Page 58 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

She tilted her head to the side, and an adorable, lopsided grin pulled at her perfect, raspberry-colored lips. “Do you think he’d rather have hismomor Miles Ford bring his cake in?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She pushed the cake toward me. I held out my hands, and as she placed the cake in them, her fingers brushed against mine. The innocent touch sent a shockwave through my body. Her eyes shot to mine, and I knew she felt it, too.

We both stared, unmoving, as tension crackled between us. Then she blinked and quickly turned to head to the room. When she did, her ponytail fanned out, and the swoosh of the air put about a quarter of the candles out.

“The candles,” I said as she reached for the door handle.

“What?” She turned back around and looked down. “Oh shoot.”

She grabbed a pack of matches from her back pocket, and when she pulled them out, I could see her hands were trembling. I wanted to believe that I was the reason for her shakiness.

Twice, she tried to pull the match between the flap and the pack to light it, and twice, nothing happened. The other flames were starting to dwindle.

“Do you want me to do it?” I offered.

“No, I can do it.” She ripped off another stick, and this time, it lit. She placed the flame on the four candles that had gone out and blew out the match. “Okay, ready.”

“Yep.”

She walked in front of me, and I followed her. I did my best not to let my eyes drop down to her hips, swaying back and forth as she hurried down the hall. Her jeans molded to her backside, and the denim was worn in all the right places, accentuating her hourglass curves. It made beads of sweat break out on the back of my neck, and I could feel myself getting turned on, remembering how her backside felt in the palm of my hands as I was buried deep inside of her.

Fuck. No. I could not walk in with a hard-on carrying a birthday cake.

As she pulled open the door, I managed to calm my body down. When I walked through, the entire room started singing Happy Birthday, led by Zoe and Nadia. AJ’s face lit up when he saw me. His friends were all slapping his back and seemed stoked that I was there.

I took photos with the entire group and then with two or three at a time. I ended up taking some selfies with some of the workers at Party Palace as well as parents who were coming to pick their kids up.

Most of the time, I hung out with Dawson and Harlan. I’d missed them, too. They were just really good, solid, guys. They cared about their family, sports, and having fun talking shit.They could care less about my latest box office numbers or whether or not I was starring in the next A24 or superhero film.

When the party was winding down, the remaining kids were playing their final game of laser tag, and Harlan and I were taking trips, bringing AJ’s presents to his truck so he could bring them to Zoe’s. When I came back to grab another load, Zoe and Nadia were alone in King Arthur’s room cleaning up.

I was about to open the door when I heard Nadia ask Zoe, “So you’re not going to hook up with him again?”

I stopped and listened.

Was she talking about me? Had Zoe hooked up with someone else? Was it Elias? Had she gone to dinner with him? Was she interested in a relationship with him now?

“No,” Zoe quickly replied.

“Why not?” Nadia followed up.

Yeah.

Why not?

“Because it’s not appropriate.”

“Why?”

If it was Elias, was it because they worked together?

“You know why. Besides, there’s no future there. He’s…him. And I’m me. He lives in Los Angeles.”

My shoulders dropped as I exhaled a breath of relief. She was talking about me. Not Elias. She wasn’t talking about the pediatric heart surgeon.

“There doesn’t have to be a future to have asecret rendezvous,” Nadia sang the last two words.

---