Page 60 of Raff
But when I reached my phone on the island, it was Arty’s name on my screen.
“Finally,” I mumbled to myself as I slid my finger across the screen. “Arty, my man, where have you been?”
“I have some things to show you.”
“Now?” I asked, glancing up toward the stairs. Lula had disappeared hours ago, and I hadn’t heard so much as a creak of her bed frame since.
“Have plans tomorrow.”
Arty? Plans? Had hell frozen over?
“Okay,” I said, exhaling. “I’ll be there in… twenty.”
I’d stopped drinking a few hours back. I was good to drive.
York came through the back door with the pretty blonde he’d brought back from the club.
“Hey, I have to run to see Arty. If you see Lula, can you tell her I’ll be back?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“You’re staying?” I asked, seeing Velle and his girl make their way around the side yard.
“Yeah. They’re taking the stretch back to her place. Then the stretch will come back here to bring Melissa home.” His arm tightened around the girl who was curled into him.
So I had a few hours.
“Alright. Good. I have my phone if you need me. I’ll be back.”
I got my phone and keys and made my way to the car. It almost felt wrong not to have her beside me in the front seat.
For a moment, I was worried that I might have to get used to her absence. That I’d fucked things up by kissing her at the club.
To be fair, I don’t think I instigated. It felt more like a mutual decision. Neither of us took the lead. We just made the move at the same time.
And, fuck.
I’d fantasized about kissing her more times than I’d care to admit. Yet none of those fantasies came anywhere near the reality. The heat, the tension, the slow crawl of desire that spread through me until it seemed to seep into my blood, into my bones.
And it was… enough.
As much as need tugged at me, I would have been happy to kiss her for hours, for days, and be perfectly satisfied. The way she swayed, softened, shivered.
A sigh escaped me as my cock started to harden while I threw the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway.
Focusing on it wasn’t helping.
I needed to try to keep my desire in check if I wanted a real shot at showing Lula that we could be something special.
It was why I’d acted like nothing happened after she came back from fleeing to the bathroom.
I wanted to give her time to process, to think, to roll the memory around in her mind over and over again.
Because I knew what I felt on that dance floor. I knew an interested woman when I had her in my arms. I just needed her to wrap her head around that on her own. Trying to convince a woman like Lula would only backfire on me.
I drove slowly down the still-busy streets of Miami, heading toward the shadier area that Arty called home.
It was a small building right beside a restaurant.
