Page 13 of Hat Trick
They both look at one another, smile, and I wish I were joking, but it happens right in front of me.
They fucking fist bump.
I’d act annoyed if the sight of it, for some ungodly reason, didn’t have me giddy with excitement.
Sometimes I love being me.
1 If I Ain’t Got You - Alicia Keys
CHAPTER 11
BIRDS OF A FEATHER AND ALL THAT…
EMERSON
“What is he doing in there?”
“I have not a single fucking clue,” I answer Lil as the two of us stand across from one another in the hallway outside mine and Dom’s room.
“What could he have possibly brought that he needs to bring back to my room?”
“I wish I could tell you.”
“You don’t have any idea? How do you not know? He came here with you,” she asks from her leaned position against the wall.
“I didn’t pack his bag for him,” I reply.
She huffs in annoyance. “I mean what does he?—”
“Liliana,” I snap. Her eyes narrow at me, and I faintly watch as she fights the upturn of her lips. “I don’t know what it is, Darlin’. But you know as well as I do that the man can’t keep a secret for longer thanthirty seconds, so as soon as we get to your room we’ll find out. Yeah?”
I fight my grin as she narrows her eyes even further at me. With her arms folded across her heaving chest, she chews her lip before pushing off the wall and sauntering across the hall until she’s standing in front of me. Leaning in until her lips brush against mine, she says softly, “Call me Liliana again, I dare you.”
?1 I don’t budge even a fraction of an inch. “You like it, and you know it.”
She huffs a breath, and it takes every ounce of my willpower not to break my stare and look down at the swell of her breasts. The lavender satin dress she’s wearing is practically painted on, and they’ve been tempting me all fucking day. But she and I have done this dance far too often for me to know that she’s just waiting for me to break.
So I don’t.
Because she knows I’m right.
Lil is a strong woman. The strongest I’ve ever been around. She doesn’t bend for anyone, and very rarely does she break. So someone cutting her off like I just did, especially by way of her full name, would usually be grounds for a swift kick in the balls.
But for some reason, she gives in to me. She likes when I call her out on her bullshit. When I toe the line ever so carefully. When I push just the right buttons. It lights a fire in her, and I’m as addicted to watching it burn as she is toletting it consume her.
“I—”
The door next to me opens and Dom’s large frame appears. “Well, what’s going on out here?”
Lil gives me a look that screams “keep it the fuck up and see what happens” but instead she looks over at Dom and asks, “Care to share with the rest of the class what you were doing in there?”
A mischievous grin takes over his face. “You’ll seeeee.”
I huff a laugh and roll my eyes, knowing good and well that whatever he’s up to, it’s no good.
Lil points a finger at him. “You’re lucky you’re so fucking cute.”
Dom shrugs. “I know.” Grabbing Lil’s hand, he leads her back down the hall, toward the other end of the resort.
