“I just want one thing from you,” he continued. “I want you to kiss me.”
This wasn’t like the sweet requests he used to make when they first started dating. This request had an edge to it. He was daring her to kiss him before she burned it all down to the ground. He asked for the one thing she wasn’t sure she could give.
Catalina tried to play the ridiculous request off, pushing against one of his shoulders with a hand, which refused to budge. “Knock it off. I don’t want to play games.”
“I’m not playing.”
“Fine.” Dropping her arms, she released a breath before closing her eyes and tilting her chin upward. Preparing for whatever he was going to give her, herstomach buzzed with a small amount of anticipation. It annoyed her he was still able to cause this kind of reaction and she tried her best to quell it.
Except the kiss didn’t come.
“No. I wantyouto kissme.”
She studied him through narrowed eyes. “Really? That’s going to make all the difference? And if I do it, you’ll leave me alone, right?”
“If that’s what you want. It’s just a single kiss, Cat. What are you afraid of?”
She wasn’t sure she believed him, but whatever. If he wanted a kiss, fine. She put a hand on his shoulder for leverage, tipping up on her toes, and pressed a closed-lip kiss to his mouth. She didn’t want to be accused of cheating, letting the kiss linger for a moment before pulling away. “There. A kiss. No big deal,” she said.
“No big deal,” he repeated, but his face remained close, his aquamarine gaze taking a deep, lazy path across the terrain of her features.
There wasn’t anything special about the kiss. It was basic, quick, and nothing to write home about. Not hot, not sweet, maybe the type of kiss a couple did out of habit after being together for a number of years. And yet, it had been such a long time since they exchanged any kind of affection—it unlocked a sudden hunger.
She grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him closer, her mouth locking onto his, this time opening herself, letting his tongue slide inside. She couldn’t help but produce a half whimper, half groan. Trey’shands were everywhere, his fingers pressing into her flesh as though desperate to hold on. He forced her against the booth wall, the kiss getting heavier, making her want everything he could give her regardless of their less-than-ideal location. What a disappointment they were here instead of in their tired hotel room with two beds and a rattling air conditioner.
Beggars couldn’t be choosers, and she was on the edge of begging.
She’d let herself give in for one last time.
Chapter 6
Sasha
"What do you mean shut down?” Sasha asked. She should have known her day was screwed as soon as Zack Massey arrived in a private helicopter, pulling her away from her task of managing things in Ballroom A.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” Zack said, appearing annoyed at having to answer to someone so far below his station. “Apparently, we’ve drawn a lot of scrutiny from the Mexican government, and they’re on their way here.” He leaned back in an office chair, the same one he insisted she relinquish to him as soon as he arrived, propping his feet on a makeshift work table. His posture and attitude weren’t what one would expect from someone worried about the chaos about to burst through the door, ending everything they’d been working toward for the last two years. But perhaps this was normal for someone who had access to things like a private aircraft and collected government officials as faux best friends.
“You told me everything had been taken care of,” Dr. Cutchin replied while worrying his handstogether.
Zack casually peeled a banana before taking a bite. “And ithadbeen taken care of, but bureaucrats are greedy over things likesafety.” He rolled his eyes. “What do you want me to do? Don’t they understand they’re on the cusp of helping us take part in something life-changing here? No, their limited brains can’t even fathom it. All they care about are regulations and liabilities and people.”
Sasha adjusted her glasses. “How does this even happen? We were told they were in complete cooperation.”
With this question, Zack’s gaze darkened. “I don’t need to explain anything to you. You work for me. You don’t think I have a hundred other people biting at the bit to work for me, to be where you are. I’m sure you’ve gotten whatever you needed. Let’s just take this pony show to a new town. Just pack this shit up. No big deal.”
To him, it was no big deal because he wouldn’t be doing any of it. They’d only just started the process but now they’d have to start over someplace else. But good luck explaining this to Zack. “What about all the people we brought down here?” she asked.
“Does it look like I give a fuck? They can figure out how to get home. How hard is it to just travel to another country? People do it all the time.”
She opened her mouth to inform him it was their responsibility since they had made everyone sign waivers and paperwork and they couldn’t just leave everyone on their own in a foreign country, butDr. Cutchin pulled her aside. “You’re wasting your time. Once his mind is set, that’s all there is to it.”
“But we haven’t even done anything. Why should we get shut down when all we’ve done is ask a bunch of informal questions and shrink an ape? An ape, may I remind you, that’s currently lost. We’d be running away with a bunch of loose ends here, and how is that right?”
“I’m telling you to drop it,” her boss said. “How long do you think it’ll take to break all your stuff down and pack up?”
She was about to answer when Zack interrupted them by saying, “I still get to push the button, right?”
“What?” She didn’t care if her answer sounded short or if he was the one signing her impressively-sized paychecks. A company this big shouldn’t be taking routes that made them seem like a fly-by-night underground science experiment. It stressed her out and created chaos. She hated chaos.
