I make quick work of storing my glass-top tables, stacking them in my storage shed so I can be sure they’re still intact tomorrow.
I take one last look around to make sure everything is secure, but I’m interrupted by a voice before I can turn back around.
“Beauty.”
I turn around, finding Zhuri standing ten feet away from me, hair whipping in the wind and looking even better than she did five minutes ago.
I step closer to her. “I thought you were going to stay inside, Z.”
She ignores that and closes the remaining distance between us. We’re practically chest to chest now.
Zhuri takes a deep breath.“Ljepotameans beauty.”
I rub the back of my neck uncomfortably. “You asked Petar, didn’t you?”
She nods. “You’ve been calling me beauty, Cameron.”
I swallow thickly. “I have.”
“Why?” Her voice is soft and full of longing, desperate to hear that it’s for the reason she thinks.
I tuck her hair behind her ear and then rest my palm against her cheek. Her skin is so smooth beneath my callused hands. “It started as a way to annoy you,” I admit. “I knew you’d be irritated when you didn’t know what it meant.”
Zhuri’s deep brown eyes meet mine, and right now, I’d give her anything she asks for. “But whyljepota?”
“Because…” I start before taking a deep breath and forcing myself to admit the truth. “Because you are so fucking beautiful that it drives me crazy, Zhuri. At eighteen, you were the most beautiful woman I’d seen. Today, I still haven’t found anyone else to compare.”
“Cameron…” She’s breathless by my admission, but she isn’t pulling away like I was afraid she’d do.
“I mean it, Z.” I close my eyes and rest my forehead against hers, wind whipping all around us with the approaching storm. “I’m tired of denying this, how I feel.”
“What does that mean?”
I capture her eyes and smile. “I like you, Zhuri. You have me feeling things I’ve never felt around anyone else.”
“We’re teammates,” she says nervously. “That complicates things.”
“I know it does, but maybe it’s worth the risk.”
“Cam…”
“Zhuri...” I gaze into her eyes, never looking away. I want her to see all of my intentions. “Would you rather go home now…” Her lips part open in anticipation of my next words. “...or kiss me?”
I see her looking through all of her options, trying to decide what she really wants to do. If she’ll take the risk with me, or if she won’t try because of our contracts.
After a moment, she smiles, and it lights up her eyes in a way I’ve never seen.
“I’m not going anywhere, Cameron.”
Once the words hit, I take my chance, leaning forward and finally kissing Zhuri Hart as rain starts to pour around us.
thirty-three
Zhuri
Itturnsoutmyresolve is weak around Cameron Kovacic.
I ran away last night to avoid doing exactly what we’re doing right now.
