Page 69 of Isn't It Obvious?
Leo swallows, looking at the ground. “Maybe if I told my parents…”
“Leo—” Ravi starts.
“My mom’s here,” he says. “I have to go.” And then he disappears.
Ravi scrubs his hand down his face. His chest feels tight, his face hot. He shoves the sleeves of his sweatshirt up to his elbows.
“That’s not your fault,” Yael says from behind him.
He turns, and she’s dragging the last of the chairs into place. She rounds the table to face him. “What makes you think I thought it was?”
“Literally every single thing about your demeanor right now. Although,” she pauses, “you’ve generally been a little off today, I guess.”
“I’m not being normal enough for you?”
Yael recoils at the wordnormal, blinking in surprise fora moment before her brow lowers and her gaze turns steely. “What doesthatmean?”
Ravi pushes out a sardonic laugh. “I think you know,” he says.
She takes a half step toward him. “Why don’t you tell me,” she says flatly.
“I don’t feel like pretending,” he says, “that I’m not thinking about kissing you.”
Yael’s lips part, her breath escaping her. Her words, too, it seems.
“That I’m not thinking about other things, too.” He swallows, his heart thudding. “And I know why it won’t happen. I wish… Believe me, I wish that we hadn’t met the way we did, or that I’d met you before I met Charles, I don’t know. But I can’t undo it. And I can’t unfeelyou, either.”
His words shoot through the air like current on an exposed wire, heating the space between them. He kind of can’t believe he’s said it; is even more incredulous of how good it feels. How freeing.
Yael’s brows furrow, and Ravi has the strangest urge to reach out and smooth the crease between them. So many conflicting emotions seem to pass through her features, and he wishes he could read them. Especially as the moment stretches like putty, Yael not saying a word.
Christ, this was a bad idea. Or not an idea at all, really—he can’t say he did a lot of thinking before he opened his mouth. Several more seconds tick by, and Ravi accepts defeat and turns to leave.
“I don’t have work tomorrow,” Yael says.
Ravi looks back at her, and her eyes are on her fingers, fiddling with a pleat in her long skirt. His pulse quickens. All he can manage is a questioning “Hmm?”
Yael’s eyes flick up to his, her black irises molten. “And I have the apartment to myself.”
She’s not saying…
Is she?
YAEL WALKSTOWARDthe checkout counter to retrieve her tote bag, her heart threatening to beat its way out of her chest. She expected that turning away from Ravi would cool the heat unspooling within her, but it doesn’t. Not when she can feel his eyes following her. She slings the bag over her shoulder, looking back at him.
Lips parted, jaw set.Devastating.
She takes a deep breath, hoping her voice won’t sound as unsteady as she feels. “You coming?”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ravi silently follows Yael to the bus stop. The mist has thickened to droplets since he arrived at Kennedy earlier today, but he doesn’t hunch against it. Doesn’t even bother pulling up the hood of his rain jacket. The cool air is a blessing on his skin. The rain, too.
Yael leaves her wine-red knee-length raincoat unzipped entirely, and he wonders if it’s for the same reason.
They stand under the blue awning, listening to the water patter against the curved roof. Their arms hang between them, and Ravi unfurls his fingers, letting two of his knuckles brush against the back of Yael’s hand. Her next intake of breath is sharp. Ravi smiles, looking straight ahead.
“Don’t be so pleased with yourself,” she says.
