The Sweetest Summer

Chapter Forty-Three - Slow Dancing

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"Fuck!" I cursed, burning the tip of my index finger on the match from Eddies, the Ranger's dive bar around the corner.

Collins had insisted I toss my gas lighter for something more 'environmentally friendly'. So here I was, struggling to strike a match and not light my entire apartment building on fire.

I hastily waved out the flame and tossed the match into the sink below my tangerine and leather scented candle. From what I could remember, Eli liked citrus. His body wash smelled like a tangerine and a grapefruit made a baby while swimming in the ocean.

After dropping my bags in the entry closet, I'd obsessively tidied my place and my appearance until nothing was out of place. I had chosen to wear a simple black romper with a pair of white Vans and my hair wavy just above my shoulders. I'd taken the time to apply some gold eyeshadow and mascara and even a hint of blush, not that I really needed it. Just thinking of Eli and his big hands and his even bigger...ya know...made me flushed.

I sensed him before he even knocked. The second he stepped off the elevator on the fifteenth floor, I could feel this strange humming, like two ends of a magnet finding their way back to one another.

Suddenly, my throat went dry and my hands twisted in front of me. What if I wasn't what he remembered? What if he wasn't. Eli knocked for a second time and I just stared at the door. Maybe I could just pretend I wasn't home.

My phone rang on the kitchen counter with Eli's specific ringtone - Perfect by Ed Sheeren. Fuck.

"Are you going to let me in or am I going to have to spend the entire weekend in your hallway?" Eli's gravelly voice teased outside my door. "Because I could eat a slice of New York pizza anywhere, but I'd prefer if it was in your gorgeous presence."

I shakily unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the door wide open, my jaw physically dropping at the sight of him. All 6'2" naturally tan, naturally delicious dark brown hair and eyes that ran deeper than any ocean. He was holding a black Louis Vuitton duffle bag in one hand, and a pizza box in the other. Thank God I was one of the models who actually ate pizza, because it smelled fucking delicious.

"You always knew the way to my heart." I licked my lower lip slowly. "Hand over the Pizza, West, and no one has to get hurt..." I held my hand out but he ignored it, dropping his duffle and the aromatic cardboard box at my feet.

"Not until I get a kiss." He swept me up into his arms, kicking my apartment door shut and kissed me until I couldn't see straight. Only when I began to pant did he pull away.

"Welcome to New York." I stepped back and motioned to my overpriced two thousand square feet.

"Thanks for having me." Eli grinned brightly, walking around to inspect the place. "Are these original?" He knocked on one of the rows of faded red brick that ran straight up to meet the white beams on the ceiling.

"Yeah. I fell in love with the place immediately. I adore this neighborhood and apparently a woman who was a key player in the prohibition used to live here." I pushed on one slightly lighter brick and my small library slid into view.

"I love a good girl with a checkered past." He grinned and I grinned back at my past, and my present, and very damn well my future. We stood for a few moments, undressing one another with our eyes. Eli's shoulders looked broader underneath his plain black long sleeved t-shirt. He'd told me he was training twice a day back in Vancouver for some lead in a narcos movie he'd landed. Apparently he would play Javier, a cartel boss who was at war with another cartel. It was all set to start filming in Mexico City next week, but the script already had Oscar buzz.