“What exactly are you wanting me to show you?” she asks, coming back to sit in front of me on the floor now that she’s done graffitiing my wall.
“I don’t know. Things like good restaurants, grocery and liquor stores. Useful shit.”
“You know,” she says, leaning back on her hands and stretching her legs out in front of her. The motion makes her tits stick out like a delicious invitation, and it takes everything in me not to stare. “There is this invention called Google. It’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“Oh yeah? Never heard of it.”
“Crazy, since it’s been around since 1998. Here. I can help with that. Give me your phone.”
“I prefer the personal touch.”
“Oh, I just bet you do.” She laughs, but I continue to plaster her with my charming smile, waiting patiently until finally she concedes with a growl. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Before she can get up, I climb up on all fours, prowling over to her, my knees and hands on either side of her legs and hips. A startled gasp escapes her throat as I crawl over her, bracketing her in and dropping down, only stopping when we’re inches away.
“W-what are you doing?” she stutters as she gulps in air only to quickly get herself under control. Her eyes turn angry, fierce. So fucking hot my dick thickens, growing uncomfortably tight against the constraint of my jeans.
“Getting a closer look at you in the daylight.”
“Why?”
Good fucking question. I have no clue what I’m doing right now other than enjoying the way she reacts to me. “Because you’re pretty.” Understatement but not a lie.
Defiant green eyes refuse to back down as I come in closer, so close our noses are practically touching, our lips an inch apart. I take a deep inhale of her sweet fragrance, angling my head to the side as if I’m about to kiss her. Her breath hitches and I marvel at how her darkened eyes meet my lips.
She’s thinking about it too. But more than that, she wants it.
“I thought you were forcing me to show you the neighborhood.”
“For someone who pretends they don’t want to help me, you agreed to come with very little resistance.”
She grits her teeth. “That’s because I feel bad for you.”
I can’t help but laugh at that. She likes this as much as I do. “Whatever you say, Angel.”
“Are you going to get off of me?”
“There is only one place I’d rather be than on you.” And that’s in you. “But I guess this is stretching the reach of the favor I asked of you and the promise I made to you.”
Her jaw sets. “Just a bit.”
I dip in closer, making my blood heat. “Pity.” Standing up, I extend my hand to help her do the same. “Okay. Let’s go exploring.”
She takes my hand but releases it the second she’s upright, putting distance between us. “God, this was such a mistake. This is not the fresh start I had envisioned when you offered it.”
“Probably not.” That’s my fault. I need to back off and get myself under a control I seem to lack.
We hit the sidewalk, the steamy Boston air already clinging to my skin, and it’s not even ten in the morning. I twist around, walking backward for a few paces so I can see her face. She looks like she wants to murder me in the street.
I give her a sly grin.
“You’re cute when you’re angry.”
She rolls her eyes, her posture tense, her movements agitated, which I think only proves my point further.
“Alright. Best behavior from now on. Promise. Where to first?”
She clears her throat as I fall in line with her, and we start to walk back up the hill toward her street. Her pace is quick, her motions precise. Something has shifted in her. She’s no longer the carefree girl who wrote on my wall and lounged on the floor eating her food. I hear her mumbling something under her breath that I can’t quite make out, but it almost sounds like she’s counting.
“Well, you’ve already been to the best coffee shop. You drank in the best bar last night. There is a liquor store across the street from the coffee shop. The closest grocery store is Whole Foods and it’s on Cambridge Street down in Charles River Plaza at the bottom of Suffolk University. Did I cover your list?”
“Best restaurant.”
“I think it depends on the type of food you like. There are a bunch of restaurants on Charles Street where we were this morning. There are also more on Cambridge Street where we drank last night. Those are probably your best places to venture if you’re wanting to stay in The Hill for food.”
“But that’s not where we’re headed now.”
“Nope. Change of plans, Brecken Davenport, since I know for a fact that you don’t actually need me to show you around. I’m headed home. I have things I need to get done.”
“But you said yes,” I challenge. “Come on. Spend the day with me. You said I had until three.”
She waves her hand over her head as she picks up speed, trying to create distance between us as she blows me off.
“Rina. Are you kidding me? It’s a Friday morning and we have hours to ourselves with the whole of the city working when we’re not. Let’s go on an adventure. Do something fun and unexpected.”
“Nope. Sorry.”
“How about I buy you an ice cream?”
“We just ate.”
“A walk in the park then? A duck boat ride? Stop. Come on, Rina. Don’t run off like this. I’m sorry if I offended you. I mean it, I’ll keep my hands and comments to myself.”
“It’s fine. I’m not offended, but I really should go. We shouldn’t be together like this.”
I’m chasing after her and she’s walking faster, and I have no idea what I’m doing right now. Why am I chasing after the last woman I should be chasing after? I should let her go because she’s right. We shouldn’t be together like this because there is nothing friendly or innocent about us. I’m tempting fate. My relationship and her relationship with my sister.
We’re playing with that fire again and I won’t be the only one who gets burned.
This thing with her, it’s stupid, stupid, fucking stupid.
But still, I follow after her. Why am I following after her?
I don’t do relationships. I hardly date a woman longer than a few months. It’s not because I’m opposed to it, it’s more because with the wrong person relationships make me feel claustrophobic and all the women I’ve been with have been wrong.
She’s supposed to be wrong for me too.
Only I’ve been with a lot of women, before and since her, and I haven’t enjoyed any of them half as much. Also, when you’ve only had wrong, it’s easy to spot right.
But the line between us is not to be breached.
Frustration slams into me as I slow my pace, watching her flee. Rina Fritz is off-limits. I shouldn’t be chasing her. But I am. Physically and metaphorically and it needs to stop now. Goddammit! I run my hands across my jaw, contemplating my next move. I don’t want her to go like this. I don’t want her to go at all.
“So, I’ll just see you around some time then?”
“Sure. Yeah. Have a good day.”