Page 176 of Make the Play

“Elevator’s stuck,” I say, adjusting my stance. “We just left the lobby. Lost power, maybe. There are two of us in here.”

“Copy that. We’ve had a minor outage. Maintenance is on it. Could be about an hour.”

An hour.

Zoe exhales slowly and rests her head back against the wall. “Of course.”

I reach for my phone and hit the flashlight. A narrow beam cuts through the darkness, and Zoe flinches, shielding her eyes.

“Warn a girl, damn.”

I lower it and sweep the light around. It beams off the mirrored elevator walls and her silhouette. I check my Wi-Fi.

“Reception’s gone,” I mutter. “Figures.”

“Well.” She moves toward the corner and lowers herself to the floor. “May as well get comfortable.”

I move and sit beside her, shoulder to shoulder. Her skin is warm from the sunlight we left behind, her knee brushing against mine. My finger flexes out, stroking the skin of her thigh gently.

“Sad I already ate all the croissants,” she sighs.

“Regret tastes better when it’s stolen.”

She snorts, and the silence hangs again, heavier this time.

Her phone flashlight suddenly flickers across the floor and lands on my hand. I watch as she follows it with her own, dragging her fingers lightly down my wrist, then my palm, then her thigh.

I blink, a gentle smirk stretching. “You’re dangerous.”

“And you’re bored.”

I slide my hand over hers, then lower it to her bare skin. I trace the inside of her thigh slowly, just barely enough pressure to tease.

“I still can’t believe they all knew,” she says, voice quiet in the dark. “That they knew we were faking but thought we’dactuallyget together the whole time.”

“Sweetheart, you’re insane if you think I was ever faking it,” I mutter.

She hums. “I know, but… apparently they were all in on the joke while we were too busy trying not to combust.”

My fingers keep moving slowly across her skin. “You think they were making bets?”

“Oh, definitely. Charlie would’ve had a spreadsheet.”

“I wanna see it.”

“Only because you wanna win.”

I laugh under my breath and say softly, “I won no matter what.”

Her thigh shifts under my touch in response, and she’s warm there, too. Soft and tense all at once.

Her voice dips playfully. “You touching me like this isnothow we die.”

“Baby,” I murmur, dragging my mouth along the shell of her ear, “if we’re going out in an elevator shaft, I’m going out buried inside you.”

She covers her mouth to keep from laughing, and I feel her shoulders shake against mine.

“You’re feral.”

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