“Not gonna lie, I thought about it.” Her eyes widened slightly at this, and I chuckled as I continued. “But there’s too many valuable things in here for me to start throwin’ punches.”
I looked down at her again as we rounded the corner into the next hallway, catching the moment she blushed and tried to hide it as she looked ahead. Only for her smile to slowly fade.
“This sounds...ridiculous,” she said, drawing her eyes from Kira and Aiden, where they wandered up ahead. Her steps slowed a little. “You don’t think he’d hurt her, do you?”
From a distance, Kira and Aiden looked like another loved-up couple, wrapped in each other's arms as they looked at the art. But it was easy for anyone to play pretend. “Has Kira indicated to you that he might?”
“No, not really. But he has gotten frustrated with her over little things... Maybe I’m just overthinking it.” She looked down at our hands before I gently squeezed hers, slowing us to a stop and grabbing her attention again.
“There’s nothin’ wrong with overthinkin’. You’re lookin’ out for your friend.” I gently brushed her hair behind her ear. Her face softened slightly, and the frown vanished. “Though I am happy someone else is admittin’ Aiden is an asshole.”
“I never said that,” she hissed with a smile.
“You implied it.” I poked my finger into her side and her yelp of laughter filled the space.
She clapped a hand over her mouth, her cheeks turning red. When others looked around to find where the sound had come from, she tried to pretend she had no clue either.
“Don’t do that,” she laughed quietly, letting go of my hand to straighten out her dress as she looked around the hallway.
While she was distracted, and everyone else’s attention was no longer on us, I stepped in front of her and ducked my head to kiss the side of her throat, catching her off guard when my lips grazed her warm skin.
She sucked in a breath, tilting her head. “Don’t do that either.”
I hummed against her skin, breathing her in before more voices filled the hallway and I backed off, smiling a little at the state I left her in; flustered and happily bemused.
We didn’t talk much for the rest of the time spent at the gallery, half paying attention to the art we were looking at as we waited for the hallways to clear. Each time she kissed me, even if it was brief, she brought herself closer, her touch growing more needy as she clutched my shirt. Or threaded her fingers through my hair. Which was around the same time I backed her into a wall, but she slipped out from under my arms when someone entered the hallway again.
I groaned in frustration, directed at the art collectors in suits, and followed her, locking our hands together again as she stopped to look at a painting of clouds. Her chest rose and fell beneath her dress as a smile played on her kiss-swollen lips. She was looking at the art with a blissful expression on her face and wonder glinting in her eyes.
My throat suddenly squeezed as something bloomed deep in my chest. It was overwhelming and weird but rattled my heart with a newfound awareness, shaking off whatever I thought I knew about this...feeling.
Lily gently tugged on my hand, and I blinked, bringing her back into focus as she tilted her head. Her face was a mix of concern and curiosity.
She smiled apprehensively. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, sorry.” I rubbed quickly at my eyes, wiping away the film of glossiness that distorted my vision.
It was late afternoon by the time we left the gallery. The rest of the day went smoothly; Aiden didn’t talk to me again after my warning, and Lily invited me back to her apartment for the night.
Almost smoothly.
As we climbed into the car to head back to Lily’s apartment, my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number, detailing another cash retrieval job taking place in Manhattan. While Lily said it was okay that I couldn’t come home with her, I spent the entire drive trying to come up with a decent enough excuse to get me out of going. But I knew what Antonio was like. He would sniff out a lie, and if I blew the job off, I would be hauled in for an unnecessary interrogation based on the foundation of trust and family.
I parked on the corner of the one-way street that sat alongside Lily’s apartment building. Pushing the gear stick into park, I let the car idle while I waited for Lily to gather her bag. Then shut the engine off to watch her curiously as she fumbled with the strap and the seat belt when she unbuckled it.
She was stalling.
I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling. “Lily.”
Her attention snapped to me. “Yes?”
“You adjusted that bag strap twice now.”
She chewed her lip as she stewed on a thought, dropping her hands to her lap. “It’s just... It’s hard to figure you out sometimes.”
I didn’t know what I was expecting her to say, but it wasn’t that. Resting my arm along the back of her seat, I turned my body to face her. “Okay?”
“It’s not that there’s anything wrong with that.” She looked down at her fingertips playing with the hem of her dress. “You seem to disappear into your head sometimes and I wish I could figure out what you’re thinking... Like today at the gallery.”
