I angle my head to deepen the kiss and part my lips so that I can taste him with a swipe of my tongue. He groans and reciprocates just as the generator kicks back on. The clicking of electronics around us is barely distinguishable over our labored breathing, but once the lights start to come on, we reluctantly break away from each other.
Even though we confirm that the light is from a lamp and not someone catching us again with a phone light, I still pause his attempt to jump back in where we left off and instead rest my forehead against his for a moment, to focus on the feel ofhis chest beneath my hands as it rises and falls with his every breath.
There is no question anymore of where we stand, or what this thing is between us. I know with complete certainty that we are on the exact same page about everything, but the question moving forward is,how?How will this ever work, both in the short-term sense and long-term, with us living on opposite coasts?
I decide to start with the most pressing question and ask, still a little breathless, “What if the others decide to leave?”
He smiles as if he was thinking the same thing. “You can stay if the others go. I was already secretly hoping for that possibility.”
I pull back so that I can blink up at him. “So, it would just be the two of us?”
“Yeah,” he says, and leans forward to kiss the tender spot on my forehead. “I mean, if that’s what you want. We can keep getting to know each other.”
In this moment, that isexactlywhat I want, but before I can say it out loud, or give Cursed Drew a chance to talk Epic Drew out of it, someone speaks from just outside my door.
“Drew, are you in there?”
Cameron and I separate so that we can present ourselves as two people who were definitely not just making out against the wall to whoever is outside, and I smooth down my hair just in time for Leah to walk in the door.
“Looks like they got the power back on,” she says cheerfully as she enters my room in her pajamas, but she stops dead in her tracks when she sees Cameron. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you weren’t alone.”
“It’s fine, Cameron and I were just talking,” I lie.
Her suspicious look from earlier returns in full force as she narrows her eyes at me, but as soon as she notices the soileddishrag I am still clutching, her look turns worried. “What happened to your hand?”
“I accidentally broke a few of the champagne glasses downstairs and cut my thumb trying to clean them up,” I say.
Her eyes widen as she notices the bump on my head. “Drew, you have a goose egg on your forehead.”
“I also ran into a door while I was walking up the stairs in the dark.”
Leah shakes her head, incredulously. To Scott, Gabe, or Monika, those accidents would be no cause for concern and just a typical day in my life. But to Leah, who doesn’t know me well enough yet . . .
“That rag has a lot of blood on it.” she presses.
“It’s nothing, just a little—” I start, but Cameron interrupts.
“She cut it right before the power went out, but now that the lights are back on, I’m going to take another look at it. Although I think that keeping pressure on it will suffice until the morning.”
I nod up at him in agreement, but flinch when I turn back to Leah to see that her face is twisted in a grimace. “Drew, can I talk to you for a second? Alone?”
“Sure?” I say, but I find I am not particularly interested in whatever she has to say if it means Cameron has to leave.
“I was just going to head down to see if Delaney needed help, anyway,” Cameron says, and I watch longingly as he walks towards the door to let himself out.
I hate the thought of him leaving my side right now, and I hate even more that he’s going to speak to Delaney, who has had nothing but awful things to say to him all night. He gives us both a nod and disappears out the door, and my heart physically hurts to see him go.
She opens her mouth to speak, but I ignore her to follow after him. “Hang on, Leah, I just need a second,” I say, and leaveher and her shocked expression to chase Cameron down the hallway.
Chapter twenty-eight
I’LL BE RIGHT BACK
Cameronturnsaroundwhenhe hears my footsteps, and a smile breaks the serious expression he wore for Leah. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to talk to you for a second.”
He nods and leads me into one of the empty hall bathrooms, closing the door behind us. He leans back against the sink vanity to be closer to eye level with me. “What’s up?”
