Chapter 8 #3
The stage lights dim, fading into a low, dramatic glow, making it easier to see the faces staring back at us.
The applause meter buzzes and chimes as the noise in the room starts to build.
People start craning their necks, scanning the theatre for some kind of hint of what’s going on.
A single spotlight begins to sweep the room and that’s when I notice the shadowed figures entering the theatre through the back doors.
They make their way through the rows, weaving between seats with microphones, or some shit.
Daniel steps around us, interacting with the room, making everything much more entertaining than it needs to be as he lets everyone in on the next steps.
Before I know it, the audience is yelling out suggestions, one after the other, and the mic holders scramble through the aisles to catch them so we can all get the suffering over with.
Every ridiculous suggestion gets blasted through the speakers.
They’re creative, I’ll give them that. Unhinged and slightly concerning, but creative.
I’m not usually a nervous guy, but if Daniel chooses one of these, I’m going to need a spiritual cleanse or some shit to recover from the stress of this ordeal.
My eyes find Beau and Haze, sitting together, leaning forward in their seats, way more invested than they should be.
When Haze catches me looking, his grin widens almost unapologetically before he stands.
For God’s sake, Haze. Sit down. I narrow my gaze and I know he sees it.
Does he listen to my silent protest? No, he does not. He’s fucking shameless.
“Kiss her!” he shouts, his deep voice cutting through the room and over the noise at full fucking volume, no microphone needed. Oh, I'm going to make him pay for that.
“Well!” Daniel laughs, gesturing toward Haze.
“Someone’s a little eager, folks! But what does everybody think?
” He turns back to the crowd, his brow raised in some sort of mocking expression.
“Do you think these guys have it in them to kiss each other for a hundred thousand dollars? How are our spouses doing out there? Is everybody good?” What do you think, asshole?
The voices grow louder, but there aren’t any objections from anyone that I can hear.
How are their partners so okay with this?
Probably for the same reason mine are. Or maybe money just makes people forget their damn morals.
Fuck!
“I want your loudest, wildest applause for the couple you think deserves the win!” Daniel’s annoying voice fades into the background as my thoughts run rampant.
They can't be serious? I can't kiss Jovi? Out of the corner of my eye, I see her face crumple in horror as she slowly shakes her head in disbelief. I’m right there with you, darlin’.
The challenges up until now have been virtually unforgivable.
But kissing her? That changes everything.
She’s Theo’s girl. Not mine. He’ll never forgive me.
“We’ll do it,” the woman says from a few steps away and Jovi’s shoulders immediately slump in defeat.
My brows furrow when our eyes meet, and I search her face for some sort of tell.
Resolve. Acceptance, but I see nothing but disappointment swimming in her hazel-green gaze.
Wait, she knows we can’t cross this line… right?
“On the count of five, people,” Daniel calls out, his voice a dull echo bouncing off the walls, fading within the sound of my heartbeat pumping loudly in my ears. “One…”
The other couple closes the distance between them without hesitation, bodies already angling together like two people chasing payday, like this is nothing more than a box to tick.
Meanwhile, Jovi stays exactly where she is, an arm’s length away from me, rooted to the spot, eyes darting around the room in a panic as she looks for fuck knows what.
An escape.
A miracle.
A reason not to do this.
“Two.”
Her fingers curl at her sides, knuckles whitening, and it hits me just how hard she’s trying to hold herself together because I can tell that she knows that if we do this, we’ll never come back from it.
Not if I ever want my son to talk to me again.
No matter how many times she’s made my pulse spike tonight, or how her memory has burned a hole through my mind since the other night, letting this go any further than a bit of coincidental fun on a vacation would be a mistake.
Dammit, Haze! He knows me better than this. Why throw me to the wolves?
“Three.”
Every warring thought dissolves until the world narrows to just Jovi.
Her bottom lip is caught between her teeth, her eyes glued to the stage floor at her feet and I curse myself for hating to see her like this.
I should turn, walk off this stage and erase every thought of Jovi Stone from my mind.
But I can’t. I don’t have time to think or to question myself as I step in close to her.
My hand reaches out on its own, tucking the stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear, lingering there as my eyes flick between hers.
“You’re a whole lotta trouble, you know that?
” I murmur, my voice rough and thick as my body moves before my brain can catch up.
Her breath hitches when I lean in, just enough for her warmth to hit me, sending heated shockwaves all over my body.
The space between us shrinks until nothing and no one else in this room exists but her and me.
Jovi’s eyes flutter shut for a split second, then open again, wide and questioning.
Probably thinking that we’re both out of our fucking minds.
I tilt my head, my lips hovering over hers and I can taste the temptation with each of her rapid, uneven breaths.
I can do this. I want to do this. I shouldn’t.
All reason slips away until the only thing that matters to me is tasting her.
“Four,” Daniel says, but his voice is nothing more than a distant murmur as I stare down into Jovi’s wild, beautiful eyes, swimming with the same want and desire that I feel from being close to her like this.
I study the pink tint to her cheeks, and the light freckles that pepper her nose, and I swear to God, she’s fucking gorgeous.
Her hands find my chest and time as we know it goes unbelievably still.
“Five!”
I press my lips against hers ever so softly at first, and when her mouth parts, her bottom lip fitting perfectly in between mine, that’s all it fucking takes.
We crash together, urgent and desperate, like we know that this moment we have together won’t last forever.
I hold her to me, one hand tangled in her hair, the other firm on her hip like I’m afraid she’ll disappear.
She melts into me, moving with me, breathing me in like I’m everything she needs, and when her tongue brushes against mine, it sends a rush straight through my veins.
She's like a goddamn drug I knew would be dangerous to touch, but craved all the same, and now I’m fucking addicted.
One mistake.
One reckless mistake that came out of nowhere has been playing like a damn movie in my mind for days now, despite every bone in my body telling me nothing about reliving what happened between us was right.
Jovi was someone I was supposed to shrug off and move on from for a hundred fucking reasons.
One of them being that she belongs to Theo.
Instead, she’s in my arms, our tongues dancing together in a feverish, breathless kiss, our bodies taking control while our brains take a back seat.
Because in this moment, I don't give a fuck.
I don't care about the consequences. I don't care that the only reason I'm tasting her right now, drinking in her strawberry flavored lips, is because we were roped into a weird fucking game show and we're chasing prize money.
Game show.
Just as my thoughts drag me back to the present, the roaring sound of the crowd slams into me.
Jovi pulls away, her lips swollen from our kiss, her eyes still glassy as if she’s still captive to the same trance that captured me.
We both turn, dazed and blinking as the stage light almost fucking blinds us.
The audience is out of their seats, clapping so hard it sounds almost thunderous, shaking the stage.
The other couple stands frozen, their mouths hanging wide open, fury written across their faces.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Daniel says through a shocked chuckle. “I think it's safe to say we have our sinners. I mean… winners! Give it up for Daddy and our flirty vixen! One hundred thousand dollars and an exclusive, private island upgrade are yours!”
The words wash over me. Because I'm still stuck on her. On the way her lips felt. On the way my heart is still racing as we just stand there staring at each other, fully aware of the fragile space between us, and the weight of what we just did.
“Happy Valentine's Day, you two!” Daniel cheers, wrapping his arms around both Jovi and me as a camera flashes in our faces.
God fucking dammit! There has to be something in the water here, because I can't think straight.
Maybe it's the ocean. The way the stage tilts with the roughness of the waves.
It's subtle. If you weren't paying attention, you probably wouldn't notice.
But I do. And it has my head all over the fucking place.
Maybe it's her.
I've got to get off this fucking boat.