Roses & Ruin

Chapter 25 (Lexi)

His hazel eyes are soft but his hands are rough. His jaw is sharp, and by the angle he'd laid his head in you could really see the definition of it against his handsome features.

        "What's on your mind?" He clearly read my absentmindedness like a book. I leaned on my left elbow so I could extend my right hand and run it down his smooth chest. His eyes dropped down to my touch and I hoped it'd distract him.

He just hooked his arm around my middle and dragged me closer, but looked at me expectantly to answer his question.

"How long do you think you wanna do this?" I asked him. I'd rather not mention Vitaly or the circumstances that might cut this physical relationship short.

Anthony tipped his head as if he didn't understand the question. I withdrew my hand from his chest and looked down at the pillow in front of me instead, picking at the corner of it in distraction from his inquiring eyes. "Do what?"

"This" I waved between us. Anthony took his lip into his mouth and thought for a second before he answered me. 

        "Well, if we're being transparent here Lex, not very long ago I was sorta getting into something with a girl, or at least I thought I was. She used me and I didn't very much care for it," he told me.

What idiot girl did that? Anthony's an obvious catch. I decided to tell him that out loud. He chuckled, but an expression flickered across his face that I couldn't read.

"That's in the past. My only point in bringing that up was to say that I'm not looking to get into anything serious anymore. That being said, I think we have good chemistry and I'd like to explore that for a while" he told me.

        I love how mature Anthony seems to be. I like that he's older than me and more experienced in life. I nodded, but when I didn't immediately speak he added, "Is that okay with you? What made you ask that?"

I rolled to my side on the mattress which exposed my bare chest to him. He glanced down at my breasts but tried not to focus on them when he knew I was about to start talking. His hand did run up and down my side though, and I liked the consistent contact. 

He felt good against my skin.

        "No reason. Just curious" I took the easy way out of answering that. He didn't look satisfied with that answer though. He barely knows me and yet he seems to read me well at times. That's intimidating. I don't let people read me. I don't let people figure me out.

"Try again" he didn't let me off the hook.

"I guess I also think we have good chemistry, which isn't always the easiest to find. I wanna 'explore' that as you put it" I told the half truth.

Anthony took a piece of my blonde hair and tucked it behind my ear as he looked at me. No, he looked into me. Really looked at me and it made me shiver. What was he thinking?

       "Well, gorgeous, what do you say about us leaving this bed temporarily and finding ourselves something to eat? I'm starved after our first round of sex and I intend to take you in a second round...so lets eat," he leaned forward and pretended to nibble on my neck.

It made me scrunch up at how it tickled, and made an embarrassing little girly sound.. I refuse to call it a squeal. I was starved too and nodded enthusiastically.

-

        Anthony moved around his kitchen like he's done this for a hundred years. He's smooth in more than just his words. He glided across one side of the room to the other. From fridge to counter, dicing things and pouring some olive oil into a pan, and back to the fridge again.