Chapter 11
“Phone?” he asked. “Or forfeit?”
My jaw tightened as I considered all the havoc he could wreak with one message. David offered me a dark smile, knowing I was running through scenarios.
“Can we set some ground rules?” I asked.
He shook his head. “We already have rules, Yara. You can’t keep adding to them anytime you’re scared. I’m not going to remember a ten-page document’s worth of dos and don’ts.”
He had a point. The more we had to remember, the more prone we’d be to forget. As much as I loved a good tabbed document, our back-and-forth didn’t warrant such attention to detail.
“Fine.” I slapped the device into his palm.
“Honestly, I thought I might have had you,” David said.
I gave him a fake smile. “It’s going to take more than the threat of a silly little message to have me give up all this groundwork.”
When I let go of my phone, David reached for my hand. I gasped at his warm fingers pressed against my skin—a reaction way more dramatic than I intended. David laughed at the noise. He’d laugh at how my heart leaped into my throat, too, if he were privy to it.
“What are you…” I watched as he gently straightened my thumb and pressed it to the phone to unlock it. As soon as he let me go, I tugged my hand into my lap, massaging out the buzzing sensation he’d left behind.
“You could have asked for the passcode,” I said.
“I could have,” he agreed, voice quiet and distracted as he swiped across my screen.
“So, you needed an excuse to touch me?” I tried to come back to my senses and feel less like I was about to come undone. David was just some guy from high school who liked to preach stoicism and judge intellect on his own moral scales.
“You know I’m always looking for a good excuse,” he murmured as he typed. “I got a taste of it at the beach, and now, I can’t get enough.”
I would have scoffed if I weren’t taken aback by the fact that he brought up that moment. He could have referenced anything. He could have left it alone. And yet, his mind lingered on something I was also stuck on every time we came face-to-face now.
His brief comment sparked a moment of deep reflection. As I weighed the likelihood of seriousness underlying his teasing, David’s forehead furrowed at whatever was on the screen.
His confused, hushed “shit” sent off immediate alarm bells.
My smile faded. Visions of sugarplum sandcastles washed off the shore. “What?”
“I didn’t realize she was going to respond so quickly…” His brow knitted. “And angrily.”
“Give it to me.” When I reached for my phone, he pulled it back.
“Yara, give me a second to…”
“To?” I shook my head, waiting for an explanation that’d calm my nerves. “What the hell did you do?”
“It’ll be a temporary misunderstanding,” he promised, though the unsure tilt of his brow told another story.
“Give. It. To. Me,” I ordered through gritted teeth.
David took a deep breath and handed me the phone. As soon as I saw the name at the top of the text thread, my heart dropped. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The text David sent made bright dots cloud my vision.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I chewed on my thumbnail as I watched the text dots disappear and reappear, then disappear again. God, she was still responding.
“This is my ex,” I hissed at David.
“Well, that was the point,” he said in an admittedly remorseful tone. If I weren’t so furious, I would have noted how he winced with regret, how his fingers pushed through his hair in a slow and steady motion, how the small bit of color in his cheeks stretched toward his neck.
“You sent an ‘I’ve been thinking about you’ text to my ex.” My breathing was shallow.
“In my defense…”
I stared at him, waiting for a valid explanation. After a few seconds of floundering, David couldn’t come up with a single thing.
“Yeah, I thought so.” I groaned as Ren’s text finally came through. I squinted, hoping limited visibility would lessen the sting. It didn’t.
Yara (David):
Hey, I’ve been thinking about you. And us.
Ren
Are you being serious? This is so weird and inappropriate. You know I’m with Rose. She’s in the room right now. What if she had my phone?
Ren
Have your sisters not mentioned the proposal? Is that why you’re sending this??
I almost threw up while reading the last part. No one had mentioned any proposal. That news must have been stuck somewhere in the grapevine… Uncle Kevin, probably. He could sit on a secret for weeks.
“The Rose she’s talking about wouldn’t happen to be…” David stopped as if he’d rather not know the answer.
“My sister, genius.” My hands trembled as I tried to type a response. Ren and Rose had been together for three years. They were madly in love and had no guilt about it. Not that they should… even though I wouldn’t have minded a bit of groveling from either party.
