He’s already downed a shot.
“We are, actually,” Carina says, looking back at me. “We’re doing missions.”
“And I think we’ve all completed our missions except for Marley.”
“Well, I’m one phone number short of 10, so…” Lety admits.
“What are these missions?” The men probe. Danielle goes over the game and rules.
“Everyone has pretty much completed their tasks, except for our girl here.”
She points towards me, and I give a crowd-pleasing grin.
“What’s your mission?” Othello asks.
“She has to dance with the hottest guy in the room.”
“Well, shit. Sounds like you’ll be dancing with me,” Todd confirms, standing tall with his chest out.
I laugh, and Othello shakes his head.
“Nah, bruh, I got this one.”
He stands and reaches for my hand. The brush of his touch makes me hot, and I feel it coursing through my body like a fever.
I let him lead me down the steps and onto the dance floor just as the DJ switches the song to a slow, sultry dancehall track. Sean Paul’sI’m Still in Love with Youleaves a hypnotic pulse in my hips.
“How did he know to play this?” I ask. “It’s my favorite.”
Othello’s hands settle on my waist, and he pulls me close. My body melts into him and the groove of the music.
“Wardrobe change?” he asks, taking in my second dress of the night. I’m wearing a cotton lavender wrap skirt with a deep slit and a matching bandeau top.
“I’m officially part of the Satin Mafia,” I tease, and this makes him laugh.
“Welcome to the club.”
“Speaking of which, you broke rule number two, so there should be a punishment.”
“Hey, I wanted to let you know I was leaving, but I didn’t know where you were, and I didn’t have your number,” he laughs.
“We are the worst couple,” I tell him.
“Have we been together so much that we haven’t thought of exchanging numbers?”
“I think we have.”
“We’ve pretty much been attached at the hip since he sat next to me on that plane,” he chuckles, and my head drops into his chest with a mortified laugh. “And listen, I’m not complaining. At all.”
I laugh harder.
“If it were up to me, we’d be together all the time.”
This stuns me into silence, and I look up into his eyes. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do mean it, Marley. Real talk. I’m done playing pretend with you.”
His words brush against my neck, and I nearly come undone right here on this dance floor. All I can do is say his name, my breath barely above a whisper. My fingers tighten at the back of his neck, my pulse racing as the rhythm of the song moves us together.
