I hear Ji’s footsteps approaching as I pull open the pantry door, and Jordan and I jump in. He closes the door behind us, leaving the tiniest crack of light. All thoughts of Ji instantly vanish when I find myself pressed against Jordan’s chest with my arms between us.
This pantry isn’t the walk-in kind—it’s got floor-to-ceiling shelves with only enough space at your feet to put a bag of flour and a few cans. Jordan’s left hand holds onto my upper arm while his right forearm gets pressed between my waist and the wire rack. Everything goes quiet, and all I can hear is the sound of our breathing.
I accidentally step on a can, briefly losing my balance and squishing Jordan’s arm in the process. He moves his arms so that one rests on the door frame to my right and the other is on the shelf next to my left shoulder.
“Sorry.” My lips rise in a small smile as I meet Jordan’s half-illuminated gaze.
When I do, the way his eyes take me in feels anything but friendly. They are filled with a heat and desire that I have never seen from him before.
In a movement so soft, I swear I’m imagining it, Jordan lifts his hand to my face. He runs his thumb over my single dimple.
“Have I ever told you that I love this dimple?” His voice is barely a whisper.
Against my will, my eyes flutter shut, and I soak in Jordan’s touch. His thumb trails lightly down my cheek and across mychin, seeming to outline every feature of my face like it’s made of delicate porcelain.
Breathless at his touch, my body seems weightless. Every moment sends a delightful shiver down my spine. Jordan cups a hand around my face, his fingers combing into the hair behind my ear.
I don’t move at first, afraid that if I do, this moment will end. Regardless, I find myself flattening my hands against his chest and leaning into him.
Jordan gently tilts my face up to his. His lips are whisper-soft as they press against my cheek, making my skin blossom into a million tingles. His mouth trails slow kisses along my jaw until it finds the corner of my mouth and…
And the pantry door flies open, assaulting us with light.
Ji screams. Then I scream. Then Jordan jumps back, knocking into a shelf of dried beans and noodles, sending a Tupperware of lima beans scattering all over the kitchen floor.
“What are you guys doing?” Ji lowers the wooden rolling pin that, up until this moment, she was holding like a baseball bat.
“Um, we were”—Jordan stumbles out of the pantry, crunching lima beans with every step—“trying to scare you.”
Ji’s eyebrows can’t rise any higher. “Oh, it looks like you were doing a lot more than that.”
JORDAN
I sit on the floor of the living room, playing with the edges of the Scattergories card in my hand. The game timer ticks on thecoffee table next to the alphabet die, and I can’t think of a single word that starts with the letter L.
I glance up at Paige, sandwiched between Ian and Missy on the couch, and just as I do, her gaze flicks from her card to me. I am heavily torn between tossing my game card aside and either finishing what we started or walking out the door, leaving temptation behind.
I break our eye contact before I do something dumb. Again. What was I thinking? This is Paige. Off-limits Paige. Paige, here with Ian. Paige, who has a promising life awaiting her in California.
I tell myself these things over and over again, but then I remember how Paige’s eyes fluttered closed, the feel of her silky-soft skin beneath my fingers, the way our embrace filled my heart with hope. Hope that she feels the same about me. I want it to be true so badly.
All the while, I know what the right thing to do is. I should talk to her. I should tell her I’m sorry. That I won’t let it happen again. But I’ve tried to separate myself from Paige and failed. I have no more chance of breaking myself away from her than a fly from sticky paper. The more I try to resist Paige, the more I get sucked in. Holding her and kissing her felt so right. For one fleeting moment, I felt whole with her in my arms.
The game buzzer goes off, rattling against the table.
“Okay, who’s starting us off?” Colton asks, silencing the buzzer.
Ji’s hand shoots up way too fast. “I’ll start.”
I look at the blank game card in my hand, where I was supposed to write a word that started with the letter L next to each phrase on the card.
“Number one. Items you find in a purse.” Ji looks at her card. “I have ‘lipstick.’”
Missy groans and crosses “lipstick” off her card. Then everyone else rattles off the L words they came up with and writes their score down.
“Number two,” Ji says. “Things in a pantry. I have ‘lovers.’”
“You find lovers in a pantry?” Colton asks.
