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“What about me?” Gage asked.
Theo smiled and held Tayler tighter.
“Sorry, baby, but out of the two of us, I’m his favorite.” Tayler kissed Theo’s cheek. “Let’s go, puka. Come on, Siah. We’re on the hunt for some yummy grapes and pineapples.”
“See you in a minute, Ma!” Josiah called, taking Tayler’s hand. “I love you!”
“Lub you!”Theo echoed.
“I love you too,” Ayesha replied.
Ayesha noticed Tayler glance at the desk area before she left, but it wasn’t until she was alone in the room that she turned around and saw what was there.
Joel’s tuxedo jacket.
Of course.
Day one of them being discreet, and she was already caught with his clothes in her hotel room.
She picked it up to place on a hanger, and something fell out, nearly dropping onto her toes. Suddenly short of breath, she stooped, picked the pen up from the floor, and flipped it around.
It wasn’t just any pen.
It was the pen she gave him.
Still trembling, she returned it to the jacket pocket, placed the jacket on a hanger, and disappeared inside the bathroom. Unfortunately, even after a shower, brushing her teeth, applying light makeup, and touching up her hair, her body didn’t fully relax.
She slipped into a lightweight, form-fitting summer dress. However, her unsteady hands made it next to impossible to latch the hook on her heeled sandals. If she didn’t get it in the next two tries, she’d go to brunch wearing sneakers.
Firm knuckles pounded on her door. “Hey, Eesh? It’s me.”
Too bent to move, she unlocked the door from her phone. Joel entered, looking way too good when it wasn’t even ten in the morning yet. She’d agonized over making sure her dress went with her hair and was the right length for her shoes, and he still looked better in a button-up, shorts, and low-top leather sneakers.
“Good morning,” he said.
She spared him a glance. Anything more, and she’d stare. “Good morning.”
“Hey,” he looked around the room, “by any chance, did I leave my—”
“I hung it up. It’s in the closet.”
He went to the closet, dug around in the jacket, pulled out the pen, and clipped it inside the pocket on the front of his button-down. Then he closed the closet, the jacket still inside, and faced her grunting, distorted form.
“Need help?”
“Desperately.”
He kneeled in front of her and easily latched both shoes in less than sixty seconds. Then she stood and checked herself out in the mirror. Mo and Ari had suggested that she buy the dress when they went shopping before the wedding, and she initially wasn’t convinced it would look good, but the way it hugged her frame…were thosecurvesshe saw?
She started to squeal her excitement until she remembered her present company—unnecessarily. Joel wasn’t looking at her, too busy scrolling through her phone.
She took another turn in the mirror, but then, out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he covertly scanned the length of her body, back and forth, over and over. He took her in so slowly and intently that he didn’t even notice her staring at him.
The hotel room blurred behind her, and she went so still, she was sure her heart stopped in the process. They’d talked about returning to a point-blank platonic relationship, but this was worse. Before, she’d get goosebumps if he absent-mindedly stroked her hair or face. However, catching him secretly watching her made the goosebumps mature and settle into the warmest parts of her body. Parts that wanted to be acquainted with the warmest parts of his.
She faced him.
He turned back to his phone.
