The Assignment (Elvis presley story)

Chapter 28

"Want some fudge?" Ava asked from the doorway.

The way she stood, one slender hip cocked, her head tilted just so, made her as enticing as any confection in the world. He could almost taste her sweetness. "You made fudge?"

"Me? Nope, my grandmother keeps a pretty good supply on hand. Fudge cures everything," She declared as she came over, plopped down next to him on the sofa and tucked her bare feet beneath her. With a groan of pleasure, she proceeded to savor one of the squares from the small plate she had brought from the kitchen. She licked her lips and grinned, her eyes as rich as the candy. "Have some."

Have some. Elvis sucked in a steadying breath and dragged his gaze away from her delicious mouth. He was pretty sure fudge wouldn't cure what ailed him right now, but he took a piece anyway. It melted in his mouth, the sugar high hitting him almost immediately. Yep, just as he feared. Fudge was not a cures-all. It was aphrodisiac.

"I need to get out of here and get some exercise," he said, hoping for an escape before he did something foolish. Even if he decided to go for it, as Mary advised, he couldn't just jump Ava with no warning. "I ought to change and go for a run."

"I could come with you!" She said. "Wouldn't want you to get lost."

It was way too late, Elvis thought. The wide open spaces beckoned with all sorts of possibilities he'd never allowed himself before. Who needed a road with signposts anyway? With regret, he knew what he had to do. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Ava, im going to have to turn over your evaluation for the COMPASS team to someone else. Of course, I'll stay until you've completed this investigation, but I can't be objective about your performance. I promise this won't preclude your being considered. I'll make it very clear that the personal involvement is one-sided and all my doing."

She rushed up off the sofa. After pacing for a moment, she faced him directly. "I don't care about the position. Tell them im not interested."

"But you are," Elvis argued. "I know that you are." He could see it so clearly in her eyes, even now. She wanted it. She also wanted him and he could see that, too.

"Okay, I admit it," She said with a one-shoulder shrug and took a seat again, this time facing him, one foot tucked under her. "But we don't have to let this... whatever it is between us doesn't have to make a difference. You know as well as i do it's just a galloping case of lust. I find you wildly attractive and obviously you see something in me that excites you a little. Let's just come to terms with it."

Wildly attractive? Elvis's pulse stuttered. "And how do you suggest we do that? You think if we lay it out in the open this way, It'll just go away?"

She pursed her lips, as if weighing their options. Then she came to a decision. "As it stands now, the forbidden factor makes it loom very large. It's All we can think about, right?"

He nodded with a wry grimace. "All the time."

"So we burn it out," She suggested, giving her knee a thump with her palm. Her fingers flared and then came together as she fisted her hand. "You know as well as i do that once the tension is relieved, once the seductive unknown is known, you'll see im nothing special."

He laughed. "Nothing special? You're kidding right?"

"Not at all," She assured him, shaking her head vehemently. "This will work, Elvis. Once it's played out, you'll get your objectivity back and i will be able to function a lot better. No harm, no foul. Just a short fling to take the edge off and put things back in perspective."

Her naivetè drove him crazy. Crazy enough to tell himself what she suggested might work. But there was a danger here she didn't understand and he needed to warn her of it. He reached across and took her hand in his. "What if it doesn't play out, Ava? What if one of us gets in too deep to let it go?"

"Me?" She asked with a nervous laugh. "No way. Im not looking for any promise of commitment from you. Never even occurred to me."

Ah, the temptation to let it go at that, but Elvis knew he couldn't, in all good conscience, do that. "It's not you i was worried about."

He could see he had shocked her speechless. With reluctance, he let go of her hand and sat back to see what she would do with the information. Much to his surprise, she didn't run from it. Instead, she took a deep breath and asked point-blank,

"So you're afraid to chance it?"

Elvis couldn't be anything but truthful now that he had opened this particular can of worms. "Im terrified. Maybe Sex with you would be enough. But what if it's not?" He didn't simply want her, Elvis realised that. He craved her with every inch of his being, but not just her body. He wanted all that she was. Maybe it was not love, but envy he was feeling. She had everything that he didn't, was everything he wasn't, embraced everything he couldn't.

"I need you, Ava," he admitted, dropping his gaze from hers, unable to meet it any longer.

Merry Christmas guys!! ❤ hope you enjoyed this chapter! And thanks for reading! xoxo