Page 16 of Made to Love Ya

I crumpled the shirt in my fingers, imagining my hands were gripping his back.

“Hey, Chè, the pizza’s here!” Izael shouted from the living room, causing me to jump.

I hurriedly tucked his T-shirt into my basket underneath my other whites.

“Okay,” I responded as I grabbed the basket and stepped out of the laundry closet.

He stood at the breakfast nook, balancing two pizza boxes and a large soda.

“You want help with that?” he asked, bobbing his head at the laundry basket in my arms.

“No. I’m good,” I muttered and rushed to my bedroom.

I knew that he hadn’t seen me, but somehow it felt like he had. It felt like he knew that I was in there sniffing his shirt and imagining myself in an intimate moment with him. I shoved the basket onto the floor beside my bed. I would fold the laundry later when I could take it out all alone and inhale his shirt. A smile tilted my lips as I walked out of my room.

“What’re you smiling about?” he asked as he set two glasses on the coffee table in front of the leather sectional.

“Nothing. Just happy to be eating. I’m starving,” I lied. I was not about to tell him that I would be sleeping in his T-shirt tonight, hoping to dream about him.

Instead, I plopped onto the sofa and grabbed the remote along with the paper plate with two slices of supreme pizza on it.

“You don’t get the remote this time,” Izael stated.

“Excuse me? This is my place,” I countered.

“Yeah, and I’m a guest. The last two times we watched a movie together, you chose.”

“That’s because I have great taste in movies.”

“I beg to differ. All of your movies read like some sappy romance. Boy meets girl or girl meets boy. Boy chases girl. Girl gives in. Boy does some dumb shit, and girl leaves boy. Boy goes over the top, kissing her ass to make up for the perceived wrong. Girl gets sappy and forgives boy. The end.”

“This isn’t a Jane and Dick book set, Zae.”

I pulled a magenta and cream throw pillow from behind my back and threw it at Izael. He caught it while it was still in the air and winked at me. I wondered if I would ever get over my body and mind’s natural reaction to him when he did things like that. Probably not.

“How’s the house hunting coming along?” I asked, handing him the remote and changing the subject.

A strange look crossed his face, and he shook his head.

“I mean, I’ve seen some potential ones, but I’m not jumping on the first shit that I see. I’ll know it when I see it. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? You ready for me to go?”

“No. Just wondering how it was going.”

“You wanna go with me?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t have the time honestly. My schedule is hectic.”

He bobbed his head and turned his attention back to the TV. Izael sat on the chaise portion of my sectional on the left of the couch, and I sat on the chaise portion on the right. He drug his hand over his low-cut fade while he channel surfed. I took advantage of the opportunity to take in his features. Wide set, slightly hooded, chocolate eyes turned back my way as I stared at him.

“You sure you good? I mean, if you’re gonna evil eye me all night, I’d rather watch a chick flick with you.”

I pulled my blanket over my thighs to cover them up and nestled deeper into the sectional.

“I wasn’t evil eyeing you. Just wondering what you’re going to select.”

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