Page 119 of IRL: In Real Life
“Talia, this your?—”
“Micah,” she said smoothly, one hand light against my chest. “This is Andre Gaines. Client side.”
I nodded once.
Andre tried another smile, but it sat wrong on him now. “I was just telling Talia I’ve been trying to steal a few minutes.”
No, you weren’t.
You were trying to test the perimeter.
I looked at him and took a slow sip of my drink before I answered.
“I’m not here for the event,” I said. “I’m here for her.”
The air between us went still for exactly one beat, even with the rooftop carrying on around us.
Andre heard it.
Talia did too.
Her body softened just a fraction closer into mine, and that nearly distracted me from the man in front of us.
Andre cleared his throat. “Aight.”
I kept looking at him.
Talia kept looking at him.
He finally nodded, uncomfortable now in the way men got when the script they had written in their head turned out not to match the room at all.
“I got you, my man,” he said. “Good choice.”
Then he walked off, heading toward a group near the railing like he had somewhere to be all of a sudden.
I watched him go long enough to make sure he kept going.
When I looked back down, Talia was already watching me.
“Not sure why he wanted to act a fool,” she said.
She smiled, but her eyes stayed on mine like she was still reading me.
I shook my head and leaned in closer, my mouth near her ear because some things belonged to us even when we were standing in public with half the city lit up behind us.
“Talia, you fine as fuck, smarter than half this rooftop, and your ass in this plum dress is all anybody can see. Baby, he had every reason to act a fool.” I let my hand slide lower at her waist, just enough to make the next line land. “But I set him straight. He’ll be aight.”
Her eyes searched mine after that.
Not in a doubtful way.
In that slow, searching way a woman looked at a man when she was pleased by what she saw and maybe a little moved by it too.
I swallowed once, sudden and hard, because there it was.
No more pretending we were circling.
No more calling this a vibe or a little situation or some grown-people arrangement that hadn’t quite taken shape yet.
