Page 14

Harper

“Are you a fan of tacos?” Olivia jumped up from a couch in the lobby when I walked in and linked her arm through mine.

Maggie was sitting next to Tommy, deep in a conversation that belonged only to the two of them.

Jamil stood off to the side wearing that same old Chicago Bobcats hat.

My eyes caught his at Olivia’s question and a smile passed between us.

“I love tacos,” I told her as the five of us exited out the front of the hotel.

“I knew I liked you,” Olivia told me as our group turned left and headed toward our destination. “There’s a restaurant just around this corner. Supposedly they have the best tacos.”

A hand brushed the backside of mine and I looked over to see Jamil there, his eyes trained on the road ahead. I was trying my best to keep him at arm’s length, but how was I supposed to when he continued to tease me?

“We will have to see,” I told Olivia. “That’s a tall order to beat.”

The smallest chuckle was barely audible from Jamil.

A waitress showed our group to a table in the back, secluded and private. Everyone slid into a seat, caught up in a conversation about if chips and queso was better than chips and salsa. But before I could claim my own, Jamil stepped in front of me to pull my chair out.

“After you, Moon.” He leaned in close enough for his lips to graze the shell of my ear.

The ghost of his words nearly sent me into a wild tailspin that had me wishing I could drag him into a dark hallway just to show him how out of control he made me feel.

His fingertips brushed my ribcage as he helped me push my chair close to the table, everybody else oblivious of our exchange.

Control yourself, Harper. He’s an athlete. He’s the topic of your research. He’s surely heartbreak you don’t want.

“I hear you’re going to interview Derek Allen,” Olivia said once we were all seated. A strong, muscular leg pressed against mine and I had to fight the urge not to jump in surprise.

“That’s what I’m told from Jamil,” I said to her between sips of water.

On my second sip, I nearly choked when I felt a foot run up the back of my calf.

As nonchalantly as I could, I pressed my heel down into Jamil’s other foot.

The hiss he let out drew a questioning look from Tommy across from him.

“Jamil took credit for that now, did he?” Olivia asked, a sickly-sweet tone to her voice as she narrowed her eyes at her friend.

“He did .?.?.” I trailed off as I looked over at Jamil, who was returning Olivia’s glare.

“Olivia may have helped me with this one. She’s good friends with Derek,” Jamil amended.

Maggie coughed. “Yeah, good friends .” Olivia threw daggers at Maggie.

My head snapped back and forth, missing some kind of inside information that only a group of friends knew about each other after living life together.

“I’m excited for it,” Tommy added to break up the tense silent stare downs.

“Just promise me you won’t make it an easy interview for him,” Olivia added. “I love watching that man squirm.”

“I never give my interviewees an easy way out.” Olivia leaned back in her chair as she sipped on her margarita, satisfied that I was about to make Derek Allen’s day potentially a little difficult. “Excuse me,” I told them as I pushed away from the table to go to the bathroom before our food came.

As soon as I stepped into the bathroom and turned the lock on the door, I pressed my back into the cold metal.

It was amazing how someone could sneak in through a cracked window of your mind and begin to plant roots there when you’d only known them for a few weeks, but here I was wishing I could get one more night with Jamil Edman just to experience how he made me feel again despite my better judgment.

After I’d dried every last drop of water from my hands and felt like I would be able to control myself at a dinner table next to him, I opened the door to go back.

Only to see a shadowed figure leaning against the wall just outside the bathroom.

He was wearing a ball cap pulled low over his eyes and a smirk.

“What are you doing back here?” I asked.

Jamil didn’t answer at first. “Do you ever think about that night?”

His gaze burned into me as he waited for me to answer, even while I stood there gaping at him, knowing his friends were sitting out in the restaurant waiting for us.

For someone who normally loved words, they were all failing me right now.

Finally, I managed to nod my head, despite the pounding in my chest as I waited for what would happen next.

Jamil pushed off the wall and prowled toward me, slowly backing me up until I was cornered. “Do you ever think about that night, Moon?”

“Yes.”

Shock that I answered and admitted how I was feeling sat between us for one moment .

.?. two. Then it was a flurry of hands and teeth and mouths as he pressed his body against mine.

Despite the desperation of our touches, there was a softness as he cradled the back of my head in his hands.

It was a balance of tender seduction and an animalistic desire sweeping between us as we devoured each other.

His teeth nipped at my bottom lip. I twisted his shirt between my hands.

He left a trail of kisses over every sensitive spot he’d learned on my neck.

The cap had been unscrewed on a pressurized can and there was no hope of shoving any of this emotion back in. My mouth slanted over his, wild and free. His fingers dug into my ass, grasping for purchase as he lit every single inch of me on fire.

Jamil was like a drug that I couldn’t get enough of, and I pressed myself into him further, demanding more, every rational thought of someone walking up on us nowhere near my mind.

With a curse, he ripped his mouth from mine and I wanted to plead with him not to stop.

Plead with him to keep going or I would melt onto this very floor.

“We should go back to the table before anyone comes looking for us.”

“Right,” I said, still trying to catch my breath.

“You go first,” he suggested. “I’ll follow shortly after.”

I nodded, my brain still trying to catch up to the present. Just as I turned to leave, Jamil took my hand in his. “I’m not done with you.”

Those words hung heavy between us as the reality of what just happened in this dark hallway sunk in. It was clear that what happened in Florida was never meant to be a one-time situation. “How do we always find ourselves in this position?” I asked.

Jamil only gave me a smile as if he didn’t want to know the answer and honestly, neither did I.