She stepped in so close that Vivian was transported out of her body. Out of time. She was back on the patio, pool water lapping and Bryn’s breath falling against her skin. The soft sound in her throat and softer lips against hers.
Vivian couldn’t breathe. She wanted to sayno. Wanted to say that she was different. But the truth was she was starving for this. For her.
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to,” Vivian muttered.
Bryn’s throat flushed but she didn’t move away. “I’m not afraid of teeth.” With nothing but her voice, she held Vivian by the throat, fingers digging into her neck and prompting Vivian to beg for more. “Maybe I even like to bite.”
Mouth dry and heart pounding, Vivian nearly groaned.
“There’s room for one more!” a man called from the open elevator.
“You go,” Vivian said too fast. “I’m going to take the stairs.”
She was already turning. Already primed to run when Bryn called out.
“Meet back down here at eight for dinner?”
Vivian froze. She should tell her the truth. Tell her that she’d only said that about dinner to get rid of Seraphina for her. A shield she’d thrown up to deflect Seraphina’s grasping hands. But Bryn was looking at her, eyes wide and expectant, and Vivian couldn’t crush her.
Or maybe, an insolent voice echoed in her mind, maybe she wanted the plausible deniable for her own desires. She stopped thinking and nodded as the doors slid closed and she bolted for the stairwell.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Every itemof clothing Bryn had brought with her was splayed on her bed. Her attention darted between two final options: the one she wanted to wear and the one she probably should wear.
To hell with it.
She was having dinner with Vivian. Dinner on purpose and without the pretense of necessity or work. Her stomach fluttered so hard it made her laugh, alone and delirious. She picked the outfit she wanted to wear and hoped that in this instance she was giving Jenny Shimizu and not Diane Keaton.
Bryn grabbed her outfit and the steamer. After her shower, she slicked her wet hair back with product. Following a preteen’s tutorial, she applied copper shadow and black eyeliner. She didn’t look as stupid as she felt when she added a little metallic shimmer to the apples of her slim cheeks.
In the full-length mirror by the door, Bryn gave herself a nervous once-over. The tailored ivory flared pants were tight at the high-waist and a little more dramatic in their wideness at the bottom than Bryn had realized. But the tucked-in collared shirt and ivory skinny tie looked… not the worst.
Was she trying too hard? She was probably trying too hard. But as she chugged water because her mouth was unbearably dry, she couldn’t convince herself that trying was a bad thing. Shouldn’t Vivian know that Bryn cared about their date? That she wanted to impress her because impressing her mattered?
Was it a date?A cold pang of doubt flashed in Bryn’s belly.What the hell else could it be?
She cracked open another bottle of room-temp water and guzzled. Eyes closed, she tried not to cringe with her entire body that she’d told Vivian she liked to bite.Who even says that?
Applying more mascara because she had ten minutes to kill, she talked herself down. Vivian hadn’t recoiled at Bryn’s open flirting. And Vivian was the one who’d practically growled in Seraphina’s face, all hot and territorial. Vivian was the one who’d sent a reservation confirmation for an Italian restaurant. Vivian had been the one to almost kiss her again.
She capped the mascara and took a deep breath. It didn’t matter if she was terrified or trying too hard. She wanted Vivian, and she was over pretending she didn’t.
* * *
Vivian: On my way down.
Standing near the hotel’s entrance, Bryn rocked in her chunky loafers. The June evening was stickier on the street than it had been on the roof the night before. Bryn was overthinking her outfit and hair and whether her makeup was going to melt off her face—then she saw her.
In a midnight-blue, empire-waist jumpsuit and her hair in a low bun, Vivian crossed the lobby like it was a runway. She was gold catching the noonday sun, conducting heat just to beam it straight into Bryn’s unprepared chest.
It was all Bryn could do not to sigh a mortifyingwowwhen Vivian approached with a clutch tucked under her arm. Head high and posture commanding.
“I ordered a Lyft,” Bryn squawked instead.
Vivian’s glossy lips twitched into a smirk. It disappeared when her attention drifted over Bryn’s clothes. Over the outfit that felt like full-on Annie Hall cosplay. Vivian wasn’t laughing when she reached out with both hands and straightened Bryn’s tie a fraction. When her palms lingered on Bryn’s chest, warm and devastating.
Dark eyes locked on hers, Bryn couldn’t stop staring. She was tempted to abandon their dinner plans. To take Vivian’s hand and pull her back upstairs. To bask in her light without all the prying eyes on her. It wasn’t a mystery why Vivian never wanted to leave her house. Even in the busy lobby, she was a glittering centerpiece drawing all the attention whether she wanted it or not.
