AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Finally, he shook his head. “I can’t do that,” he said softly.
“Why not?” He had to say it.
He stared at her a moment longer, then reached out to stroke her cheek. “Because I do want to be with you. More than anything.”
“What about Omar?”
He grinned, and the dimple in his chin deepened. “Omar who? I don’t see anyone named Omar here, do you?”
10
Ryan was busily exploringLeilah’s full lips and warm mouth when both of the burner phones beeped shrilly. She jerked, startled, and bit down on his lip.
“Oh, sorry,” she murmured.
“Don’t be. It was worth it,” he told her.
Then he kissed her again, hard and fast, before he eased her off his lap to check on the phones. She trailed him across the room.
“Are they charged already?”
“Already? I think you’ve lost track of time.”
She glanced at her watch and drew in a breath. “Have we really been making out for two hours? I can’t believe that.”
He could. They had years of kisses to make up for.
He grinned at her. “Time flies.” Then his smile faded. “But I guess we’d better check in.”
“After we call Chelsea, let’s find out whether that Mexican place in the courtyard does takeout orders. Woman cannot subside on pretzels and candy bars alone. At least this woman can’t.”
At that moment, his stomach growled loudly, as if in agreement. “Sounds like a plan. Do you want to do the honors?”
Presumably, Jake had told Chelsea they’d be calling, so she’d be expecting to hear from them. So either of them could make the call. But he figured Leilah might want to connect with her friend amid the chaos and drama swirling around them.
She bobbed her head happily. “I’d like that.”
She flipped open the mobile phone and keyed in Chelsea’s number. While the call connected, she furrowed her brow and examined the device. “Does this thing have a speakerphone option?”
“Beats me.”
She tilted her head. “Really? You didn’t have one of these back in the day?”
“Come on, now. I’m only three years older than you are.”
“Yeah, yeah, keep yapping, oldster.” She laughed. “You know, I read teenagers are buying these again. They’re retro cool.”
He flipped through the slim booklet that had come with the phones. “When you’re on the call, hit the OK button to activate the speakerphone function.”
She started to respond, then held up one finger. “Chelsea? It’s me. I’m putting you on speaker.”
She hit the button.
“Are you still there?” Chelsea’s voice emanated from the cheap phone speaker, slightly distorted, but audible.
“We are,” Leilah confirmed.
“Hi,” he chimed in.
