Page 84 of Half-Court Heat

Making my flight was the last thing on my mind.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

When I unlocked my apartment door in Miami later that night, it didn’t feel like coming home. My duffel bag dropped with a hollow thud, and the sound echoed in the stillness. There was no clatter from the kitchen, no sneakers tossed in a careless heap by the door. Only the faint hum of the fridge greeted me and the stale air of a place that had been shut up for too long.

I went through the motions—unpacking, throwing a load of laundry into the washing machine—but every few minutes I was checking my phone. Eva and I hadn’t set a time to talk, but I couldn’t shake the twitchy habit of waiting for her name to light up the screen.

It was just after midnight when my phone finally buzzed.

Still awake?

Just barely.

A few seconds later, my screen lit up with her name. I answered and rolled onto my side, voice rough from the late hour. “Hey.”

“Hey, baby.” Her voice was lower than usual. Thicker. “Sorry if I woke you.”

“You didn’t.”

She was quiet for a moment. “I miss you.”

Something in me tightened. “Miss you more.”

“I’ve been thinking about you. A lot.”

“Is that so?”

“Mmhm.” I heard the rustle of sheets. “Lying in this cold-ass bed. Wishing you were in it.”

I closed my eyes and smiled, letting her voice roll over me like heat. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “What are you wearing?”

I huffed out a laugh. “Shorts and a tank top.”

“That’s it?”

“Underwear.”

“What kind?”

“Black. Cotton. Boring.”

“There is no version of you in underwear that’s boring.”

I swallowed, my heart thumping a little faster. “What about you?”

“Nothing,” she said.

Her admission pulled a soft sound from me.

“I just got out of the shower,” she went on. “I was thinking about the way you touch me when we shower together. Your hands on my hips. The way you kiss me.”

Her voice dropped. “Tell me what you’d be doing if I was there.”

I hesitated. My cheeks flushed despite being completely alone. But then I pictured her—bare and still damp from the shower, stretched across her bed, one hand on the phone and the other maybe not so idle.