Harper widened her eyes in mock innocence. “If they are, that just means your attention is drifting towards inappropriate places. How could that possibly be my fault?”
She set down the golf ball, pushing her hips back in such a provocative way that ithadto be intentional. The smirk she gave Maya at least suggested as much.
Though she did honestly try, Maya couldn’t help but play into the move. Harper had abandoned her jacket at a nearby table, leaving her in tight-fitting jeans and a tank top. It crept up when she bent forward, revealing a tattoo of a smiley face on her lower back.
The tattoo was one of several, scattered around her body in a patchwork pattern. There was a moth on her bicep, flowers on her shoulder, and a bird silhouette on her forearm. Most of them looked to be a few years old, but some were recent, including one of six tally marks by the crook of her elbow.
Maya was so busy with herinnocentinspection that she almost missed when Harper sent the ball rolling. It bounced against the sides of the track, settling only a few inches from the hole.
“See? Easy.” Harper tapped the ball, rolling it the last distance. “I’mreallygood at this, by the way. If you want to win, we have to go somewhere else.”
“Well,winningwill be a walk in the park now. Since you just showed me how to play.”
Harper pursed her lips, challenge and amusement rising in her eyes. A look she’d shot Maya several times that day, with no hesitation. With nothing but ease.
She’s only doing that because she doesn’t know what you are. What you’ve done.
The thought hurt, like it always did. But it was worse now, since it had surprise on its side. Painful thoughts played at a louder volume when there wasn’t anyone around to dull their presence, and it wasn’t the first time Maya had found refuge in the smile of a charming woman.
“You alright?” Harper asked, brows furrowed. “I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?”
Maya shook her head, both as a means of answering and to clear away the dark memories.
“Just had an ugly thought. Last time I was on anything date-adjacent was with my ex-girlfriend. We didn’t have the cleanest break.”
They didn’t have abreakat all, technically. Nor were they really dating. But despite how casual it was in hindsight, Maya had still fallen headfirst into a relationship she never should have started.
She’d thought Brianna was different. In some ways, she had been. She was funny. Sweet.Normal. When the solitude had seemed never-ending, Brianna had appeared and been such a wonderful distraction that Maya could forget why it had even been needed.
But the world didn’t forget. Before Maya could even consider how much honesty anormalrelationship could handle, the decision was made for her. Brianna heard her story from someone else.
She hadn’t even wanted to look at Maya after that. In the blink of an eye, the woman Maya had found a degree of peace with started treating her the same frightful way as everyone else.
Harper’s dark brows knitted together. Then she picked up her glass, pressing her teeth around the straw.
“Girlfriend, huh? Interesting.”
She put on such a mockingly demure smile that Maya couldn’t help but laugh.
This was just a job. This ease wasn’t permanent. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t rest in it while it lasted. What was the worst that could happen?
“You areshockinglybad at this,” Harper said. They were halfway through the course, and Maya had just used a ridiculous number of attempts to get the ball near the hole.
“Ah, but you see, that’s my secret plan. I’ve let you pull ahead, and now you’ve fallen into a false sense of security.”
She gave the ball a gentle tap, which apparently wasn’t gentle at all. The ball rolled past the hole, settling even further away than it had been before.
Maya groaned. “Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Harper snorted, stopping the sound from growing into laughter by covering her mouth.
“All that caddying did you a disservice. Your backswing is too powerful.” She moved over, bumping Maya’s hip. “You need torelax. You being so stiff is sending the ball off course.”
“Maybe the track is just uneven?”
“It wasn’t when I got a hole in one just now.” She slipped the golf club out of Maya’s fingers. “Watch and learn.”
Harper took Maya’s hand in hers. She leaned forward, pressing back against Maya’s hips, before putting Maya’s hand on the golf club handle. Since Harper was still holding onto it, it meant Maya was leaning over her, and their fingers were touching.
