Chapter 12
“Wake up, Valentine,” I whispered in Harlowe’s ear, giving her a gentle shake under the covers as I climbed in beside her.
“Mmmm, five more minutes,” she mumbled, trying to roll away from me as she dragged the sheet over her head like a kid.
“Nah.” I laughed, pulling her back in. “Get up. Nobody told your pretty ass to have all those pink drinks last night.” I shook my head. I damn near had to carry her ass back to the villa last night after her and Tiana took one too many pink drinks to the head.
After that Truth or Dare mess, Tiana and Harlowe acted a damn fool all night.
They danced and drank all night until Duality put us out.
I didn’t mind it. Shit, Harlowe passing out as soon as we got back only helped me have more time to prepare the surprise I had for her today.
Had she not been in a drunk slumber, I didn’t know how I would have been able to sneak the florist and the chef in here.
“What time is it?” She cracked one eye open, squinting at me.
“Valentine’s o’clock,” I said. “Come on.”
“Hasheem, if this is just you tryna get morning sex, I swear—”
“If I was trying to fuck, we wouldn’t be leaving this bed. It’s a surprise, but you gotta get up for it.” She sighed dramatically and flopped onto her back, staring at the ceiling like she was asking God for strength.
“Not before I brush my teeth and wash my face,” she said. “I refuse to see my surprise with morning breath.”
“Do what you gotta do,” I said, sitting back. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Twenty.”
“Ten,” I countered, and she rolled her eyes as she swung her legs out of bed and shuffled toward the bathroom, grabbing her toiletry bag.
The door clicked shut, water came on, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding as I flopped down on the bed.
Everything was already ready—flowers, food, pool, the whole nine.
I just needed her. I listened to the water, the sound of her moving around in there, and tried not to overthink.
This wasn’t just some action shit. Nah. This was me showing Harlowe that we worked. The bathroom door opened behind me.
“Okay. I’m presentable now.” She stepped out of the bathroom looking like she was ready to be eaten up.
She had on a red silk robe that exposed her thick ass thighs.
Her curls were wild, and on her face, she wore nothing but some lip gloss.
I bit my lip and adjusted myself because she was so damn fine.
My eyes traveled the length of her, and I had to drag my gaze back up before I started something we didn’t have time to finish.
“Bring yo’ fine ass on.” I peeled myself off the bed and walked up to her. “Turn around.”
“Why?” she asked, brows raising.
“Because I said so. Damn. Stop being difficult for once.”
“Can I just grab my camera real quick?” She tried to step around me, but I blocked her path.
“No cameras today. I want it to be just us today.”
She sucked her teeth, but she didn’t argue. She just turned her back to me as I slid my palms over her eyes and covered them gently.
“Hasheem…”
“Trust me,” I said. “Just walk.”
She hesitated for a minute, and we moved slowly toward the patio door. My chest was against her back, her hands held my wrists, and she fussed the whole damn time.
“I better not trip, Hash.”
“You won’t.”
“If you’re walking me to my death, I’ma haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“Sounds like a good time to me,” I said, smirking as I eased the patio door open with my elbow. The morning breeze greeted us as we stepped outside.
“Alright,” I said, walking her a few more steps, getting her lined up just right. “Ready?”
“No,” she said immediately, and I took my hands away anyway.
“Oh my God.” I stepped to the side so I could see her face. Her eyes were wide, bouncing from the pool covered in red and pink petals spelling out BE MINE to the breakfast and champagne I had set up on the patio table. Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes watered.
“Hasheem,” she whispered. “What is all this?”
“Breakfast,” I said, trying to play it cool even though my heart was thudding. “Valentine’s edition.”
She turned to me slowly, her mouth still wide open. “You did this?”
“I had help.” I shrugged. “May have hired a few people.”
Her face balled up like she was about to ugly cry, and I pulled her into me.
“I just . . . this is . . . it’s a lot.”
“In a bad way?” I asked.
She shook her head quick. “No. No, in a . . . in a nobody’s ever did this for me way.”
Something in me tightened at that. I already knew that much.
I’d watched her spend more than one Valentine’s Day settling for less than she said she wanted.
That was half the reason I even started buying her and Mama flowers every year.
