Page 68 of All at Once

I drop my shoulders, growing frustrated. “Well help me.”

“Fine.” He stops what he’s doing and walks over, still barely meeting my eyes. “Did you put glue on this or what?” he asks, while tugging on the zipper.

“Yeah, just for fun.” I match his bitter tone.

His fingers grip onto my coat more firmly, and I glance down to find his knuckles sliding up the blue fabric. The more pressure he applies, the more it feels like my heart’s tugging along with the zipper. Glancing back up doesn’t help anything, when I catch the deep crease of his brows, and the one golden strand that’s decided to dangle against his forehead right now of all moments.

“I can’t undo it,” Luca admits after a good minute. “It’s pretty stuck.”

I let out a deep sigh. “Okay, can you please help me take it off then?”

It’s the first time today he actually looks into my eyes long enough, the gesture making me jolt back a step, my heartbeat echoing louder than the friction between my zipper and coat from a second ago.

He takes a deep breath, before mumbling, “Fine.”

Between our messy glances and the pressure from his hands, my skin is practically sweating as we both try to lift up my coat from the bottom.

When he finally pulls it over my head, I feel a breeze tickle my chest.

“Your shirt,” he blankly states.

I look down at my body and then groan on the inside, realizing that my shirt came off with my jacket. Grateful that my hair quickly falls down my sides, I wrap my arms around my chest in so much shock that I suggest, “Did you do that on purpose?”

“Yeah, I wanted to see you in your bra, so I decided to take off your jacket thatyouasked me to help you take off,” Luca deadpans.

Maybe my question was a little uncalled for, but why is he acting like such a dick all of a sudden?

His response makes me feel less bad for even saying it, probably why I then challenge, “Well I wouldn’t put it past you.”

He narrows his eyes at me, more annoyed. “You’re the one that asked me for help.”

Feeling self-conscious suddenly, I wince, “Why are you looking at me?!”

“Because you’retalkingto me!” he defends.

Okay. He’snotwrong.

It’s not like he’s staring at my chest either, but just the fact that he’s looking in my general direction is enough to make me panic at my sudden exposure.

I take my jacket from him to try and find my shirt. After quickly putting it on, I finally say, “I wonder what put you in such a good mood.” Then walk toward his door. “I’m going to go take a shower. Thanks for the jacket by the way,” I add sourly.

When Luca first knocked on my door earlier today, there was this sudden giddiness that rushed through me, but now I’m just glad I’ll be seeing Enrique soon before we all meet again as a group later tonight.

_________

While Enrique and I are kissing outside my suite after our lunch date, I almost forget all about the bizarre exchange with Luca. My mind’s so focused on Enrique’s lips that when his hands travel down my back, my body doesn’t even have a chance to react, until he subtly holds my ass.

A new kind of warmth tickles my skin, my heart pausing. But then my throat feels a thousand times drier, and now I completely freeze.

Before I have a chance to process a touch that I’m feeling for the first time, or overthink what’s going to happen next, Enrique pulls away. “See you tonight,” he says, while grinning.

The fact that he just did that makes me wonder if he wants to do more than just kissing.Andsoon.

Despite how weird things ended earlier today, I find myself only wanting to share this with Luca.

As soon as Enrique leaves, I immediately knock on Luca’s door with an all too familiar panic. “It’s me, Jasmine!”

While I continue mindlessly knocking, he finally opens his door, but strangely only to a crack. “What is it?”

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