I narrowed my eyes to slits.
Dragging his teeth over his bottom lip, he dropped his voice so only I could hear. “Feel free to come by whenever you want to continue, Rose.”
I stood, and my knees wobbled, but I managed a brief nod before following Neema into the lounge, where her Pinterest board was open and waiting.
Round 15
It took an entire week to summon the courage to see William again, even though he lived in my every waking, and sometimes sleeping, thought.
What would have happened had we been alone?
I couldn’t shake the look in his eyes or the feeling of his warm breath on me. My body was filled with want… and fear.
But time was running out, and my game wasn’t done yet.
So, after work, I went to his apartment with Shaun at my side. There would be people around, and none of the inappropriate things I’d been thinking about would be possible.
Yet, when I got there, my heart beat in my throat—which was medically impossible.
I did google it.
Stepping inside, I raised my chin, determined not to let William know he’d won the last round. “Hey.”
Hunched over his desk, his hair standing sideways, William shut down one of my favorite games. It disappeared from the screen as he spun toward us.
“Hi and goodbye,” Shaun said, never looking up from reading a text on his phone. He picked up the backpack he’ddropped on the floor only seconds before and then grabbed a set of keys from the rack. “Neema’s car broke down at work. I need to rescue her.”
“Wait, uhm, I…” I stammered.
“Play nice!” Shaun grinned before stepping out the door and closing it behind him.
Whatever little confidence I had in beating William at his own game was gone the second we lost our buffer.
William stared at me with one dark brow raised as I made it to the couch on wobbly legs.
“What?” I snapped, retreating to the safety of a snarky tone.
“The game?” He gestured to the bag I clutched against my chest.
“Oh.”
Smooth, Rose. Really smooth.
I removed the scarf from my hot neck and set up the game before taking a seat directly across from where William had sprawled out, keeping a healthy distance between us.
He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his parted knees while he stared at the board. “No one wants to play a board game for four hours.”
I sighed. “I know. There’s so much I wanted to fit in.”
A smile played on his lips, and his tongue shot out and took a swipe against the bottom one.
My traitorous cheeks flushed.
“Sometimes the fun is better in small bursts.” He stretched, and his T-shirt slid up, exposing his Adonis belt.
My gaze dipped to where it shouldn’t. It was more of his body than I’d planned to see, and far more than I was capable of handling in this state.
Damn those low-riding sweatpants.