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e rolled her eyes. “Is it a date then? Tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, whatever, I guess,” Arwyn responded with a shrug before yanking her face towards her again and kissing her deeply.
CHAPTER 34
AFTER AN HOUR on the phone with Jasmine, Arwyn was more nervous than ever. What if her plan didn’t work? She was going to be mortified. Her connections weren’t exactly as foolproof as Sloane’s were.
Ari: Are you sure this is going to work?
Dad: Do you really have such little faith in the old man??? I promise, Tater Tot. Just do exactly what I told you, okay?
Vacillating between convincing herself that it was going to be okay and kicking herself for insisting she plan their first date, Ari stepped into the shower and focused on what she could control.
When she’d finished ironing her hair into submission, it was soft and glossy as it fell just passed her shoulders.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she decided on letting it grow a little longer. Maybe it would cut down the number of times she got carded when buying wine at the grocery store.
After her newly painted red nails were dry, she pulled on a pair of tight jeans, a low-cut black sweater, and little red flats. Just in case Sloane wore heels despite her suggestion that she dress casually, Ari grabbed a pair of pumps and
threw them in her bag. Checking the time, Ari went for the containers of food her mom prepared for her date and placed them in a colorful zip-up pack to keep them cold.
As she drove toward her destination, Ari’s nerves worsened. Past experience made it impossible to completely shake the possibility that Sloane was running some long con on her where the goal was her utter devastation. Sloane certainly acted di erently than when they’d been in school, but their recent past was just too fresh to forget.
Downtown Miami on a Saturday evening was nothing like the packed streets of the weekday city. When Ari arrived at the mostly empty parking lot of the science museum along the water, she was earlier than she planned.
Waiting in her car, Ari looked up at the massive cement ball at the center of the building. Is that where it is? Before she could contemplate how a three-story high ball could be the attraction, Sloane’s Tesla floated into the parking lot and took the empty spot next to hers.
The sight of Sloane sent Ari’s heart galloping in her chest.
She’d seen her nearly every day for years, and her e ect on Ari’s nervous system was only getting worse. Dressed in dark jeans and a cropped top that exposed the barest hint of her abdomen, her long hair was loose and wavy like she’d just changed in the back of her car after a day at the beach. It was devastating.
“What do you have up your sleeve, Frodo?” Sloane asked, approaching Ari’s car as she stepped out of it. “This place closed like twenty minutes ago. Have you ever actually planned a date before?”
“Ye of little faith,” Ari countered, not giving away her plan.
“I’ve always said you were a sneaky little thing,” Sloane decided before taking the pack Ari grabbed from the backseat and intertwining her fingers with her free hand.
The act of holding hands as they walked toward the sprawling three-story building was more natural than it had any right to be, almost like Sloane’s fingers had always fit with hers.
“Not that way,” Ari said, breaking out of the trance caused by the contact with Sloane’s skin.
“Not toward the entrance?” Sloane asked, openly confused.
“Nope,” Ari confirmed before pulling her toward the nondescript back of the building rather than the extravagant entryway.
Sloane’s face betrayed her curiosity, but she didn’t ask any more questions as she allowed herself to be led to a service entrance near some unfortunately rank smelling dumpsters.
“You really know how to wow a girl,” Sloane quipped sarcastically as Ari knocked on a door. “I feel like you’re either about to sell my organs to someone or implicate me in a felony.”
Ari chuckled but didn’t divulge her secrets. After too long spent waiting upwind from what smelled like a fish market, the door finally opened.
“Ari, right?” a short, bald man with a glorious white mustache asked while whispering conspiratorially.
“Is this like a speakeasy kind of thing?” Sloane whispered in Ari’s ear. “Kinky.”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Ari answered the man, ignoring Sloane. “It’s nice to meet you, Pablo. Thank you so much for doing this.”
He smiled before double checking behind him. “Come on,” he whispered, adding a level of intrigue Ari was almost positive wasn’t necessary, but she appreciated the added drama.