If they were getting bare minimum from dudes, it damn sure wasn’t gon’ be from me.
“This is just so beautiful, Hashy.” She started walking around the pool, taking in every detail. “Did you . . . Did you see my Valentine’s Pinterest board or something?” she asked, half laughing, half crying. “Because this looks exactly like—”
“Nah. That live you made last year. The one where you described your dream Valentine’s Day.”
Her eyes widened. I could tell she didn’t know I’d seen it. I’d been in some crowded restaurant with Simone that night, watching Harlowe on live. I watched the whole thing on mute at the table then replayed it later with the sound on.
“I didn’t even think you saw that,” she said softly. “I didn’t even know you were watching.”
“I see everything,” I told her. “I just don’t always say anything. Don’t mean I’m not paying attention.”
She looked at me like she was about to ugly cry again. She reached for her phone out of habit, thumb already opening the camera. Then she froze, glancing back at me.
“I know you said you wanted this to be just for us,” she said. “I don’t have to—”
“Go ’head,” I said. “You can take your little video. I ain’t gon’ block your bag.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just don’t turn it into a whole production,” I added. “Get your clip, then put it down and actually be here with me.”
Her shoulders dropped like she didn’t know she needed that permission until I gave it.
“Okay,” she said. “Deal.”
She flipped her camera, angling it toward herself with the setup behind her. The switch-up was instant.
“Hey, Harlings,” she said, voice soft and happy as she grinned.
She turned just enough to catch the flowers, the pool, the food.
“Look what my man did for Valentine’s Day.
” She paused for a playful little side eye.
“Y’all men coming like this or nah? Anyway.
. . I hope you feel loved today, even if it’s just by you. You deserve romance too. Okay, bye.”
She hit end, thumb hovering like she might do another one. I stepped forward and plucked the phone right out her hand.
“Alright, that’s enough internet,” I said, dropping it face down on the table. “You hit ’em with the flex. Now you mine.”
“Bossy.” She laughed with watery eyes.
“Been like that,” I said. “Sit down so you can eat your rich girl breakfast.”
I pulled her chair out for her. She sank into it slowly, still looking around like she might wake up any second. I started fixing her plate, acting like my chest wasn’t warm as hell over all of this. Eggs, fruit, a little bit of everything the chef had sent up. I set it in front of her.
“Hasheem, that’s too much,” she said. “I’m not gonna eat all that.”
“You been running off vibes and anxiety this whole trip.”
She snorted. “That’s my normal diet.”
“Yeah, and it’s trash,” I said. “Eat.”
She rolled her eyes, but she picked up her fork. First bite went in, and her eyes slipped shut for half a second.
“Okay, that’s good,” she admitted.
“Say thank you, Chef Hasheem.”
She laughed, softer now. “You warmed it up; you did not cook it.”
“Wow. Hater.”
We fell into an easy quiet. Waves hitting the rocks, birds doing whatever birds do, her little toes wiggling against the tile.
Every now and then, she’d look around like she still couldn’t believe all this was for her.
That look did something to me every time.
It made this whole “we’ll put it back in the can when we leave Zanzibar” agreement feel dumber and dumber.
How would we go back to just best friends after this?
She set her fork down, brushing crumbs off her fingers.
“Hasheem?”
“Yeah?”
“You really think this”—she flipped her fingers between us—“could work? Like, outside of here. When we’re not in vacation mode and real life is loud again.”
There it was. The part she’d been chewing on since we first crossed the line.
I leaned back, studying her. She was the same girl I’d known since freshman year, the same girl that made everything feel lighter just by being in the room. The only difference now was I finally had her the way I’d been wanting her.
“We been working for sixteen years,” I said. “We just added sex.”
She huffed out a laugh, but she didn’t look away.
“I’m still your best friend,” I went on. “That don’t change because we started doing what we should’ve been doing a long time ago. When we get home, we figure the rest out together, not just you spiraling by yourself, not just me thinking by myself. Together.”
Her shoulders eased down with every word, like I was physically lifting weight off her.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Together.”
I nodded once, letting that sit. It felt like some line had just shifted inside me for good.
