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I’d had my doubts Zee would actually come on the dive with me. To my knowledge, she’d never left the island. She’d have little choice in speaking with me in person, though. The power of OZ worked to my advantage there, and I had zero qualms in using his influence over Zee. Especially as I watched her walk toward me.
There was a moment where she sharpened from still being the mirage from the beach into reality. My heart stopped. Not long enough to kill me, but enough that I thought it might.
I swallowed as I took her beauty in. She was as elegant and mysterious as her island home. Twin strips of black hair bracketed her forehead while the rest fell in a thick, lustrous braid over one shoulder. Beneath the graceful column of her neck, her loose-fitting white blouse billowed open. A generous swath of olive-toned skin showed across her collarbone and chest. The breeze from her anger-propelled stride flirted with revealing more, right up until she came to an abrupt halt inside the doorway.
Fuck me. This woman was going to kill me before the tumor even had a chance. I blatantly gawked at her before reminding myself that the room still had oxygen and I was long overdue to take a freaking breath.
I clicked the remote to seal the vault door shut, just in case she changed her mind about talking to me. When the lock bolt clanged, she looked like she wanted to hit a panic button and run. I couldn’t blame her.
Close up, the slight divot in her plush pink lips gave her a hint of vulnerability. It matched a larger dimple in her chin. Her eyes were rimmed in onyx, or maybe her lashes were as thick and black as her hair. Either way, her dark eyes showcased her keen sharpness. All things I’d admired through the various lenses I was used to seeing her through, but Aziza in real life… I’d never wanted to touch anything or anyone more.
I could scarcely hold myself in check, right up until she lied to me. Again. Hypocritical of me? Yeah. I’d own that I was hiding things from her too.
Damn, aren’t we a pair?
Maybe that’s why I had laughed when she’d claimed to be seeing Wolfe. Well, that and it wasn’t even a good lie. I’d forgive her another deception. For now. But only until I was ready to come clean with my own secrets. It might’ve been the stupidest line in the sand I’d ever drawn, but it was my stupid line in the sand.
Didn’t mean I wouldn’t give her shit about Wolfe just to watch her squirm.
Calling her a princess had been instinctual suppressive fire. She may have hated the endearment, but it fit her as well as her cream-colored breeches. Which I couldn’t help but notice were tightly stretched over her shapely thighs and perfectly cupping her ass as she started to storm out.
Shit. She’s getting away.
I hadn’t been paying close attention to what I was saying, I’d been too captivated sparring with her and more than a little punch-drunk from having my face in her lap. But then she’d pushed me away and now she was leaving and I didn’t know what to say to get her to return. I’d started to yell “Stop!” when, as if reading my mind, she halted abruptly in the doorway.
“Why would you be jealous?”
I almost snapped back with some quip about not being jealous of Wolfe, but taunting her online had been a lot easier than having her close enough to devour. Besides, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get another shot at telling Zee how I felt about her. I might’ve been an idiot in most ways, but I wasn’t going to die with this being one of them.
“Are you with Wolfe? Truth.”
“No,” she admitted quickly. After waiting a beat, she added, “But if I was with him or anyone else? Would you be jealous? Truth.”
I pressed the button to close the vault door again as I walked up behind her. Cupping her shoulders, I lowered my head, letting my lips hover over the skin at the back of her neck, just behind her ear. Wanting so desperately to kiss her, I ground out the most honest thing I’d ever told her. “Insanely.”
