Realization hit me, and I gulped, all but clinging tighter to Zach. They were grave markers.
Sadie wordlessly stared at me.
“I’m okay.”
Her eyes dropped to Zach’s arm around my waist, and with a smirk she continued walking.
The farther we advanced onto the grounds, the more it looked like… well, a cemetery. The small, flat markers turned into raised headstones, then foot-high ones, becoming larger and larger until they transformed into stone monuments nearly as tall as I was. It wasn’t lost on me that Zach’s large hand still rested on the small of my back like a security blanket. It was so damn comforting, and exactly what I needed.
“All right,” Sadie said, coming to a stop next to a “No Trespassing” sign. “Why don’t we start here? I’ll move around you two to start, just do what feels natural. If you’re comfortable with it, we can go further from there. Any questions?”
I had a thousand:What the hell am I doing?How do I get out of this? And most importantly:Why do I like having his hands on me? I should hate this man. The second I realized who he was, I should’ve turned around and booked it straight out of the state.
But I didn’t want to.
Zach watched me with a raised brow until I shook my head. Only then did he respond to Sadie, setting his water bottle aside. “No, I think we’ve got it.”
“Great. So gaze longingly at each other and pretend I’m not here.”
Easier said than done.My heart began to race again, but Zach’s fingers pressed into my back. He leaned in, whispering in my ear, “Eyes on me.”
The breathwhooshedfrom my lungs. My eyes traveled up his chest until they landed in his bright blue ones gazing back at me. His attention flickered between my eyes, the raging storm in his irises sucking me into a cyclone of whirling emotions.
“What are you doing?” Heat crawled up my skin, prickling under my collar and bringing a flush to my cheeks.
“Just setting the scene.” His voice was still low. Sadie’s camera shutter clicked around us. “Now come on, Eli. Give me a smile.”
He tugged me closer, and I planted my hands on his chest. Zach’s hand slipped, dipping beneath the hem of my shirt.
I giggled and squirmed. “Zach, stop!”
“Gotcha to smile.”
“Asshole,” I teased. But it felt good. And when his attention dropped to my mouth, my cheeks lifted higher.
“Oh, look—you’ve got dimples on both sides!”
Heat rushed to my face. “I do not!”
“Yes, you do.”
Sadie’s voice shocked me. I hadforgotten she was there. “Keep it coming, guys. You two are naturals.”
I kept my eyes on him, rolling my bottom lip between my teeth. “You don’t have to do this.”
His brows furrowed, deepening to a color so dark that they nearly appeared black. “Do what?”
“Be nice to me. I don’t need any pity on my sad, pathetic—”
I gasped, suddenly feeling Zach’s hand beneath my chin. He firmly pinched my jaw, forcing me to look at him. “Don’t youdarelet one cheatingdickhead determine your self-worth,” he growled with such conviction that my eyes began to burn.
I swallowed hard. “Two.” Zach said nothing but tilted his head. He blurred in front of me as tears welled in my eyes. I blinked, trying not to let them fall. “I’ve been cheated on twice now.”
His eyes darkened further. “Oh, sweet boy,” he cooed, his nose trailing a path up my neck and coming to a stop behind my ear. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but one thing Idoknow is that you’re farfrom pathetic.” His arm tightened around me, drawing me in until we were fused together from shoulder to hip. Surely he could feel my heart beating against his chest. “I am sosorry you haven’t met someone who knows your worth.”
Sadie’s voice intruded on our moment. “How would you two feel about a kiss?”
I willed the tears away and looked to Zach. I didn’t want to make that decision for him. Or at all, for that matter.
