Page 43 of Endgame

Knight patted a place next to him. “Saved you guys a seat. Eli, you’re next to me. I need to make sure that your intentions toward my little sister are noble.”

“He’s your brother?” Eli whispered, confused.

“Not literally, but pretty much, yeah.” Lila shrugged. She didn’t want to get into it, and she was getting wary of all the eyes on her. Well, of just one set in particular.

They made their way over to Knight, and as promised, Knight wrangled Eli into sitting next to him. The space next to Lila was open, but she didn’t think much of it because the guys all liked to manspread.

Demarcus hit the lights and Bear pushed play on the movie, and Lila leaned her head back to enjoy the dulcet sounds of Bruce Willis crawling through air ducts saying, “Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker.” Which never got old, ever.

Whether it was the intimidating physicality of Knight’s presence or the fact they weren’t alone, Eli mercifully kept his hands and arms to himself. Dinner had been okay…but Lila felt like their dating experience had run its course. Eli was nice, but just not for her.

Everything was fine until somebody vaulted over the back of the couch and landed right next to her. She didn’t have to look to know that it was King. She hadn’t been this close to him since the last time they’d… Ahem. The juniper and citrus scent of his fancy body wash hit her nostrils, and she angled her body more towards Eli. He did not smell as good, but she was feeling a little off-kilter.

Damn her heart and its cartwheelingness.

It also didn’t help that the air conditioning was apparently working overtime tonight and the house was currently the temperature of an icebox. So she was cold on top of everything else.

She suppressed a shiver then flinched when she felt the weight of fabric being draped over her shoulders. King had taken off the zip-up hoodie he’d been wearing and wrapped it around her without a word. Her initial instinct was to shrug it off, but she was cold, and she didn’t want to make a scene. Plus, enough time had gone by that they could totally be in the same room together and just be friendly. It was fine.

Lila glanced over her shoulder, her eyes quickly landing on his chin. “Thank you,” she murmured.

He nodded.

She threaded her arms through the sleeves and then zipped it up. Hell, Lila even put the hood up for a minute. She was instantly warmer, and also in her own personal purgatory, because now she was surrounded by King’s scent in the dark. With the man himself close enough to touch. She couldn’t help the heat that was pooling low in her belly, so she tried to just ignore it.

When his powerful thigh brushed up against hers? She tried not to picture the beauty that were his quads. Muscular and powerful and lickable and…

Stop it, Lila.

She moved her leg so they weren’t touching anymore and had to repeat the action a couple more times before the movie ended.

She leaned over to Eli. “I’m ready to call it a night. Can I walk you out?”

He nodded, stood, and then held out a hand to help her up. She reluctantly took it and was dismayed when he didn’t drop it once she was standing.

Yeah, this guy needed to go.

Once they were outside, Lila disengaged their hands. Awkwardness hung heavy, and she tried to think of what to say. “Thanks for dinner and for being willing to share our date with a bunch of Die Hard fans.”

“They were nice. Make sure you thank them all for me.”

“Will do.”

“I’d love to go out with you again. Tomorrow, maybe? We could go back to my place, and you could meet my roommates. Or we could just hang out in my room or whatever.” His implication was clear, and Lila knew she needed to nip this whole thing in the bud.

She sighed. “I don’t think so, Eli. I’ve had fun going out with you, but I don’t really see this going anywhere, and I don’t want to lead you on.”

He seemed disappointed but took it on the chin like a champ. He gave her a quick hug and commented that he’d see her around, and then he drove off. Lila blew out a sigh of relief and turned to head back inside.

She went to open the door just as it swung back, and she collided with whoever was exiting. “Oof, sorry!” she managed to get out before she tripped backward. Given the fact that everybody inside had almost a foot and at least 100 pounds on her, it felt like she’d just bounced off of a brick wall.

Large, strong hands grabbed her waist, steadying her. And then she looked up, right into King’s dark, chocolatey eyes. “Sorry, La. Didn’t realize you were on the other side of the door.”

“No worries,” she said, proud of herself for keeping her shit together, because it had been so long since he’d put his hands on her. This was also the most they’d said to each other since he’d ended things. Lila had forgotten how good his hands felt. How they managed to fit her somehow. And she’d definitely forgotten how much she liked the velvety depth of his voice and what caused said voice to turn all gritty and growly and sexy and…

No, Lila.

She needed to abort this mission ASAP, or her body would start trying to influence her mind, and she’d end up doing something irrational like humping his leg or kissing his face off. Or something.

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