Every time I typed up a response, it sounded too try-hard. Too fake.
How the hell was I supposed to get her to believe me through text?
None of my sentences felt strong enough to convey how much Ren hadn’t been on my mind.
Nothing written could convey an honest denial as well as my tone.
But calling wasn’t an option. She’d probably put me on speaker for Rose to hear.
They were probably cuddling on the couch or whatever a three-year, live-in couple did.
“Your sister’s about to be engaged to your ex?” David asked.
I waved him away, not wanting to field a question. “You’re done, David. Go away while I try to fix this.”
I texted,
Sorry, it was a joke. Someone I know wanted to prank me. I did not send that text.
Ren
You expect me to believe that?
Oh, fuck her. I groaned and shoved my phone face down on the table.
“Are you cool with it?” David asked.
“Am I cool with you leaving?” I rubbed my hand over my face. “More than cool. Enthused. Obsessed with the idea. Nothing would satisfy me more than you getting out of my face.”
“No, the engagement.”
I frowned. “I don’t care about any engagement. I care about the fact that the girl I date for two months, maybe three max, thinks I’m still obsessed with her.”
I’d worked years to convince them both that I didn’t care about their whirlwind romance that happened on the one family vacation I couldn’t go on because I’d been heartbroken and battling the flu.
The flu had been more painful than the heartbreak but my family couldn’t be convinced otherwise as they coddled me through the early days of Ren and Rose’s romance.
David blinked, quiet for a second before saying, “A simple yes would have sufficed.”
I’d challenge him to a goddamn fight so fast if I weren’t in a skirt, a few inches shorter than him, and no longer lifted weights regularly. I’d challenge him so hard that I’d make it an event, sell tickets, and order t-shirts. Every vs. Evans. It’d be the match of the century.
David reached toward me. He grabbed my phone before I knew what he was doing.
“Are you kidding me?” I tugged at his elbow when he turned his back to me.
“I got it. Trust me, I got it.”
“Nothing you say or do is going to help me at this point.” I kept grabbing for my phone. David held it just out of reach. I strained closer, my body pressed against his in a way that lit up a dormant part of my brain.
Our bodies fit well together. It was a thought that sent my skin ablaze because what did that mean?
Yes, maybe my head could rest perfectly on his shoulder, and he’d be able to rest his chin easily on top of my head.
But what did that matter when he also ruined my mood every other time we locked gazes?
“Yara,” David protested with a laugh when I flicked his neck to intimidate him. How dare he have fun while my stomach continued to do backflips. “Relax. You’re going to make me drop your phone.”
“You wouldn’t be close to dropping it, if you hadn’t picked it up.” I continued reaching.
In one swift, confident movement, David grabbed my wrists, locking me in his firm grip.
To keep me more easily in place, he pinned our entwined hands at his waist. My breath got stuck in my chest. His gaze remained on my phone, utterly oblivious to my internal war of emotions and a burning desire between my legs as he typed with one hand.
“Oh…umm…” Nathaniel was back, eyes wide at the sight of David and me so close and entangled.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said.
“No worries, what’s going on?” David remained unfazed. He didn’t move an inch away from me or look up from my phone.
“I just needed to grab this.” Nathaniel offered us an apologetic smile and picked up a spray bottle of water before quickly departing.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said once Nathaniel was out of earshot.
“Ssh.” David’s deep tone stilled me. I swallowed and attempted to remind myself of my overwhelming hatred of him. Unfortunately, lies were hard to pull off when you were chest to chest with someone, which made it nearly impossible for you to breathe without wanting them to notice.
“I got this,” David promised again.
We remained in the same position as he pulled the phone to his mouth.
“What are you—”
“Hey, Ren,” David started in a steady voice.
My eyes widened. I pressed my lips together, keeping all my protests at bay, once I caught sight of the screen. He wasn’t on a call, thank God. He was recording a voice message.
“Sorry about that text. This is David. I’m Yara’s…” The weighty pause and a glance down at me said too much and too little. His grip on me loosened, but the shift in his hips aligned us so I could feel the seam of his jeans against my core.
