Read Every Part of You: Resists Me for Free Online

too much. Simone listened to the sound of Elliott’s breathing and waited for him to say whatever it was that had been so important that he’d needed to call her before noon on a Sunday.
    “So … Simone,” he said finally.
    “Yessss?” She drew out the word, letting it linger. Dropping her voice.
    “Listen,” Elliott said, but then didn’t speak for another whole minute.
    She watched the numbers turn on the clock, so she knew exactly how long it was.
    “About what happened,” he said. Then nothing else.
    “You know, for a guy who’s supposed to be such a wheeler dealer, you certainly aren’t a very smooth talker.”
    He laughed. That was good. She pictured him scrubbing at his face. Mussing his hair. No, he wouldn’t do that. Even if he were still in bed, she’d bet he’d have perfect hair.
    “I can talk.”
    “Oh, I’m sure you can spin a tale when you have to. But this casual conversation stuff, man. You kind of suck.”
    “I’m trying to tell you something, if you’d just listen!”
    “I’m listening,” Simone said quietly. “I’m listening, Elliott.”
    “What you said in my office. About me liking to hurt the women I fuck. It’s not true.”
    She didn’t contradict him. She waited. He breathed.
    “I like to make you feel good.”
    “You did, honey.” The endearment slipped out of her. “Really good. I told you, I like…”
    “I know what you said.”
    “Elliott. Do you think I’m the sort of girl who’d tell you I like something when I don’t?”
    “No. I guess not.”
    “You’re not used to women who tell you the truth, huh?”
    He paused. “It’s not that. I don’t usually ask, that’s all. I don’t see them more than once or twice, remember?”
    So he did have a sense of humor. Dry and self-deprecating, but there was nothing wrong with that. In fact, she liked it. A lot.
    “I like you,” she told him suddenly. She wanted to tell him she’d liked him for awhile, but as with the scones and everything else, that would mean she’d have to own up to her Peeping Tina tendencies. She waited, but he didn’t say anything. Simone sighed. “Now would be the perfect time to tell me that you like me, too.”
    He sighed into the phone with enough force that he’d have ruffled her hair if they’d been together in person rather than talking on the phone. Simone rolled her eyes, trying not to let it hurt her feelings. Reminding herself that he’d called her, and there had to be a reason, if only she could be patient enough to let him get to it.
    “I don’t think we should see each other again. That’s all.”
    Simone had never been a patient sort of girl. “You woke me up on a Sunday morning to tell me that you don’t think we should see each other again?”
    “I wanted to let you know.”
    “So you wouldn’t be rude?”
    “Yes. That’s part of it,” Elliott said.
    Simone chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. “What’s the other part?”
    “I don’t want you coming to my office again.”
    Everything inside her went cold. Then hot. Then cold again.
    “I see.”
    “It’s not you,” Elliott said finally.
    “No. It’s you. Definitely you.”
    There came a long silence in which she was certain he would disconnect the call. Simone sat with the phone pressed to her ear until he did, without even a good-bye, trying to pretend this didn’t matter. Trying to tell herself it was better to know, no matter how hard it had been to hear.
    It was always better to know.
    *   *   *
    Elliott hated to run, but it was one of the few things he’d managed to hang on to from his high school days, when he hadn’t been athletic or competitive enough to play team sports. Track and field had allowed him to compete and be part of something, yet hadn’t been necessary for him to rely on someone else to perform. Or to have someone else rely on him.
    So, he ran even though he hated it, and he ran hard until everything ached, and then he went home and ran the shower icy