“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes and swatted his chest as he dipped his head and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead, then one to the tip of my nose. For a second, it felt like the whole villa exhaled with me.
A knock hit the door, followed by Tiana’s voice. “Y’all still alive in there? My fifteen minutes about up.”
I stepped out of his arms, wiping under my eyes fast as she opened the door. Tiana peeked in, gaze bouncing between us, clocking the way we were still standing close.
“So . . . we good?” she checked.
“Yeah,” both me and Hasheem said at the same time. “We’re good.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. My heart liked the sound of that way too much. The tiny, scared voice in the back of my mind whisperedfornow,but I shoved it down. Tonight, I was choosing the part of me that wanted him.
“They’re setting up for closingcircle.Me and Malik are gonna go change. Y’all gonna meet us on the beach?”
“Yeah,” I said, glancing up at Hasheem. “We’ll be there.”
As soon as Tiana pulled the door closed behind her, Hasheem was in front of me again, hands at my waist, lifting me clean off the floor before I could blink.
“Hasheem!” I squealed, grabbing his shoulders. “What are you doing?”
That slow, cocky smile slid across his face. “Trying to fix my life choices,” he said. “Starting with not wasting perfectly good make up sex time.”
“You are absolutely ridiculous.”
“Yeah,” he replied, already carrying me toward the bed. “And you love me anyway.”
“I do.” My fingers curled at the back of his neck. “So much it scares me.”
“Good,” he murmured. “Then we’re on the same page.”
My heart fluttered. We’d basically just said we loved each other without saying the words. Yeah, we’d said I love you before, but this was different, and it scared me a little. Not because I doubted him, but because I finally had the thing I’d been lowkey praying for, and now all I could see were a thousand ways it could all go up in smoke. The last hour had showed me what it would feel like to lose him. One wrong move and I wouldn’t just lose a boyfriend; I could lose my favorite person, the one who knew every version of me.
“Where exactly did you think you were going?” Hasheem asked as we made it to the bed where my suitcases were laid out, half packed. My mouth opened and closed, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. “You know what? Don’t even answer that.”
He swiped the suitcases off the bed and laid me down with one swift motion. His mouth found mine with a quickness, and as he started undressing me, all the doubts and fear about us were replaced with worry that we were going to be late as hell to the closing circle.
I didn’t know how we made it to the closing circle only fifteen minutes late, but we did. Couples were still drifting in, laughing, topping off drinks, and settling onto theblanketsthat were scattered out on the sand.The closing circle was set up like a viral beach proposal scene. It had lanterns in the sand, pillows and blankets forming a big, lopsided heart, and fairy lights strung between palm trees. It was beautiful and overtop in the way I’d come to expectwith this trip.
“You ready?” Hasheem’s fingers tightened around mine as he guided me through the crowd. I nodded my head, but my heart was pounding. I could feel eyes on us, heads turning, and whispers as we walked by.Here we go. I lifted my chin as we stepped fully into the sand.
“Wow.” Simone’s voice cut through the noise before I could take another step. “You must really love him to walk back all cozied up with him after he was in my bed a few hours ago.”
“Simone,” Hasheem said, his fingers tightening around mine. “Kill the bullshit. Harlowe already knows why I went to your room,” he went on. “I told her everything, including how ugly that damn robe was. Youdon’t have anythingto hold over me. Go do yo’damn job.”
“Right.” She laughed. “You don’t have to lie to her, Hasheem. I think it’s time she knows it’s always been me.”
“Comeon.” Hasheem’s thumb stroked the back of my hand, guiding me around her. “We’re done talking to this delusional broad.”
I nodded, rolling my eyes at Simone. It was nothing she could say that would make me believe her over Hashy. I alreadybelieved him. We’d barely taken two steps before Simone slid in front of us again, blocking the path.
“Don’t walk away from me,” she snapped, eyes cutting between us. “I gave you this opportunity. This whole trip?” She tapped her chest. “That was me. And now the two of you want to act like I’m a nuisance?” Her voice dropped as she stepped closer to me. Her words fell through clenched teeth and a fake smile. “I made all this happen. You wouldn’t be here without me, Harlowe. One email from me, andDualitywill cancel your contract. I can make it all go away. Every brand in this space will know you’re messy and unprofessional. No more trips. No more collabs. No more brand deals.” Her mouth curved like she won. “But hey, at least you got the man, right?”
That was it. This bobble head bitch had lost her damn mind. I closed the last few inches between us. I was done playing nice.
“Let’s clear a couple of things up,” I said. “You didn’t make me. You didn’t build my platform. You weren’t up at three a.m. editing videos or reading books so I could talk about them. I did that. My readers did that. Duality saw that.” Her mouth moved like she was about to argue, but I kept going. “You can’t take what you didn’t build.” Hasheem’s arm slid around my waist, tugging me back against him. “Same way you didn’t give me this man . . . and the same way you can’t take him.”
Simone’s brows flew up, and I smirked at the bothered look on her face.
“Come on, babe,” he said to me, not even giving her another glance. “Everything is about to start. I want to get some footage of you on the blankets for the page.” He steered us past her, leaving her standing there looking stupid.By the time we made it to the empty blanket Tiana and Malik had been saving for us, Tiana was halfway out of her earrings. Malik had one hand on her knee, like he was trying to calm her down.
