I shove at his chest – not hard enough to hurt, just enough to create space.
“Don’t push your luck.”
“Luck’s got nothing to do with it,” he replies.
I stare at him, pulse racing, body humming in a way I don’t understand. This isn’t just attraction. It’s…more. Louder. Complicated. Confusing.
And that unsettles me.
“I’m not your game,” I say finally.
Kai’s expression shifts. The cockiness dims just slightly.
“I know,” he says.
It’s the first honest and earnest thing he’s said.
The moment hangs between us. Too close. Too charged.
I step back before I do something reckless. My body is screaming that I should kiss him. My head is telling me I should run.
I listen to my head.
Well, kind of.
“If you want to take me out,” I say, lifting my chin, “try being less insufferable.”
He laughs softly. “So that’s a yes?”
“It’s a maybe.”
“Same difference.”
I turn for the door before my body can betray me again.
“Lani.”
I pause.
“If I kiss you,” he says lightly, “you won’t shove me away.”
I don’t look back. “Don’t test that theory.”
I leave the kitchen with my pulse still racing and his scent clinging to me like smoke after a fire.
And the worst part?
It doesn’t fade.
It lingers.
Warm.
Sweet.
Addictive.
THIRTY-THREE