
“What’s going on?” I asked Katie, stepping up towards the officers.
“What else?” Katie said bitterly. “She had a meltdown when her parents came to pick her up.”
“What do you mean? What did you say?”
“What did we say?” Sara’s mom, Bethany, asked, incredulous. “She’s our daughter. We told her to come home. This silly game of hers is finished.”
“That’s not all you said!” Sara suddenly shrieked, ceasing her pacing momentarily to swing around and glare at us. Arrows of fire seemed to shoot from her eyes as she turned on her mother. “You don’t want me home, mom. You want to send me to live with Gary. And I don’t fucking want to. I refuse!”
“Gary?” I asked.
“Her uncle,” Don said, nodding towards his daughter. “Bethany’s half-brother.”
“I’m not going,” Sara wailed. “I won’t live with him, and you can’t fucking make me!”
“Okay, whoa.” I put my hands up in surrender, hoping to calm Sara. I hoped my presence wasn’t making things worse. “Sara,” I said gently. “I thought you had talked to your parents about the adoption.”
“Oh, she told us,” Bethany snapped. “And instead of letting her get free of her family, we decided to just send her to Gary’s. He’s—well, he’s tough. If anyone can help her, it’s him.”
“Fuck you!” Sara spat from across the floor, prompting both officers to reach for their pepper spray. “If you want me to live with that asshole, you’ll have to kill me first!” The words dropped from her lips with unleashed, frenzied rage, and Sara lunged forward, shoving her way between both officers who failed to grab her. She side-stepped Bethany and Don, having to cross Sandy and me before her final escape to the door. I heard Katie yell at us to grab her, but neither of us moved. Sara caught my eye with an expression I couldn’t read before racing through the door. The cops followed, but I knew it was too late. She’d run, and they’d never find her.
Apologizing profusely for the mess, Katie led Bethany and Don back into her office, abandoning Sandy and me in the middle of the mess. With a sigh, I started to pick up the overturned chairs.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Sandy asked, her eyes hovering on the door. “Sara, I mean?”
“I hope so. I hope she calls someone.”
*I hope she calls me.*