Page 33 of Two’s Better

Uzezi saw right through that, of course. “You trying to show me up?”

“Shouldn’t I be?” I tried for playful, but knew I missed it by a mile.

“No.” He was still smiling, still looking all pleased and soft, thick thighs slightly spread where he sat. Once again, I wondered how the fuck he was so sexy, and how the fuck I hadn’t noticed in all the years we’d been best friends. Then again, I had noticed, hadn’t I? I just hadn’t reacted to him ... like this. And the few times I had reacted had been Glitches, brief moments—that felt weird and wrong, even now, as I thought back—that had featured an Ofure that wasn’t me and an Uzezi that wasn’t him. The difference now was there was no longer a disconnect anymore. “What do you think this is? A competition?”

“Maybe,” I said, but my shoulders relaxed, and my responding grin was genuine.

Uzezi snorted, shaking his head. “Besides, it might as well be a limo with that little move you did just then; that was sexy as fuck, making me feel like a prince or something.”

I all but melted into my seat. “Goal achieved,” I quipped. He laughed again.

“Now, are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Patience is a virtue, my friend.”

“You’ll understand what patience is by the time I’m done with you.”

We both burst out laughing. I could barely contain my excitement the closer we got to my chosen spot. I couldn’t stop smiling, which made Uzezi smile in turn, even though he didn’t know what was making me look so goofy.

And when we arrived, the look on his face had me bursting into quiet laughter. I paid the driver, and Uzezi dutifully waited when I held a hand up, rushing out of the car so I could open the door for him. He stepped out, and I didn’t step away from his space in time—maybe, a little on purpose—just so I could feel the heft of his body against mine for the briefest moment.

His arm automatically went around my waist to steady me when I stumbled, misjudging the space both our bodies required. He didn’t let go even after we’d righted ourselves. Every inch of me sang with want and desire.

Uzezi sighed softly. He looked up at the building in front of us, his expression terribly solemn. “I’ve always known you hated me.”

I laughed so hard I snorted, finally, finally taking his hand in mine the way I’d been dying to since Saturday—with all the want and need trying to blaze its way through my bones. And I didn’t know how I could tell the difference, but the way Uzezi’s hand clutched back at mine felt filled with a similar sexual and romantic yearning.

“Okay. Oshey dramatic,” I said, my cheeks hurting because I couldn’t stop grinning.

“Admit it; you hate me.”

“Uzezi, I will fuck you up.”

His laughter sounded forced out of him, and I laughed again. Oh God, we hadn’t even gone inside and date number two was already turning out to be a brilliant success.

Uzezi and I had only been skating once, and it was ice-skating, not rollerblading, back when we’d been in our Foundation year. It had been the first time for both of us, but while I’d taken to it like a baby duckling to water, Uzezi had been like a baby deer fresh from the womb. He’d barely taken his hands off the supporting wall throughout—knuckles gone pale from how hard he’d gripped it, his brown skin looking ashen.

I remembered how much I and our friends at the time had teased him uncontrollably, how he’d taken it in stride.

Now, here he was again, holding onto the wall with both hands like it was a lifeline. I was trying not to laugh too openly, so full of love for him I could burst. I’d left him for a moment, just to make sure I remembered how to balance and centre myself; it wouldn’t do to try and be all suave and seductive if I was also struggling to stay upright. Thankfully, once again, I’d taken to the rollerblades like I’d been doing it all my life, instead of it literally being the first time.

I skated over to my best friend, coming up to his side and wrapping an arm around his waist, snuggling close to his side. He didn’t let go of the wall. In fact, it looked like he was plotting how to murder me in a hundred different ways.

I laughed, high on whatever this feeling was. A mixture of love and joy, possibly. “The vodka was supposed to loosen you up, Uzezi; what’s happening!”

“All the alcohol left my body the moment we put these skates on,” he retorted through a clenched jaw, making me laugh again.

“Uzi, baby.”

“Don’t “Uzi, baby” me.”

I shifted even closer, pressing my breasts into his right arm. He stiffened, his grip tightening even further around the wall. He glanced at me, at my tits, which were trying to overflow from the low neck of my dress, then glared at me.

“You’re a demon.”

I grinned shamelessly, rubbing against his side. “Give me your right hand.”

“I am not letting go of this wall.”