“Yeah. It’s me. You missed me.” He clicks his tongue, shaking his head. “I knew you were obsessed with me, Jones.”
She inhales, her body tingling withwant, need,mine. “What if I did? Miss you?”
The grin stretching across his face fades slowly.
“Hypothetically speaking,” she says, whispering in the quiet hallway. “What would you say? What would you do?” she says, shifting her grip on Lucy, the familiar warmth of her wrapping her in a happy bubble.
He steps forward, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “I’d say …” He blows a gust of air through his lips. “I wouldn’t know what to say, actually. Fuck,” he says, shaking his head, scratching under his chin.
She lets out a soft laugh. “Ha. Now who has nothing to say.”
His eyes lower to hers with an intense gaze.Want, need, mine.“Yeah. You tend to have that effect on me.”
She sucks in a breath, stepping back in an act of self-preservation.
He nudges his head toward the living room.
“Let me introduce you to everyone.”
Within two hours, Jahlani learns more about the Hayes family than she knows about her own. She learns that Danica is a political science major with a minor in women’s studies and is fully committed to embarrassing Roman every waking second. Taylor is a friend from high school who graduated with a biology degree and is now in his second year of medical school. Gwendolyn flits in every now and then, offering bits of the food, refills, or memorabilia from Roman’s childhood for her to look at. She disappears when another knock sounds at the door.
Danica rolls her eyes. “I swear, this woman invited the whole damn neighborhood.”
Taylor bumps his shoulder into her. “Hey, be nice.”
“Donottell me what to do.”
“I’m not?—”
Jahlani sips from her glass of wine, eyes bouncing between the two of them when Roman sidles up next to her.
“What?” he says.
She shrugs. “Nothing.”
He squints at her. “I know that look.”
She nods in the direction of Danica and Taylor, who have now taken their lovers’ spat to the backyard.
“Is something going on between them?”
“Dan and Taylor? Nah.”
“Roman,” she says, staring pointedly.
He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “Danica might have had a thing for him back in high school, but …”
“But?”
Roman winces. “I might have gotten drunk one night and told him.”
Jahlani gasps. “No.”
“Yeah,” he says, bowing his head.
She covers her mouth with her hand. “How could you?”
He looks down regretfully. “It wasn’t my finest moment.”
