“Can you pretend to be my boyfriend for two seconds so I can get away fromhim?” The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could think them through.
Drew’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He looked over at Harrison, then back at Ari. Once he put the pieces together, he acted fast.
He put his hand out, and she grasped it. His hand was warm, and the contact of his skin on hers felt so natural that it was as if they’d stood like this a dozen times before.
“What do you need me to do?” he said.
Harrison was still looking over at them.
“Um, do something boyfriendy, I guess?” Ari hadn’t thought this far ahead.
“Boyfriendy?” he asked, confused.
“I don’t know, you could kiss me?” she wondered aloud, regretting the words as soon as they came out of her mouth.
What a weird thing to ask an almost total stranger,she thought, opening her mouth to take it back. But Drew just nodded. He let go of her hand and slowly leaned closer. She could feel her heart beating a little faster as he looked into her eyes and smiled at her like they were in on a secret together. He wrappedhis arms around her shoulder, and she leaned into the comfort of his embrace. He smelled like clean skin, aftershave, and firewood. Like coming home after a long day and settling into someone’s arms.
“Is this okay?” he whispered, his voice sending a tingle around her neck. She just nodded, holding his gaze as he ran his finger against her cheek, tracing a line from her eyes down to her lips. His touch was gentle, but she could feel the trail of heat it left across her skin. The way it spread out across her face and down her body as he cupped her chin, brought her closer, and closed his eyes. Everything went quiet for a moment, and then he kissed her. His soft lips meeting hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck and sank into the delicious taste of him. Their bodies moving in a slow, smooth rhythm as he leaned in and pulled her closer. She gently parted his lips, feeling the hot, smooth sensation of his tongue as they deepened the kiss into a heady, slightly dizzying intensity. Soon her reasons for kissing him were forgotten. Because this feltwaytoo good to just be pretend.
14Drew
AFTER THE OPENING CEREMONY
Drew hadn’t left his hotel room that morning expecting to end the day kissing Ari. He hadn’t planned to end the day kissing anybody. And he certainly couldn’t have predicted that the girl he’d told his secrets to at a random party in another country would now be at the Olympics. Or that he’d be kissing her outside the Olympic Stadium. If it wasn’t for the fact that she’d clearly only approached him to get out of a sticky situation, he would have kept his arms around her waist and kissed her the way he’d really wanted to on New Year’s Eve. But as good as it felt, it was just for show, and Drew knew when to bow out.
When he pulled away, Ari’s eyes were still closed. Maybe it was just the layers of fleece and the big winter coat she was wearing, but she seemed peaceful wrapped up in his arms. Content even. As if they were somewhere warm and cozy, not outside in the snow on one of the coldest days of the year. It had been dark on the roof that night; but now that they were standing underthe glow of a lamppost, he could see how beautiful she really was, her curls gently framing her face, her warm brown skin smooth to touch, her eyelashes curling softly from her eyelids.
“Ari,” he said gently. Her eyes were still closed.
“Hmm,” she replied.
“You can open your eyes now,” he whispered.
Her eyes flew open as if waking from a dream. She looked up at him, shook her head, and glanced away. They let go of each other, then both took a very purposeful step back. He tried not to think too much about how empty his arms already felt without her. Or linger on the way she’d glanced down at his mouth and bit her lip the second they’d parted. For a moment, they stood in silence, looking everywhere but at each other. It was a good kiss. So good that he was almost embarrassed to have enjoyed it so much.
Drew cleared his throat and glanced over at the guy Ari seemed to be avoiding. He was a tall, athletic man wearing a huge red bomber jacket emblazoned with the wordsTEAM GB. Drew had spent years analyzing people from behind his lens. He’d learned how to read the obvious and not-so-obvious cues that gave him insights into who a person was. And while nothing about the guy or the group of athletes now surrounding him suggested he was a bad person, something in his eyes told Drew everything he needed to know. The guy stared Drew down for a second, then nodded at him. But Drew didn’t nod back. Instead, he cast his eyes toward Ari, suddenly feeling protective.
“Is he giving you problems?” Drew said, hunching his shoulders and glaring at the guy. Ari rolled her eyes and shook her head. The slightly startled look she’d come to him with was replaced by a mixture of irritation and amusement.
“I’m not a damsel in distress, Drew. I don’t need you to saveme,” she said firmly, before softening. “But that kiss should be enough to get him to back off, so thank you.”
“I hate creepy random men,” Drew said, thinking of all the times Thandie and her friends had told him about their weird encounters with strangers.
“Harrison’s not creepy or random.”
“Oh,Harrison. As in your ex-boyfriend?”
“How do you—oh, New Year’s,” she said with a grimace.
“Want to talk about it?”
“And spill my secrets like we’re on the roof again? Absolutely not.”
“Why not? I’m a good listener, and I have nowhere else to be tonight.” Drew knew full well that there was a whole SD card of photos to send to Zeus before the end of the day.
“I only told youall of thatbecause I thought I’d never see you again.”
“Yet here we are.” Drew tilted his head and met her gaze.
