Mike was acutely aware of his heart racing and the stir of his nerve endings pulsing with need. His insides flooded with warmth. He wanted to be with her physically right now.
Up ahead, an officer began waving cars through one by one. Quickly, Mike tapped out a rapid-fire message because it was now or never.
Mike:
1. I was not at the silent disco last Friday.
2. I broke up with Kate.
3. When you left the restaurant, I wished you would have turned around and decided to stay with me, but I didn’t know how to say it.
Now the butterflies rolled in his stomach. His muscles twitched and his mouth went dry. What would she say to blatant honesty? He shook out his hands, feeling restless and unsettled. When his phone pinged, he jerked to grab it.
It wasn’t Zora.
Jason: Thought you’d want to know. Looks like she’s ditching this guy and headed home. You’re welcome. Add this to the favors you owe me.
With a sigh of relief, Mike followed the officer’s signals and made a U-turn. Home was the only place he wanted to be.
Chapter Seventeen
Zora
Zora couldn’t get out of Andre’s SUV fast enough.
“Thanks for tonight,” she said. “I had a lovely time.”
Not.
Andre leaned over the console as if she would let him kiss her after the disaster date. He had a cocky smirk.
Ugh.
“Will I see you again?” he asked.
Not in this lifetime, Mr. Unoriginal.
“Oh, call me.” She smiled tightly and turned to open the door. She slipped out, dodging fat raindrops as she ambled toward Mike’s house. Hopefully, the dickwad wouldn’t choose now to get his lazy ass out of the truck and walk her to the door.
She was doing a shuffle run-walk as she sneezed and waved him off over her shoulder. Before she even reached for the knob, she realized she didn’t have a key.
“Shit.”
She slid her phone from her purse and prayed Mike was still awake. Tapping to get to messages, she was a few letters into let me in when another message dropped from the top of the screen.
Andre.
She thought maybe he recognized he’d been sort of a narcissistic douche and wanted to redeem himself with a “goodnight” text or possibly a “I don’t blame you if you never want to talk to me again” text, but apparently the universe was not done laughing at her this evening.
Much to her shock and horrified dismay, it was a veiny, gnarled dick pic.
Lovely.
“Asshole!” she turned and screamed as the SUV pulled into the road. Her voice was shrill and filled with blood-seeking venom. Her body locked up with rage.
Oh my god.
She was shaking and she could feel heat flushing through her body.
“Fuck you!” she yelled at the top of her lungs to the fading headlights.
“That good of a date, huh?”
Zora turned to find Mike in the doorway biting back a shit-eating grin. While it was downright mouth-watering, it did nothing to cool her searing hot blood.
This was what it came down to—dating and dick pics or using games to mask your real feelings? Truths and lies. What is it all for? She’d already said too much in the text messages, but at this moment, she couldn’t go down that road.
Not tonight.
“It’s not funny,” she hissed, still fuming at the image of the crooked boner. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, still fidgety and amped up to do something. But what?
Mike sucked in a breath. “It’s kind of funny.” He was still grinning from ear to ear as he slid Zora’s purse from her shoulder and slipped a warm hand on the small of her back to guide her into the house.
At his touch, she shot past him, releasing a trio of sneezes in fast, body-jerking succession. She was neither in the mood to talk nor to find the silver lining when she was likely coming down with a cold and sick to her stomach at the image she’d just received.
“You want to talk about it?” Mike asked between giggles.
She shot him an incredulous look.
Um, no I don’t want to talk about why men think it’s acceptable to ambush women with pictures of their janky junk.
She paced the foyer, shaking her head.
Just how had this day taken a wrong turn down a shitty road? It had gone from a mind-blowing, take my breath away kiss with Mike to a hell date.
She could have stayed home and worked on recipes or gluten-free alternatives. Anything would have been better than forcing herself to spend the rest of her night with a douchebag.
And why had she subjected herself to the date in the first place? To avoid having a serious conversation with Mike about what was going on between them.
Grow some balls, Zo.
“Later,” she said, but she didn't move toward the bedroom. She opened her mouth to say something and closed it again, flashing him a weak smile. “No. I don’t want to talk about it.”
I’ll just sleep it off and start fresh in the morning.
Blowing out a heavy breath, she stalked down the hall toward the guest bedroom. The sound of his feet was behind her, but she promptly shut the door in Mike’s face. The creak of his movement sounded on the other side.
Then she heard a small knock. “I’m sorry, Zo. I thought you were playing around. I didn’t realize you were really upset. Did he…hurt you?” His voice was strained.
“No.”
His slow and measured footsteps picked up again and Zora imagined him pacing. She ambled over to the door and pressed her hands flat against it. She closed her eyes and breathed wishing she would have made a different choice at the start of the evening.
“Okay, well, did he do something to you or hurt your feelings? I’m worried, Zo. Talk to me. I haven’t seen you like this since…” He trailed off, but Zora knew what he wasn’t saying.
He hadn’t seen her so angry since the night they’d made love.
No one had.
Nothing had ever mattered as much.
Afterward, they’d been lying on the cellar floor. Mike held her, studying her like she was a rare, precious gem that needed to be treasured and protected. In that moment, she’d known he would’ve given up his future for her—law school, traveling, everything. She would have done the same for him. All of their dreams would have been upended in one night, and she couldn’t bear to let him throw it all away for a fleeting whirl in the wind. So, she’d been the one who had suggested they just be friends, and when he’d protested, she’d responded with blind fury and a desperate coldness.
It had been a knife to her heart. When he’d left, her throat had thickened with sobs, and pain gripped her chest. She knew what she was risking—her life, real or imagined, one way or the other.
She’d given up on her once in a lifetime.
Now Zora was starting to wonder if maybe once in a lifetimes came around twice. Her voice softened and filled with understanding. She leaned her cheek to the door. “No. He didn’t hurt me or my feelings or anything. I just, I wasn’t expecting a dick pic tonight.”
On the other side of the door, she felt Mike lean against the door and slide down to the floor. She did the same. He giggled. It was comforting to know he was right there with her, back-to-back, with open ears, and no judgments.