Page 27 of Two’s Better

“Oh, are we still playing that game?” I teased.

“Did we ever stop?”

I snorted. “Fried rice, if I make it myself. Isoko delicacy”—He laughed because I said it the exact way our fathers did whenever our mothers prepared the traditional dish—“but only if my mum’s the one making it.”

“Obviously,” he said with a laugh. My mum did make it better than his mum or I did. “For me? Pepper soup, if my mum’s making it.”

“Obviously.”

We were grinning like buffoons. “And fried rice, if you’re the one making it.”

“Flatterer.” I blushed, my heart deciding to join my fluttering stomach, beating madly beneath my ribs.

He laughed, then his smile went soft and warm. The fluttering of my heart and in my belly doubled. His thumb was still stroking the back of my palm, and I suddenly couldn’t think of anything beyond that tiny caress. The air between us thickened.

“Isn’t it so weird how not weird this is?” I couldn’t help but blurt, my voice high and breathless.

“Right?” Uzezi agreed with a chuckle. He didn’t stop looking at me with those dark, heavy eyes, his thumb gently stroking and stroking and stroking; I almost couldn’t stand it.

“Like, it all feels so new but ...” I stared down at our connected hands, unsure how to complete that sentence. It terrified me, if I wanted to be honest, just how easy it was for us to pretend we were something we weren’t.

“I know exactly what you mean,” he said gruffly.

We arrived at my place at that moment, and Uzezi told me to hold on, getting out of the car and making his way over to my door. My trembling heart had made its way up to my throat as I took his hand, letting him help me out. He reached back into the limo for my flowers, then motioned with his head toward the front door.

Nerves made my palms begin to sweat. What was going to happen now? Was he—were we—? Was this it? Was it going to happen now—tonight? Fuck, was I ready? Yes, it was only Uzezi, and I’d had an amazing time; yes, I loved kissing him and I was apparently ridiculously attracted to him, but sex was on a whole other level. And, despite all these newfound feelings, this was still Uzezi.

Was I really ready?

Like he could read my mind, or see the panic on my face, despite my efforts to hide it, he nudged my hip with his. I glanced up at him as we stopped at the front door. He was smiling fondly.

“Tell me again what we agreed you wanted.”

It took me a moment to remember. I felt covered in heat when I whispered, my voice just as raspy as his, “To be ... edged.”

His eyes darkened impossibly further. “Exactly. We’re taking this at your pace, Ofure.”

“What about you?” I asked impulsively, a part of me wanting to extend this moment a little more so the night didn’t end just yet. “This isn’t just about me, you know.”

“I know,” he said, full lips quirking. “Our desires align; I want exactly what you want.”

“I don’t know,” I said, even though I did know. I thought of that first Glitch for a moment, how that night, our desires had seemed to align, though we’d gone searching for that thing absolutely everywhere else but here—in this space of possibility between us. “That still sounds very ... me-centred.”

“Does it?” He moved a little closer to me, and I hated the flowers for a moment for the precious space they held, keeping our bodies just that few inches apart. “I want to take it slow, same as you. I want to wine you, and dine you, and—to use your own word—seduce you until we’re both strung so tight we eventually just ... explode.”

Oh God. I really hated those flowers for being between us right now. I wanted to kiss him, really fucking badly. And the way he was staring at me, like he wanted to devour my very soul, told me he wanted the same thing.

“Now, get your keys out so I can walk you up to your door.”

I blinked in confusion, swallowing to clear any signs of desire from my throat. “My ... door?”

He smiled patiently, playfully. “Yes, Fure. Your room door.”

“You’re walking me all the way up to my room?”

“Yes, I am.”

And the fluttering in my belly was back. I dutifully turned and fished my keys out from my clutch. I toed off my heels at the entrance, Uzezi doing the same with his dress shoes. I could feel his eyes on me as I made my way up the stairs. And if I put a little extra sway into my hips as I walked, no one else was here to judge me.