35. Sloan
Sloan
Bohdan takes his time, even though Talon comes back to pound on the door and try to impress upon us the importance of disco night.
He waits until I pick out a new dress, a black tube one that seems like it’ll be significantly easier on my skin than the sequins.
He asks if he can help me, and he drops into a crouch when I bend to step into it.
He pulls it up my legs, fingers skimming reverently over my body, eyes watchful and on mine the whole time.
He tucks his thumbs just under the material when he adjusts the top.
The left side of his mouth lifts when I shiver.
He doesn’t bother with my underwear, but picks them up from the floor instead.
“Can I keep these?” He holds the black lace between his fingers.
I give a small shrug. “For the next few days, sure.”
He smirks, eyebrows rising before he tucks them into the back pocket of his shorts. “You might have to fight me for these, Zlatí?ko.”
“What would you possibly do with a pair of my underwear?”
Bohdan pushes his tongue to his cheek, eyes dark. “I’m not sure you want the answer to that.”
“How improper.” I tip my chin up.
“Why don’t you slide that dress back off and I’ll show you improper?” Bohdan’s gaze tracks across my chest, his eyes feel a bit like a caress where my waist meets my hips, and they land on the hem.
I reach down, maybe ready to pull the whole thing off again, or cover up more of my legs to try and drive him crazy, when a hand crashes against the door again.
“We can fucking hear you, you know.” Talon sounds like he’s cringing.
Bohdan’s eyes stay on me. “Then leave.”
“And to think I’d forgotten it could get like this,” Talon mutters and the door handle shakes. “Guys, the disco waits for no one.”
Jay groans, before he starts smacking the door in rapid succession. “As happy as I am for you both, could you please, please hurry up so Tia and I don’t have to listen to him say things like ‘the disco waits for no one’ all night?”
I roll my eyes, but a tiny, fond smile blooms on my face and I scrunch my nose at Bohdan, whispering, “Later?”
He nods, tucking a wisp of hair behind my ears. “Later.”
He whispers it—voice low, gravelly, rough—all the ways I’ve liked him sounding the best, and all full of promise.
His lips brush mine, and that kiss is full of promise, too.
I’m not sure how many promises he can keep in two days, and I should really only care about that one waiting for me at the end—the chance to finally move on—but promises shaped like his mouth and his body against mine seem far more important.
There’s another smack on the door and Bohdan groans, tipping his head back before gripping his jaw. “I’m coming.”
He throws the door open again, and they don’t all tumble in this time, but they stand side by side, each wearing their emotions and assessments clearly. Jay, quietly happy, with eyes brighter than usual, the ghost of a grin while he tugs on the chain around his neck aimlessly.
Tia, head tipped to the side, blinking in assessment.
Talon, a wide, childlike smile. He gestures between us before rubbing his hands together. “So . . . you two? The river cruise worked its magic?”
Jay bites down on his cheek, looking like he’s in physical pain trying to restrain himself from pointing out that we aren’t on a river.
Bohdan shifts beside me, carved angles of his face sharp, and a muscle jumps in his jaw. He cuts me a sideways glance, waiting.
I bounce back and forth on the balls of my feet, folding my arms across my chest. “Not that it’s anyone’s business, but we’ve expanded the terms of our agreement for the next few days.”
“A few days?” Tia gives me a dubious look.
I give her a tight smile, shifting again on my feet when Bohdan’s thumb sweeps across my shoulder. “Yes. A few days. The remainder of this cruise that’s definitely not on a river.”
They all wear these emotions, too.
Jay’s eyes go wide, flashing with the tiniest bit of doubt, before they find Bohdan, and whatever worry lines his face softens and his smile grows.
Tia’s nostrils flare with an inhale, her eyes flick back and forth between us before they land on Bohdan’s thumb, still tracing patterns across my skin.
They cut down to my body, to the new dress and noticeable absence of sequins.
She squeezes her eyes shut, cheeks pinching, like the idea that maybe I’m putting myself at risk hurts her.
But she opens her eyes again, the amber in them melts just a bit, and she looks at us the way she used to.
Talon tips his head back and howls like a fucking wolf.
Bohdan cringes, hand leaving my shoulder to press over my ear, but there aren’t enough hands or earplugs in the world to block out that sound.
Talon has the sense to look apologetic for all of two seconds when I wince.
“This was so worth the delay to disco night.” He claps his palms together, a hollow sound echoes, and he throws a thumb towards the living room of the suite. “But the delay has gone on long enough, so you know, chop-chop.”
Jay knocks my shoulder affectionately, brows quirking up before he scrubs his face and turns back to Talon. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”
Bohdan’s hand cups the side of my face, and he studies me with all these unsaid things in his eyes and I think more promises than he should be making in the swirls of his fingertips against my cheek, but I don’t have any time to decode them before Talon’s waving a finger in the air and pushing them down the hall.
I adjust the top of my dress, about to follow, when Tia grabs my arm.
“Sloan . . .” She runs her tongue over her teeth before chewing on the inside of her cheek.
“Are you sure about this? You said you were starting a new life back home, and the whole purpose of this agreement was to get what you needed to do that, not to sleep with him. This doesn’t seem like starting over .
. . it seems a bit like going back in time. ”
I roll my shoulder back, a sort of involuntary movement to try and separate myself from her touch and the truth written in the lines of her face.
It’s something I don’t want to hear right now. Not when everything’s still so quiet and he’s still all over me.
I narrow my eyes. “You were the one who said we should fuck at the winery!”
“I didn’t think you’d actually do it!” Tia presses her fingers to the bridge of her nose, voice dropping to a hiss. “And you gave him your underwear?”
“He took those, actually,” I say, petulant.
Tia gives me a flat look.
I hold my palms up. “What would you have me do? What did I say at the start of this godforsaken cruise? He’s got an unfair advantage, look at him!”
I gesture down the hall to Bohdan, standing with Talon and Jay in front of the bar while Talon pours shots of tequila that look far too full, Bohdan’s eyes cutting back to me every few seconds.
Hair all mussed from my hands, a real smile carving the lines of his face differently than the usual stoic set, but just as breathtaking, with one hand shoved in the pocket of his shorts.
“He is very beautiful, you’re right.” Tia exhales softly, squeezing my arm before finally letting go. “But he’s not more beautiful than you are important.”
“Trust me,” I whisper, pleading with her, really. I need her to understand, because if she’s casting doubts, every bad thing I’ve been thinking is going to wake back up, and I desperately, desperately need a break from my own mind. “Please? I asked him for this. I say stop, we stop.”
She studies me, head tipping from side to side and one curl tumbling down her forehead. She gives me a tiny nod, and an even tinier smile. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
My eyes travel back down the hall, and they find him.
His find me, too.
If this hallway were the horrible, awful trench between us—I think there’s this rickety, ancient ladder stretching from my end to his now, and I step onto the first rung, and I pray and pray and pray that I won’t fall off and get swallowed whole.