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“I’ll go check on her,” Anna said, giving June’s arm a squeeze and leaving.
“Yeah, you know what? I’m out,” Archer said, downing his drink and collecting the others on the bar. He nodded toward June and Dragan. “Always nice to see you, sorry about your friend. I’ll catch you later, D.”
June watched his back as he managed to push his way through the crowd, giving a helpful yell for people to move their asses. He was tall and broad-shouldered, definitely built like someone who could bust into a burning building, but crowds never parted for him. June had seen him control a room only a handful of times, a power he rarely used.
That conversation sobered her up, and when she looked at Dragan he was staring off into space, lips pursed. He met her gaze.
“Wow.”
“Wow is right,” she sighed. “Sorry about that.”
He shook his head. “Nothing to be sorry for. You wanna leave?”
June looked around, seeing her friends’ empty glasses and feeling bad for leaving. But the room was feeling heavy, hot with the crowd of now-drunk people talking a little too loud and standing a little too close.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Dragan’s hand swallowed her own, pulling her in front of him. He settled his hands on her shoulders, gently guiding her through the crowd that seemed to naturally part for his large frame. His chest was a wall behind her, supporting her from the jostling, his legs like tree trunks moving through a river. They reached the front and stepped through the open door into the cool night air.
She took a deep breath, relishing the feel of Dragan’s arm around her shoulders. It was a move he’d done before their arrangement, but it felt different now. Heavier, like an acknowledgment of something more. June wrapped her fingers around his hand hanging from her shoulder and looked up at him. He was leading the way, swaggering down the sidewalk like he was king of the world. She laughed, and he looked down at her with a smile.
“What?”
“Nothing. Just a good night, even with a strange ending.”
“Yeah, I get what you mean,” he chuckled. “Speaking of good nights with strange endings… Would you be up for joining my family for dinner in a couple days?”
“I mean… I don’t really have a choice, do I?” She playfully bumped into him. “Of course, I’d love to. Just let me know when.”
He relaxed against her. “Thanks, J. They love you.”
June could almost hear the words he left unspoken, could almost feel the weight of them hanging in the cold air. As if reading her mind, he pulled her closer against him. She shivered, whether from the cold or the tenderness, she wasn’t sure.
They walked the rest of the way to The Little Prince in silence. Even when they walked around the large porch and reached the exterior separate entrance leading to the apartments above the store, they didn’t speak or separate. June wanted to live in his heat for as long as possible. Maybe she was reading into it, but based on the way he held her, she could swear he felt the same.
When he finally pulled away, he still stood close to her. His hands cupped her face, eyes peering at her from under half-closed lids. Sliding her hands down his firm biceps, June couldn’t stand it anymore. As she rose on her tiptoes to close the distance between their lips, Dragan’s voice came out low and firm.
“Our friendship’s the most important thing right?”
She lowered down on her heels and nodded.
“Given our agreement, I think if we take this further it would be more believable for my family.”
“Mhm.”
"If at any point we realize it’s not working, we stop. No harm, no foul.”
June held his wrists, burning from his skin on hers, the beat of his heart in time with her own.
“Can I kiss you?” His voice was husky, eyes dark with need.
June smiled at her best friend. “I think it’s sweet you’re asking permission, but next time… don’t.”
She rose to meet his lips, the slip of his hand as it wound through her hair pulling her head back. Engulfed in his spicy cedar scent, June closed her eyes and let her hands wander to his biceps. How many times had she playfully, wishfully, touched him there, only to be greeted with the hard muscle of what she couldn’t have?
But here, now, she relished the way they flexed beneath her hands as his mouth captured hers. She sank into him, drinking him as if she were dying of thirst. And she had been, her whole life. He was an ocean, and her body called to be one with his. Her tongue swept along his, welcoming him deeper into her, tasting his warmth as it spread through her body, heating to a pool in her center. He pushed her against the side of the store, his hand in her hair pulling harder while the other wrapped around her waist, pulling her tighter against him.
June moaned into him, fingers clawing at his shirt to get closer. A piece of her had fallen into place.
