Love Thief by Teona Bell Read Free Book Online

what I did. If I try again, we’ll run out of supplies. It’s getting late, and this beast is due tomorrow.”
    “How much time did you have to do it, and why?”
    “Why? No one in the universe can answer that question. How much time? Semantics. Let’s move on.”
    He chuckled. “First things first.”
    Soon, Charmaine sat side-by-side with Elliot. She held a brush in her hand. He held a comb in his. They labored together, slowly and gently, working through Amaya’s knots. When they were done, Elliot spun her around to face him. “Okay, hand on your chest like this.”
    He demonstrated, and Amaya copied him. They both held up the other hand in the air, Amaya a bit more dramatically.
    “I, Amaya Poe,” Elliot said. “Repeat.”
    “I, Amaya Poe Repeat.”
    Charmaine giggled.
    “Promise not to try to do my own hair until I’m…eleven.” He looked at Charmaine, and she shrugged. Sounded like a good number.
    Amaya repeated after Elliot.
    “Or I will get it all shaved until it’s a half inch long,” Charmaine added, “and it will be dyed purple.”
    “She might want that at eleven,” he teased.
    Amaya screeched, vibrating Charmaine’s eardrums.
    “I think we’re good,” Elliot said and rubbed his hands together. “Now the project. I’m not good at this stuff either, but I suspect anything is better than the monstrosity over there.”
    “Don’t get kicked out of my apartment,” Charmaine warned.
    Amaya and Elliot had already dismissed her and were on the floor, digging through the supplies. Charmaine glanced at them and then at her laptop, sitting closed on the table. She hadn’t worked all day. Amaya giggled about something, and Elliot’s deep voice echoed around the wide-open space. Charmaine slipped next to him and grabbed a pair of child’s scissors and some pink construction paper.
     
    * * * *
     
    Charmaine’s heart beat so hard she wondered if Elliot could hear it. His head bowed, he worked at getting a bit of dried glue off his fingers. She had such an urge to run her own fingers through his hair. When had she moved so close to him as they sat on the floor? Her body seemed to strain toward him, wanting to touch and so much more. Charmaine didn’t remember reaching, but suddenly she became aware of this silky strands of his hair as they slid between her fingers. Green eyes met hers and then lowered to her lips. She licked them. Elliot’s Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. Charmaine’s mind filled with thoughts of how it had felt when he kissed her. He was good, real good.
    “Elliot,” she breathed.
    “I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I’m glad Amaya’s gone to bed.”
    “W-why? Nothing’s going to happen.” Boy was she lying because she was halfway to sitting on his lap. She leaned against his chest, and their mouths didn’t touch, but his warm breath drew her closer. Elliot slid his hands down her sides to her hips and then back up. His thumbs brushed the swell of her breasts. Her nipples pebbled behind her T-shirt. She shouldn’t have worn a bra tonight.
    I’m thinking like a slut. Just once, damn it! It’s been so long.
    Elliot bypassed her lips to kiss her neck. She put her head back and let him explore with tiny kisses along her throat. A shuddering breath made her chest bump his. He moaned. “Your face is so expressive, Charmaine.”
    She drew away from him to look into his eyes. “What do you mean?”
    He tweaked a lock of her hair. “When I first saw you two years ago—”
    “Two years ago?”
    “That’s when I moved in.”
    She hadn’t noticed. “You left your parents’ place at thirty-one?”
    He chuckled. “No, this wasn’t my first apartment.”
    “Oh.”
    “I saw the loneliness.”
    She looked away. “I wasn’t lonely.”
    “It echoed mine. I wanted you so much, but I didn’t approach you right away. I took my time, but now things are different.”
    “What’s different?”
    He kissed her lips. She was lost.
    “I want you, and I’m