“Red for the hair?” Hana wonders, as if it isn’t obvious.
“No,” he replies, surprising me.
I’m still trying to find something to say, fighting through the embarrassment, when he slips a delicate fingertip across my temple and tucks my hair behind my ear.
“Ooh,” Hana lets out before smiling broadly.
The gesture is so intimate that it fills me with warmth, as well as the awareness that anyone might notice the sparks flying between us. Finally, I fight through my shock and step away from him. “You two stop conniving,” I protest. There’s no way I’ll let them form an alliance at my expense. “Jake, what are you doing here?”
“The network in the art industry runs tight in this city, so I’m familiar with the gallery owner.”
“Oh, you’re an artist?” Hana wonders.
“I also own a gallery.”
Before they get engrossed in the conversation, I grab Jake by the arm, dismissing how thick and solid it is in my hand, and drag him off to the side.
“Jake, I know people here. They can’t see us together.”
“We’re only talking, love—nothing incriminating in that. It’s the way you look at me that might give us away.”
Whatever look I have on my face turns into a glare. It doesn’t stop him from inching closer to me, though.
“Are you still sore?” he murmurs in my ear.
I step back, determined not to let anyone guess our shared intimacy. “Are you?”
His wolfish grin reminds me exactly why my core is tender. He’s irresistible, and he knows it. “I am, yes.”
“Well, I’ll let you recuperate then.” With that, I leave him and return to Hana, who’s observing us from afar. I already know what we’ll talk about as I make my way back across the room.
“Hot damn. Gen, you didn’t tell me he was so hot.”
“I told you he was attractive,” I counter with an unsteady voice.
“No, that isn’t just attractive. That is a black hole that attracts everything that comes near it. He is… I don’t have the words. And he has piercings on his schlong? Goddamn.”
She fans her face as if the thought itself is too much. Jake’s attention is on us, and I can guess how much he enjoys this.
“Stop looking at him like that,” I tell Hana. “His ego doesn’t need it, trust me.”
“Staring is a God-given right, and I’ll keep doing it until the day I die.”
Thankfully, Eli arrives by Jake’s side, and that pulls his attention away from us. After they’ve exchanged a few words, the newcomer turns toward us with surprise. When he spots me, Eli grins and waves but doesn’t approach. Good. It’s better that way.
As Hana and I continue our journey through the pieces, I’m hyper-aware of Jake’s presence nearby. Wherever I go, I sense his eyes on me, lurking from a retreated corner like a predator waiting for the right moment to strike.
We stumble on a couple Hana is acquainted with, but since I’m unfamiliar with them, I struggle to participate. “I’ll get myself another drink,” I tell Hana, grazing her arm before leaving her to her friends.
A buffet is set up along the wall on the side of the gallery, so I walk there to get another flute of champagne. I take a few sips of it as soon as it’s in my hands.
Today has been exhausting, and I can’t wait to get home and sleep until noon tomorrow. Good thing it’s Sunday, and I have no engagements, as I always make sure of.
“How was your brunch?” Jake asks behind me.
I hold back a sigh, spinning around. “Is it so hard to stay ten feet away from me?”
“Come on, love. No one cares about us, they’re too busy staring at their own arseholes. How’s yours doing, by the way?” I worriedly glance around, mortified at the idea someone might have heard him. But he’s right, no one cares about us, lost in their own conversations. Still, I would rather we avoid one another altogether.