“So,” she said after a minute, picking at her croissant again. “Is this the whole day? Not that I’m complaining. I could sit out here all day.”
“Nah,” I said. “This just part one.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Part one?”
“Yup.” I leaned forward, elbows on the table. “You got anywhere to be ’til that Duality thing tonight?”
She made a face. “They said ‘optional’ dinner, so technically no. But my brain is like ‘network, sis.’”
“Cool,” I said. “Then after we eat, you got about an hour to do whatever influencer shit you need to do—post your little clips, answer some comments, yell at TikTok. After that, you mine.”
Her eyes narrowed, but there was a smile tucked in there too. “Define ‘mine.’”
“I’m stealing you off this resort,” I said. “Told the front desk to have a car ready. We going to see something.”
She sat up straighter. “Where? I thought we saw the entire island yesterday.”
“You’ll see,” I said. “Just wear a swimsuit under the dress, okay? And bring a book.”
“A book?” she repeated. “You taking me somewhere I can read? You love me.”
I didn’t say nothing to that out loud, but my chest answered for me.
“Just be ready,” I said instead. “I got the rest.”
“Hasheem,” Harlowe said as soon as we made it through the entrance of the Malo Cave. “We’re at a cave,” she whispered, like it was some kind of secret, like she hadn’t been saying that since we’d arrived.
“Glad to see you using your context clues,” I said. She cut her eyes at me, taking in the high rock walls and the way the light poured in through the opening above and bounced off the water.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s one of the swimming ones. They usually pack it out, but I booked us a private slot.”
Her head snapped toward me. “You did what?”
“Reserved it,” I corrected. “Just us for the next couple of hours. No tourists, no guides in your face, no ‘say hi to my vlog’ people. Just water, quiet, and that book bag you brought with you.” I shrugged. “Figured you could brag on yo’ vacation boo a little more today.”
“You’re insane,” she said. “In a good way. But still insane.” She went quiet behind me for a minute, water shoes smacking the stone as she followed.
Her hand brushed the wall for balance while we walked down the narrow path, deeper into the cave.
The air cooled, and the sound of the water got louder and louder with every step until the tunnel opened in front of us.
“Oh my God!” Harlowe gasped at the view because it was even more wild. The water was clear, glowing from the light sneaking in through rocks above. “I feel like I’m in a movie,” she whispered.
“You are,” I said. “You been the main character in my head since day one.”
She laughed and set her bag on a dry ledge. I stripped out of my shirt, feeling her eyes on me.
“Nobody here?” she asked, still looking around like somebody might pop out with a camera.
“Just us,” I said. “You can get butt ass naked if you want to.”
She chewed her lip, then started undoing her cover-up. For a second, I just watched the way she tied her hair up, the way the light bounced off her skin, how comfortable she looked around me.
“This might be my favorite Valentine’s ever,” she said.
“Mine too,” I said without thinking as we eased into the water.
“It’s cold,” she hissed.
“You’ll live,” I said. “Come here.”
I backed us up to a flat ledge where we could stand chest deep, water lapping at our shoulders. She floated a little, legs bumping into mine, fingers drawing lazy circles on my chest.
“This does not feel real,” she said. “This is the perfect setup for me to be on the side of the pool with a drink and my Kindle, doing a reading vlog or something.”
“You can,” I said. “You want me to go grab your books out of that bag so you can relax and read?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said. “I don’t want to read.”
I arched a brow. “What you want to do then, Lowe?”
Instead of answering, she pushed off the ledge and moved toward me, slowly and seductively. The water lapped at her waist, then her stomach as she closed the space between us. Her hands found my shoulders, then my chest.
“Lowe,” I warned, even though my body was already giving her the exact opposite message. “You keep playing like that, and I’ma end up fucking you right here in this water.”
“I wouldn’t complain.” She smiled as she removed her bikini top and those big ass water balloons bounced on top of the water. My throat went dry, and I looked around again, making sure we were alone.
“Say it,” I demanded.
“I . . .” She drew in a shaky breath, eyes locked on mine. “I want you to make love to me in this cave,” she said, her hands already dipping into my trunks and pulling out my dick. Shit. I had just booked this cave for her to read but if she wanted dick instead, who was I to stop her?