Page 60 of Surfaces
He’d still been a guard last night.
Did he want to be more?
I glanced up to see Felipe’s blue eyes bright, an inferno sweeping through his gaze underneath the carefully smooth expression he always wore.
My blue haired guard stared steadily back at me in what somehow became a battle of wills—each of us staring at the other, wanting them to speak first.
Keelan glanced between us before dropping his hand from his arm and saying, “Well, I suppose I could ask Ugo instead—”
“No!” Felipe and I spoke simultaneously, both of us nearly shouting.
Keelan’s expression just became smug. “Well then…”
The stare off threatened to resume, but Keelan broke it by saying in a high falsetto, “Felipe, I’d really love if you’d compete for my hand and give me little blue-haired mer babies.” He switched to a deep tone, shoving his chin into his neck as he play-acted Felipe’s response. “I’d sarding love to give you all the silent little mer babies you want.”
I gaped at him as he kept talking, resuming his normal voice. “Well, now that that’s all settled, Felipe—you’d better go find someone to replace you. And Avia, I think we better seal this deal the way we did the last one.”
Disbelief clouded the room like perfume.
But Felipe didn’t argue.
He didn’t scoff as I’d feared.
He didn’t tell Keelan he’d gone too far or asked too much. He didn’t even counter the mockery that Keelan had made of us.
So, feeling like I was walking on the very edge of a cliff, I gave a small nod.
He gave me one in return, his lips tweaking just slightly—so slightly I couldn’t tell if he was fighting a frown or a smile until I released my own very small, tentative grin.
Then his lips curved up and took my heart with them.
My dashing guard, who’d stolen my breath from the very first moment I’d met him, gave me a small bow before leaving the room as my phantom heart fell like a raindrop onto desert soil, seeping into all the cracks of uncertainty and filling them with promise instead.
I waited until the door was latched and my sense of awe faded.
But then I whirled on the smirking bastard Keelan in a scolding fury. “What were youthinking?”
Keelan didn’t even flinch—probably used to irritating his mother. “Did you notice we match?” He gestured at his hair with his good hand. “Did it to match your eyes, but your skirt makes it a bit more obvious.”
“Stop that, idiot! You’re not even sore!” I poked at his bad arm—not too hard—trying to prove my point and he didn’t even flinch. Guilt flooded me and I considered swimming after Felipe to call him back. “You’re forcing him—”
“Avia, please. The sexual tension between you two is so thick that even being in the same room is like wading through mud.”
“It is not!”
“Ask Gita. Or Ugo. I can call him in here.”
“Don’t you dare!”
“Look, if you don’t like to acknowledge reality, fine. I’m selfishly stacking the deck.”
I raised a hand to rub my forehead, suddenly pitying Sahar and all the shite she put up with from her wayward son. “What are you talking about?” I couldn’t get past the fact that he’d used his injury to manipulate Felipe.
“I know you’re keeping me around because after that kiss,” —he dusted his fingernails on his chest—”I’m a shoo-in. But I’d like to have a couple of co-husbands that I can actually stand.”
Laughter burst from my lips, bubbled like a fountain and kept spilling over, layer after layer of laughter. “So…this is all about you?”
Keelan swam closer and put his good arm around my waist gently, holding me while my giggles subsided. “No. But we can pretend it is until you’re ready to admit that it’s all about you.”
