Chapter 15 Fourteen #2
The white lie stung to get out, but at least it was better than the truth.
“Alright. I will have James take a party favor back for you, yes? Tell me, do you prefer Gucci or Dior?”
“Um … Dior?” Sophie squeaked, trying her best to keep her jaw together.
Lina nodded and muttered to herself in Spanish before whipping out her phone. She tapped something out before putting the cell away.
James hummed. “Oh, right. Lina, I wanted to mention the posts on Instagram?”
“Yes?”
“I could do without them.”
She frowned. “There has not been anything provocative.”
“I know, but Adam and I don’t have the level of brotherhood where I need to see my friend’s lipstick stains on his neck.” James shook his head. “Ignorance is bliss, after all.”
Sophie cleared her throat and fussed with her scarf as she crossed into the park. The evergreen fabric was light enough for early autumn in New York, but it constantly loosened around her neck.
Marilyn had needed to discuss something with James regarding his campaign, but her busy afternoon sent Sophie in her stead.
Sophie wrapped her coat tighter around herself, sitting down on a bench. I should’ve changed our meeting place to a café instead.
But she’d been in the mood for fresh air.
“Sophie.” James approached, his hands wrapped around two cups of coffee. He extended the iced one, his eyes crinkling as he smiled.
She stood and walked over, taking the drink. Her fingers brushed his, adding additional shockwaves to her bloodstream. “Thanks. But what if Marilyn had showed up instead? You were gambling a lot, buying this second coffee.”
“You texted me saying she was busy, so I figured it’d be alright.” He lifted a shoulder. “Besides, I was going to get you one anyway. And maybe a croissant.”
“Stop trying to feed me all the time.” She sipped the icy caffeine, withholding a groan. Motioning with the cup for him to follow her, she walked down the narrow path.
He fell into step beside her. “You know, I’ve seen that face on you before.”
“What face?”
“The one you make when you pretend not to like something.”
She slurped her coffee. “Oh? Where?”
“In a more … private setting.” He offered a ruinous grin. “If I remember correctly, the last time was two nights ago. With that plu— ”
“Shut up,” she hissed. Peeking around, she gauged if anyone had overheard.
But few people dotted the park’s paths, the cloudy and chilly weather deterring most of the city from seeking the outdoors.
Laughter soared from his mouth. “Sorry, sorry. So … Marilyn said she wanted to cover … what was it, again?”
“Optical tactics.” Sophie cleared her throat and fixed her scarf as she walked. “Again, she’s sorry she couldn’t be here. But like I said, a few things came up for her.”
“And like I said, that’s more than alr—”
A bicycle bell split the air.
She glanced behind her shoulder at the incoming cyclist right as her world jerked off-kilter.
James tugged her so she was in front of him, and she smacked into his body, the ice cubes in her coffee rattling.
His coat swirled as the cyclist whizzed on by without a care in the world.
“Are you okay?” James asked, relinquishing her bicep.
She nodded, gulping air down as she shook her hair out of her face. “Thanks.”
“Hang on.” He set his coffee down on the low stone wall bordering the park and reached for her scarf. Fixing it just so, his grasp lingered on the fabric as his gaze crept up to hers. “Better?”
“Yes.” Heat radiated from her heart throughout her chest.
He smiled, releasing her. “Good.”
She motioned to the next empty bench and sat, placing her coffee beside her. She pulled her laptop from her bag. “Alright, so these optics.”
He hummed and shifted closer as his fingers found hers.
She stiffened, her breath freezing in her lungs. “James.”
“It’s fine.” His cologne washed over her and dragged her into heady oblivion. “No one’s around to see.”
Protests found themselves on her tongue, but they died as she took in their empty surroundings. “Okay, well—”
He slipped his glasses on. “Go on.”
Her mouth dried out and she sighed, squinting against a gust of wind. “You’re really making it hard to concentrate today, you know that, right?”
“Am I?” He grinned.
She nodded, twisting slightly to face him. “What’s gotten into you?”
He hummed and his thumb swished against the back of her hand, drawing addicting, slow circles. “Nothing.”
She snorted. “James, please.”
“Fine. It’s been a week, that’s all.” He shrugged. “And I don’t know, I just want to hold your hand.”
Something shifted inside her chest and she closed her fingers a little tighter around his. “Alright, but we have to look at these too, okay?”
He reached over to her with his free hand and plucked a small leaf from her hair. Discarding the object onto the ground, he nodded. “Alright.”
“Thank you.” She smiled ruefully and snuck a quick peck onto the hinge of his jaw.
I know what I told him, but…
She needed this glowing kernel. A brief moment where she could pretend and gloss over the risk.
His eyes widened and he looked over at her. “Sophie?”
“Like you said,” she said, “There’s no one around to see.”