David’s gaze flickered to my lips and remained there as he continued, “... anyway, I don’t know if you remember, but I used to go to school with you two.
Yara and I were messing around. I have this thing for testing out social dynamics, and old exes of Type-A people are infinitely intriguing.
It was a shitty joke. I promise, Yara wasn’t in on it. ”
As soon as he let go of the record button, David released my wrists. But I didn’t move, and neither did he.
“What?” he asked, eyes on my chest now, unabashed in his observation. I’m covered up in a long-sleeve shirt, but that didn’t seem to stop him from taking his time.
“You…” My unfinished response coaxed his attention back to my face. His breath smelled of spearmint. I wondered if he’d taste like it too.
David’s hand was on my wrist again, but instead of pinning it to his side, he urged my palm open.
I didn’t pay much attention to the movement, too enthralled with how our breath intermingled.
He leaned close enough that his nose brushed along the side of mine.
Our eyes were barely open as we tested the strength of our fortified barrier. Turns out, we had several weak points.
“Is this… are we doing…?” David's gaze locked on my parted lips.
My breath shuddered, but I nodded. “Think so.”
“Damn it,” David whispered against my lips as he let go of his last bit of resolve.
The world around us went silent when his lips pressed against mine.
The touch was featherlike, a dream almost fading before it truly began.
He stopped for a second, waiting for a reply.
I offered him another kiss. Another dream.
It was just as soft and timid as his. David’s response to my offer was something firmer, longer, greedier.
His hand cupped my jaw, tilting my head back as he parted my mouth with his.
The tip of his tongue brushed mine, giving me a preview of what would be possible with him kneeling between my thighs.
I’ve dreamed of this once or twice, and it always ended with me waking in a cold sweat while a chill ran down my spine. David wasn’t the man of my dreams, but he’d found his way in there somehow. Now, I understand why. I didn’t know how I’d convinced myself he wouldn’t belong.
David was hard, the imprint of him pressed against my thigh.
He backed me into the island, the cold marble surface offering a beautiful contrast to the heat of his body.
A moan lingered in my throat, but I refused to release it.
Some parts of my brain still had a concept of time.
A rational part of me considered self-preservation.
Something crashed in the living room, and a group of people laughed.
There were footsteps in the hallway. The threat of someone seeing us made my desire taste sweeter.
David seemed to agree. He kissed me until the last moment; every second made us more frantic and hungry.
When we finally pulled away from one another, my lips were swollen, and his were red.
“Hey, David,” a bright-eyed, unassuming raven-haired girl greeted. “Know where I can find a broom?”
“Third door on the left.” He gestured to the long hall behind us, turning himself slightly away from her so she couldn’t see the hardness in his crotch area.
“Thanks.” She smiled at us both before disappearing for a moment.
“Here.” He held out my phone. “I’ll let you decide if you want to send it or not.”
There was no acknowledgment of his lips on mine or his arousal pinned against me mere seconds ago. If he didn’t brush his fingers across his bottom lip as if he were reliving the whole thing, I’d assume I’d had a walking dream. Or nightmare, depending on the outcome.
I snatched the device and pressed send without a second thought. My heart pumped blood to my erogenous zones, so thrilled something like this was finally happening after a year of self-pleasure. “Of course I want to send it. It’s possibly the only thing that’ll clear my name.”
David snorted, pulled his hand away from his mouth, and placed it in his hair. He used both hands to brush his strands back. There was an easy smile on his lips, but from the frantic way he gripped the hair at the nape of his neck, I suspected his calm was a lovely mirage. “You’re welcome.”
“Oh, thank you,” I said in a mocking tone, covering up my own internal crisis. “Thank you for fixing what you broke. For cleaning up the mess you made. Thank you so much.”
He held back a laugh, biting down on his bottom lip. I wanted a chance to do that to him. David’s hand gripped his neck as he massaged circles on his pulse. I wanted him to have an opportunity to do that to me. Harder, though.
Oh, you’re screwed.
“New rule,” I decided in a stern voice. “Just a simple one.”
He continued to massage his neck as he said, “Let’s hear it.”
“No contacting exes.”
He nodded. “Fair enough, Daredevil. Fair enough.”