“The only thing I really want to give you, Zach,” Harlow says, “is my middle finger.”
I grin. Sounds like she’s handling him fine. But I’m annoyed that he came over. Why? He couldn’t borrow coffee from anyone else? He couldn’t just wait until tomorrow?
He’s checking up on us. He’s suspicious.
I stop just out of sight and contemplate how I want to play this.
Harlow’s at my house. It’s late at night. And… I straighten, realizing how she’s probably dressed while answering the door. On one hand I like that she’s wearing my T-shirt and nothing else. That should send Zach a clear message. On the other, I hate the idea of him seeing her partially dressed. The shirt hits her the same place on her thighs that a pair of shorts would, but there’s something about him seeing her in an oversized T-shirt that is a little too intimate for me.
I’m in a T-shirt and joggers, so I kick off my shoes, strip off my shirt, and head out of the kitchen through the opposite doorway, making it look as if I’m coming in from the back of the house.
“Hey, Lily, what’s going on?” I ask.
Harlow looks back at me, and I notice how her eyes flicker with surprise when she sees me shirtless. She recovers quickly though and says, “Poor Zach here can’t find the coffee at the Dixons.”
“That sucks,” I say, moving in behind Harlow and resting both of my hands on her hips.
She’s standing in the doorway, blocking Zach’s entrance to the house. She has one shoulder propped on the open door, her other on her hip.
“Thought you said I could come borrow a cup of sugar,” Zach says.
“Do you want some sugar?” I ask.
Zach’s eyes scan down Harlow’s body. “Who doesn’t like sugar?”
This fucker. I grab Harlow by the back of the shirt and tug her behind me. I step forward. “There’s nothing here for you,” I tell him. “And I absolutely want nothing to do with making tomorrow, or any other day, any better for you. That includes coffee.”
“Does everyone know what an asshole their favorite coach is?” Zach asks.
“You haven’t even begun to see asshole from me.”
“Unless we count ten years ago, right?”
I lean in. “Unless you want a repeat of that, you need to go.” Then I step back, shut the door, and lock it.
I immediately became aware of Harlow’s hand on my back. My bare back.
“You okay?” she asks.
I turn to her. “He just showed up?”
“Yeah. It’s kind of ballsy of him to show up at your house, when he knows we are here together alone.”
“Do you think he knew I left?” I ask.
“No. I think he was checking up. To catch us together and see what we’re like when we’re alone.”
“So he’s suspicious.”
“Or he thinks if he keeps showing up, he’ll make me think twice about my choice?” she suggests.
“That’s plausible too,” I agree.
“Well, I’d say catching us half naked can’t hurt,” she says, letting her gaze travel over my bare chest and down my abdomen.
I feel my body heat, and the air around us suddenly fills with electricity.
I’m even more acutely aware of how sexy she looks wearing only my shirt. I lift my hand and brush her hair back from her face. For just a second, I am tempted to lean in and kiss her. I could say that I did it in case Zach was looking in my front window, but I acknowledge to myself that wouldn’t be the full truth. Or maybe any of the truth. I’d be doing it because I just really want to kiss Harlow again.